Load port apparatus and method of detecting object to be processed
AssigneeTDK Corporation
InventorsMutsuo SASAKI, Hiroshi Igarashi, Tomoshi Abe
Life of this patent
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Abstract
To enable appropriate wafer mapping in the case where a wafer is stored at the highest level, which is provided as a reserve, of a pod, a load port apparatus drives a mapping frame that supports a sensor by a first driving unit that drives the mapping frame in a first direction parallel to the direction along which wafers in the pod are arranged in an overlapping manner and a second driving unit that drives the mapping frame in a second direction that crosses the first direction in such a way as to form an acute angle in the side in which the sensor starts the mapping.
Claims7
A load port apparatus that opens/closes a lid of a pod, which is an airtight container having an opening through which objects to be processed are brought into/out of it and storing the objects to be processed in such a way that they are arranged along a predetermined arrangement direction in an overlapping manner with spaces therebetween, to allow transfer of the objects to be processed into/out of the pod through the opening, the load port apparatus being to be attached to an attachment surface of a semiconductor processing apparatus, on which an opening portion is provided that applies predetermined processing on the objects to be processed and comprising:
- a support table on which the pod can be placed;
- a door that can hold the lid of the pod placed on the support table and opens/closes the opening portion from the interior side of the attachment surface of the semiconductor processing apparatus;
- a sensor that detects the presence/absence of the objects to be processed in the interior of the pod;
- a mapping frame that supports the sensor;
- a first driving unit that drives the mapping frame in a first direction parallel to the predetermined arrangement direction along which the objects to be processed are arranged in an overlapping manner;
- and
- a second driving unit that drives the mapping frame in a second direction oblique to the first direction, wherein
- the second direction crosses a direction parallel to the first direction in such a way as to form an acute angle in a side in which the sensor exists.
A method of detecting objects to be processed in a load port apparatus that opens/closes a lid of a pod, which is an airtight container having an opening through which objects to be processed are brought into/out of it and storing the objects to be processed in such a way that they are arranged along a predetermined arrangement direction in an overlapping manner with spaces therebetween, to allow transfer of the objects to be processed from the interior of the pod through the opening to a processing apparatus for processing the objects to be processed and detects the presence/absence of the objects to be processed stored in the interior of the pod, comprising:
- detaching the lid of the pod to open the opening;
- placing a mapping frame supporting a sensor that detects the presence/absence of the objects to be processed in front of the opening;
- driving the mapping frame along a first direction parallel to the predetermined overlapping arrangement direction;
- driving the mapping frame in a second direction that is oblique to the first direction to form an acute angle with a direction parallel to the first direction in a side in which the sensor exists, before completion of the driving of the mapping frame in the first direction;
- and
- driving the mapping frame in the first direction while causing the sensor to operate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.