Apparatus and methods for a mask inverter
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsEdward Ng, Jeffrey C. Hudgens, Ayan Majumdar, Sushant S. Koshti
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Abstract
In some embodiments, apparatus and methods are provided for improved handling of lithography masks including a mask inverter that includes a first contact pad dedicated to inverting masks that have not been cleaned; a second contact pad dedicated to inverting masks that have been cleaned; an actuator coupled to the first and second contact pads and operable to invert the first and second contact pads; and a controller coupled to the actuator and operative to control the actuator. Numerous other aspects are provided.
Claims20
An apparatus for inverting masks comprising:
- a first contact pad dedicated to inverting masks that have not been cleaned;
- a second contact pad dedicated to inverting masks that have been cleaned;
- an actuator coupled to the first and second contact pads and operable to invert the first and second contact pads;
- and
- a controller coupled to the actuator and operative to control the actuator.
A system for handling masks comprising:
- a first load port;
- an atmospheric dual blade robot operable to access a first carrier in the first load port;
- a mask inverter including two contact pads and disposed to receive masks from the atmospheric dual blade robot;
- and
- a mask cleaning system disposed to receive masks from the atmospheric dual blade robot.
A method of handling masks comprising:
- loading a mask onto a first contact pad of a mask inverter using a first end effector;
- inverting the mask using the first contact pad;
- unloading the mask from the mask inverter using the first end effector;
- cleaning the mask;
- loading the mask onto a second contact pad of the mask inverter using a second end effector;
- inverting the mask using the second contact pad;
- and
- unloading the mask from the mask inverter using the second end effector.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.