Workpiece flipping mechanism for space-constrained environment
AssigneeGenmark Automation, Inc.
InventorsAlexander Todorov, Zlatko Manolov Sotirov
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In one embodiment, a flipping module operable to flip a workpiece delivered by a robot in a vacuum transfer chamber (VTC) includes a gripper disposed outside a working envelope of the robot in a parked position in a vacuum environment of the VTC, and an actuator operable to move the gripper from the parked position to a receiving position, and to rotate the gripper and workpiece to thereby flip the workpiece.
Claims11
A flipping module operable to flip a workpiece delivered by a robot in a vacuum transfer chamber (VTC), the flipping module comprising:
- a gripper disposed outside a working envelope of the robot in a parked position in a vacuum environment of the VTC;
- and
- an actuator operable to move the gripper from the parked position to a receiving position, and to rotate the gripper and workpiece to thereby flip the workpiece.
A vacuum transfer chamber (VTC) comprising:
- a wall defining a chamber operable to house a workpiece handling robot in a vacuum environment;
- one or more bays for coupling the vacuum environment to associated processing stations;
- and
- a flipping module including:
- a gripper disposed in the chamber outside a working envelope of the robot in a parked position;
- and
- an actuator operable to move the gripper from the parked position to a receiving position, and to rotate the gripper and a workpiece captured thereby to thereby flip the workpiece.
A method for flipping a workpiece in a vacuum environment containing a wafer handling robot whose motions prescribe a working envelope in the vacuum environment, the method comprising:
- moving a gripper from a parked configuration clear of the working envelope to a receiving configuration;
- delivering the workpiece to the gripper in the receiving configuration;
- rotating the gripper to thereby flip the workpiece;
- and
- retrieving the flipped workpiece from the gripper.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.