US 6,854,948 B1 · Stage with two substrate buffer station

Abstract

A stage used, e.g., in semiconductor fabrication, includes a two substrate buffer station and a movable chuck. The buffer station, in one embodiment is fixed, i.e., non-movable relative to the stage. In another embodiment, the support elements of the buffer station may move in unison vertically or horizontally. In another embodiment, a pair of the support elements horizontally moves toward another pair of support elements to reduce the necessary horizontal motion of the chuck. For example, an unprocessed substrate is loaded onto the top supporting elements of the buffer station, while processed substrates are unloaded from the bottom supporting element of the buffer station. The movable chuck is used to remove the unprocessed substrates from the buffer station and to place the processed substrates on the buffer station.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A wafer measuring stage comprising:

a base;
a chuck movably coupled to said base, said chuck movable in at least a horizontal linear direction with respect to said base;
and
a fixed buffer station having a plurality of support elements fixedly positioned above said base, said plurality of support elements including a first set of support elements for holding a substrate and a second set of support elements for holding a substrate, wherein said first set of support elements hold a substrate above a substrate held by the second set of substrates, said plurality of support elements having fixed horizontal and vertical positions relative to each other.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Stage with two substrate buffer station

Life of this patent

Stage with two substrate buffer station

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims12