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US 6,203,582 B1Granted
Modular semiconductor workpiece processing tool
AssigneeSemitool, Inc.
InventorsRobert W. Berner, Daniel J. Woodruff, Wayne J. Schmidt, Kevin W. Coyle, Vladimir Zila, Worm Lund
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides for a semiconductor workpiece processing tool. The semiconductor workpiece processing tool includes an interface section comprising at least one interface module and a processing section comprising a plurality of processing modules for processing the semiconductor workpieces. The semiconductor workpiece processing tool has a conveyor for transferring the semiconductor workpieces between the interface modules and the processing modules.
Claims14
A workpiece processing tool, comprising:
- a plurality of workpiece processing modules for processing a workpiece;
- each of said workpiece processing modules being interchangeable;
- a workpiece conveyor disposed between said workpiece processing modules and having at least two workpiece transport units, said workpiece processing modules being positioned adjacent opposing sides of said workpiece conveyor;
- said workpiece conveyor including a first transport unit guide having at least one motion actuator for controllably moving one of said at least two workpiece transport units therealong and a second transport unit guide having at least one motion actuator for controllably moving the other of said at least two workpiece transport units therealong;
- said at least two workpiece transport units including a first workpiece transport unit coupled with the first transport unit guide and a second workpiece transport unit coupled with the second transport unit guide;
- said at least two workpiece transport units each configured to support a single workpiece and access each of said workpiece processing modules for transferring workpieces therebetween.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.