Wafer aligning apparatus
AssigneeMitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorTosio Ono
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A wafer aligning apparatus for re-aligning a plurality of wafers at different pitches. The apparatus includes a plurality of wafer retaining plates, each of which retains a plurality of wafers, a guide device which guides the wafer retaining plates, and a transferring device which transfers the wafer retaining plates along the guide device, wherein when the plurality of wafer retaining plates are at one end of the guide device, they are spaced at a first pitch and aligned, and when the wafer retaining plates are at the other end of the guide device, they are aligned at a second pitch different from the first pitch.
Claims20
A wafer aligning apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of wafer retaining plates, each retaining plate having a plurality of distinct retaining portions for retaining a plurality of wafers spaced from each other in a noncontacting relationship;
- guide means for guiding said wafer retaining plates;
- and
- retaining plate transferring means for transferring said plurality of wafer retaining plates along said guide means wherein, when said plurality of wafer retaining plates are at a first end of said guide means, said plates are aligned at a first pitch, and, when said plurality of wafer retaining plates are at a second end of said guide means, said plates are aligned at a second pitch different from the first pitch.
A wafer aligning apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of wafer retaining plates, each retaining plate for supporting a plurality of wafers spaced apart at a uniform first pitch;
- a guide supporting the wafer retaining plates for movement in a direction parallel to the wafers supported by the wafer retaining plates between a first position and a second position while changing the spacing between the wafer retaining plates, the pitch between two wafers on adjoining wafer retaining plates being the first pitch when the wafer retaining plates are in the first position and being a second pitch, different from the first pitch, when the wafer retaining plates are in the second position;
- and
- a drive mechanism for moving the wafer retaining plates between the first and second positions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.