| Patent application number | Description | Published |
|---|
| 20080251473 | APPARATUS FOR STORING CONTAMINATION-SENSITIVE FLAT ARTICLES, IN PARTICULAR FOR STORING SEMICONDUCTOR WAFERS - An apparatus for storing contamination-sensitive flat articles, in particular for storing semiconductor wafers, comprises a plurality of box-like compartments stationary arranged on a fixed mounting rack. The compartments are open on a front side and are arranged in rows and columns side by side and one above the other on the fixed mounting rack. The compartments each have a plurality of slotted holders for receiving the flat articles, and they surround a first handling unit configured for automatically inserting and removing the flat articles into and out of the slotted holders. A closed housing forms a clean room where both the plurality of compartments and the first handling unit are arranged. | 10-16-2008 |
| 20090196715 | Automatic handling buffer for bare stocker - A buffer station for automatic material handling system can provide throughput improvement. Further, by storing to-be-accessed workpieces in the buffer stations of an equipment, the operation of the facility is not interrupted when the equipment is down. The buffer station can be incorporated in a stocker, such as bare wafer stocker. | 08-06-2009 |
| 20090196716 | Scalable stocker with automatic handling buffer - Scalable storage can be achieved with linear array storage of wafers, comprising two linear arrays of storage compartments on opposite walls, with a middle transfer mechanism. Together with a buffer station for automatic material handling system, a scalable bare wafer stocker can provide flexible and uninterrupted services to a fabrication facility. | 08-06-2009 |
| 20100319730 | Integrated cleaner and dryer system - Methods and apparatuses for integrated cleaning of objects comprising a sequence of wet cleaning and vacuum drying in a same process chamber. The present integrated cleaning process can eliminate moving parts, improving the system reliability. Vacuum decontamination can be included for degassing and decontaminating the cleaned objects. In an embodiment, a cleaner system combines various movements into an integrated movement to be handled by a robot, for example, to improve the throughput. For example, an integrated robot movement comprising picking up a closed container from the input load port, moving both the lid and body together, and then depositing the body and lid separately into the appropriate positions in the cleaner to be cleaned. | 12-23-2010 |
| 20100319733 | Integrated handling system for semiconductor articles - Methods and apparatuses for integrated cleaning of objects comprising a sequence of wet cleaning and vacuum drying in a same process chamber. The present integrated cleaning process can eliminate moving parts, improving the system reliability. Vacuum decontamination can be included for degassing and decontaminating the cleaned objects. In an embodiment, a cleaner system combines various movements into an integrated movement to be handled by a robot, for example, to improve the throughput. For example, an integrated robot movement comprising picking up a closed container from the input load port, moving both the lid and body together, and then depositing the body and lid separately into the appropriate positions in the cleaner to be cleaned. | 12-23-2010 |
| 20110129321 | Workpiece stocker with circular configuration - An improved stocker configuration for storing workpieces in a fabrication facility is disclosed, employing workpiece compartments arranged stationarily around a robot handling assembly. The robot handler can be designed with three degrees of freedom, to improve speed, throughput and minimum particle generation. In addition, the stocker storage area is stationary with the movable components are the robot assembly, thus further contributing to the cleanliness of the storage stocker. The stocker configuration can be open storage area for fast access, space saving and ease of clean air purging. The stocker configuration can provide highly dense workpiece storage, utilizing a circumferential edge gripper robot handling assembly. | 06-02-2011 |
| 20110198256 | Stackable substrate carriers - In an embodiment, the present invention discloses a stackable substrate carrier for scalably storing, transporting or processing multiple substrates. The present substrate carriers can be stacked side-by-side by an attaching mechanism, forming an integrated carrier with double, triple or multiple capacity. The attaching mechanism comprises a locking mechanism to secure the substrate carriers together, engaged by mating two substrate carriers, together with an additional rotating or translating action of the two substrate carriers. Alternatively, the locking mechanism can be engaged by pressing two substrate carriers against each other, using friction to keep the carriers together. Other locking mechanism can also be used, such as hooks or latches. | 08-18-2011 |
| 20110236176 | Removable compartments for workpiece stocker - The present invention discloses apparatuses and method for configuring a compartmentable equipment to accommodate emergency responses. An exemplary equipment comprises a plurality of removable compartments for storing workpieces so that in emergency events, such as power failure or equipment failure, the workpieces can be removed from the equipment for continuing processing without disrupting the flow of the fabrication facility. The compartmentable equipment can comprise emergency access ports, including mating interface to a portable workpiece removal equipment to allow accessing the individual compartments without compromising the quality, defects and yield of the workpieces stored in the stocker. | 09-29-2011 |
