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US 2022/0384232 A1Published application
Systems and methods for wafer pod alignment
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorChao-Hsiang LIU
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In an embodiment, a wafer pod includes: a cavity configured to receive and store a wafer; an alignment fiducial within the cavity, wherein: the alignment fiducial comprises two lines orthogonal to each other, and the alignment fiducial is configured to be detected by a robotic arm alignment sensor disposed on a robotic arm, wherein the alignment fiducial defines an alignment orientation for a robotic arm gripper hand to enter into the cavity.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- collecting alignment sensor data that characterizes alignment of a gripper hand with an alignment fiducial within a cavity of a wafer pod;
- determining an alignment orientation for the gripper hand for entry into the cavity based on the alignment sensor data, wherein the alignment sensor data is collected by an alignment sensor disposed on a robotic arm configured to move the gripper hand;
- and
- moving the gripper hand in the aligmnent orientation into the cavity.
1 more element
A method, comprising:
- storing a wafer in a cavity of a container;
- providing an alignment fiducial within the cavity;
- and
- detecting the alignment fiducial by a robotic arm alignment sensor disposed on a robotic arm configured to retrieve the wafer from the container, wherein the alignment fiducial defines an alignment orientation for a robotic arm gripper hand to enter into the cavity.
1 more element
A method, comprising:
- securing a wafer contained within a cavity of a wafer pod with a gripper hand of a robotic arm;
- detecting an alignment of the gripper hand to an alignment fiducial within the cavity of the wafer pod, wherein detecting the alignment comprises determining a displacement depth indicating a displacement value of the gripper hand when a center point fiducial of a dummy wafer held by the gripper hand is detected by a center point detector located on the wafer pod;
- and
- moving the gripper hand based on the detected alignment within the cavity.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.