Patent US4892455A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US4892455A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Wafer alignment and transport mechanism
Assignee: HINE DESIGN Inc A Corp OF
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Filing: 1989-03-13
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Granted: 1990-01-09
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Expires: 2009-03-13
Abstract
Abstract A precise alignment mechanism combined with a transport mechanism for silicon wafers, that handles the wafers by the edges only, in order to eliminate the potential for surface damage or contamination of the wafers. The preferred embodiment of the invention works with wafers that are approximately prealigned in the cassettes before handling. A second embodimenmt can work with randomly aligned wafers. An improvement for high production or continuous operation adds a multiple cassette input to the invention.
Inventors
- 👤 Derek L. Hine
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-07 17:52
CPC Classifications
H; H10; H10P; H10P72/00; H10P72/50; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S414/00; Y10S414/135; Y10S414/136; Y10S414/137; Y10S414/141
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim
227 words
A method of transporting an individual silicon wafer which is in the form of a generally circular disk having a plane, a periphery, and a center, which method comprises supporting the wafer solely by means of wafer supports which contact the wafer only around the periphery thereof, and moving the wafer, while it is supported and contacted only by the wafer supports, until it has a desired alignment, and in which method (a) the wafer supports comprise first and second pairs of wheels which are rotatable in the plane of the wafer, the wheels of the first pair of wheels having axes of rotation which lie in a first plane and the wheels of the second pair of wheels having axes of rotation which lie in a second plane; the first plane is maintained parallel to the second plane; and the center of the wafer lies between the two pairs of wheels; and (b) the first and second pairs of wheels are urged towards each other and thereby align the wafer so that its center lies on a line joining (a) the mid point of a line joining the axes of the wheels of the first pair in the plane of the wafer and (b) the mid point of a line joining the axes of the wheels of the second pair in the plane of the wafer.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
227 words
A method of transporting an individual silicon wafer which is in the form of a generally circular disk having a plane, a periphery, and a center, which method comprises supporting the wafer solely by means of wafer supports which contact the wafer only around the periphery thereof, and moving the wafer, while it is supported and contacted only by the wafer supports, until it has a desired alignment, and in which method (a) the wafer supports comprise first and second pairs of wheels which are rotatable in the plane of the wafer, the wheels of the first pair of wheels having axes of rotation which lie in a first plane and the wheels of the second pair of wheels having axes of rotation which lie in a second plane; the first plane is maintained parallel to the second plane; and the center of the wafer lies between the two pairs of wheels; and (b) the first and second pairs of wheels are urged towards each other and thereby align the wafer so that its center lies on a line joining (a) the mid point of a line joining the axes of the wheels of the first pair in the plane of the wafer and (b) the mid point of a line joining the axes of the wheels of the second pair in the plane of the wafer.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
53 words
A method according to claim 1 wherein the wafer is in the form of a generally circular disc having on its periphery an alignment flat which is a chord of the disc or an alignment notch, and the wafer supports are moved so as to rotate the wafer into a desired rotational alignment.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
173 words
Apparatus which is suitable for transporting an individual silicon wafer which is in the form of a generally circular disk having a plane, a periphery, and a center, and which apparatus comprises (1) a mounting frame; (2) at least two wafer carriers which (a) are movably mounted on the frame (b) comprise a plurality of wafer supports, and (c) can be moved relative to each other between (i) a closed position in which a wafer to be transported can be supported solely by contact between the periphery of the wafer and the wafer supports and (ii) an open position in which a wafer to be aligned can be passed freely between the wafer carriers; (3) closing means which continuously and resiliently urges the wafer carriers toward the closed position, and (4) motion-controlling means which (i) when the wafer carriers are in the open position, can overcome the force exerted by the closing means, and (ii) can be operated to permit the wafer carriers to move in a controlled manner into the closed position.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
173 words
Apparatus which is suitable for transporting an individual silicon wafer which is in the form of a generally circular disk having a plane, a periphery, and a center, and which apparatus comprises (1) a mounting frame; (2) at least two wafer carriers which (a) are movably mounted on the frame (b) comprise a plurality of wafer supports, and (c) can be moved relative to each other between (i) a closed position in which a wafer to be transported can be supported solely by contact between the periphery of the wafer and the wafer supports and (ii) an open position in which a wafer to be aligned can be passed freely between the wafer carriers; (3) closing means which continuously and resiliently urges the wafer carriers toward the closed position, and (4) motion-controlling means which (i) when the wafer carriers are in the open position, can overcome the force exerted by the closing means, and (ii) can be operated to permit the wafer carriers to move in a controlled manner into the closed position.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
23 words
Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the wafer supports comprise rotatable wheels which rotate in the plane of a wafer to be aligned.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
65 words
Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein at least some of the wheels comprise flanges which are inclined to the axis of rotation of the wheel so that when the wafer carriers move from the open position to the closed position with a wafer between the wafer supports, the wafer moves up the flanges in a direction at right angles to the plane of the wafer.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
145 words
Apparatus according to claim 3 which is adapted to transport an individual wafer from a stack of spaced-apart, parallel wafers in a casssette, wherein the wafer supports comprise rotatable wheels which rotate in a plane whic is parallel to planes of the wafers, and wherein there are two wafer carriers, each of said wafer carriers comprising (a) a yoke which is slidable mounted on the frame, (b) a riser which is secured to the yoke and extends outwardly from the yoke for a distance greater than a corresponding dimension of the cassette, and (c) a presenter which is secured to the riser and on which at least two of the wheels are mounted; the presenters and the wheels mounted thereon being thin enough to fit between adjacent wafers in the cassette when the wafer carriers are moved from the open position to the closed position.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
88 words
Apparatus according to claim 6 which is adapted to extract a wafer from a cassette and to ddeliver it to a location outside the cassette, and which further comprises (6) means for moving the wafer carriers between (i) a pick-up location at which a wafer in the cassette can be picked up and (ii) a release location at which a wafer carried by the wafer carriers is completely outside the cassette and at which the wafer carriers can be moved into the open position to release the wafer.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
75 words
Apparatus according to claim 7 wherein each of the presenters has a pair of rotatable wheels mounted thereon, the wheels on one of the presenters having axes of rotation which lie in a first plane and the wheels on the other presenter having axes of rotation which lie in a second plane, and the first and second planes are maintained parallel to each other as the wafer carriers move between the open and closed positions.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
45 words
Apparatus according to claim 8 wherein the wafer supports can be moved to rotate a wafer supported by them into a desired rotational alignment and which further comprises (7) means for determining when a wafer supported by the wafer supports has a desired rotational alignment.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1993-01-08 | 1993-07-10 | 1994-01-09 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1997-01-08 | 1997-07-10 | 1998-01-09 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2001-01-08 | 2001-07-10 | 2002-01-09 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |