Substrate tilt control in high speed rotary sorter
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsAsaf SCHLEZINGER, Markus J. STOPPER
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus and method for sorting a plurality of substrates is disclosed. The apparatus includes a sorting unit capable of supporting a plurality of bins, a rotatable support disposed within the sorting unit, the rotatable support rotatable about a rotational axis, a plurality of grippers coupled to the rotatable support on a common radius relative to the rotational axis, the grippers positioned to travel along a path above the bins as the rotatable support rotates, and an air nozzle configured to reorient a sorted substrate relative to a stacked substrate in a bin of the plurality of bins when released by one of the grippers into the bin.
Claims20
An apparatus for sorting a plurality of substrates, the apparatus comprising:
- a sorting unit capable of supporting a plurality of bins;
- a rotatable support disposed within the sorting unit, the rotatable support rotatable about a rotational axis;
- a plurality of grippers coupled to the rotatable support on a common radius relative to the rotational axis, the grippers positioned to travel along a path above the bins as the rotatable support rotates;
- and
- an air nozzle configured to reorient a sorted substrate relative to a stacked substrate in a bin of the plurality of bins when released by one of the grippers into the bin.
An apparatus adapted to sort substrates, comprising:
- a sorting unit capable of supporting a plurality of individually removable sorting bins, wherein the sorting unit comprises:
- a support structure extending radially outward from an axis of rotation;
- at least one gripper coupled to the support structure for supporting a substrate, the at least one gripper positioned to travel along a path above the individually removable sorting bins as the at least one gripper rotates;
- and
- an air nozzle for reorienting a planar orientation of the substrate after release from the at least one gripper.
A method of operating an apparatus for sorting a plurality of substrates in an enclosure, the method comprising:
- holding an inspected substrate with at least one gripper on a rotating sorting unit;
- rotating the inspected substrate held by the at least one gripper about a center axis of the sorting unit to a location above a sorting bin assigned to the inspected substrate, wherein the sorting bin includes a baseplate having a plane that is angled in a non-horizontal plane;
- releasing the inspected substrate from the at least one gripper in a horizontal planar orientation into the assigned sorting bin;
- and
- reorienting the planar orientation of the inspected substrate prior to resting within the assigned sorting bin.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.