Apparatus and Method for Cleaning Wafer Handling Equipment
AssigneeKLA-Tencor Corporation
InventorsWilliam VanHoomissen, Val Estrin, Eric Jong
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cleaning assembly for cleaning one or more wafer edge handling contact surfaces of wafer handling equipment includes a substrate and a cleaning ring. The substrate includes an edge portion that extends about the body of the substrate. The cleaning ring is reversibly attachable to the edge portion of the substrate. The cleaning ring is formed from a deformable material. The substrate and cleaning ring are sized for compatibility with a front opening unified pod (FOUP) or a wafer cassette of a semiconductor fabrication facility.
Claims32
An apparatus comprising:
- a substrate, the substrate including an edge portion extending about the body of the substrate;
- and
- a cleaning ring, the cleaning ring reversibly attachable to the edge portion of the substrate, wherein the cleaning ring is formed from a deformable material.
An apparatus comprising:
- a substrate, wherein the substrate is non-circular and includes a plurality of protrusions;
- and
- a plurality of cleaning sections, each cleaning section reversibly attachable to an edge portion of a particular protrusion of the substrate, wherein each cleaning section is formed from a deformable material.
An apparatus comprising:
- a front end opening unified pod device;
- a substrate, the substrate including an edge portion extending about the body of the substrate, wherein the substrate is positionable within the front end opening unified pod device;
- and
- a cleaning ring, the cleaning ring reversibly attachable to the edge portion of the substrate, wherein the cleaning ring is formed from a deformable material.
A method comprising:
- providing a substrate, the substrate including an edge portion extending about the body of the substrate;
- providing a cleaning ring formed from a deformable material;
- attaching the cleaning ring to the substrate;
- disposing the substrate within a front end opening unified pod of a semiconductor device fabrication facility;
- transferring the front end opening unified pod between one or more process tools of the semiconductor facility;
- and
- cleaning one or more contact surfaces of one or more wafer handling devices of the semiconductor device fabrication facility with the cleaning ring attached to the substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.