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US 2014/0234057 A1Published application
Apparatus And Methods For Moving Wafers
OwnerJacob Newmaninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Provided are apparatus and methods for simultaneously swapping a processed wafer with an unprocessed wafer. A robot with a rotatable stage, a first blade assembly and second blade assembly extends both assemblies at the same time in opposite directions to pick up both a processed and unprocessed wafer. Rotation of the robot allows the unprocessed wafer to be placed in the position previously occupied by the processed wafer and vice versa.
Claims20
An apparatus for transferring wafer, the apparatus comprising:
- a transfer robot including
- a rotatable stage,
- a first blade assembly connected to the rotatable stage, the first blade assembly comprising a first arm with a first wafer support at an end of the first arm, the first arm extendable from the rotatable stage in a first direction, and
- a second blade assembly connected to the rotatable stage, the second blade assembly comprising a second arm with a second wafer support at an end of the second arm, the second arm extendable from the rotatable stage in a second direction different from the first direction;
- and
- a controller in communication with the transfer robot to cause the transfer robot to substantially simultaneously extend the first arm and the second arm in opposite directions.
3 more elements
A processing apparatus, comprising:
- a load lock chamber;
- a processing chamber;
- a transfer station between and in communication with both the load lock chamber and the processing chamber, the transfer station comprising a transfer robot including a rotatable stage, a first blade assembly connected to the rotatable stage and a second blade assembly connected to the rotatable stage, the first blade assembly including a first arm with a first wafer support at an end of the first arm, the first arm extendable from the rotatable stage in a first direction, the second blade assembly including a second arm with a second wafer support at an end of the second arm, the second arm extendable from the rotatable stage in a second direction opposite the first direction;
- and
- a controller in communication with the transfer robot to cause the transfer robot to substantially simultaneously extend the first arm and the second arm in opposite directions so that one of the first arm and the second arm extends into the load lock chamber and the other of the first arm and second arm extends into the processing chamber.
2 more elements
A method of processing wafers, the method comprising:
- extending a first arm from a rotatable stage a first distance in a first direction;
- extending a second arm from the rotatable stage a second distance in a second direction opposite the first direction;
- retracting the first arm and the second arm;
- rotating the rotatable stage;
- extending the first arm from the rotatable stage the second distance in the second direction;
- and
- extending the second arm from the rotatable stage the first distance in the first direction,
- wherein the first arm and the second arm are extended from the rotatable stage substantially simultaneously.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.