US20010041120A1 - Substrate processing apparatus with vertically stacked load lock and substrate transport robot - Google Patents
Substrate processing apparatus with vertically stacked load lock and substrate transport robot Download PDFInfo
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- US20010041120A1 US20010041120A1 US09/362,490 US36249099A US2001041120A1 US 20010041120 A1 US20010041120 A1 US 20010041120A1 US 36249099 A US36249099 A US 36249099A US 2001041120 A1 US2001041120 A1 US 2001041120A1
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- substrate
- load lock
- chamber
- assembly
- support
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
- H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
- H01L21/677—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations
- H01L21/67739—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations into and out of processing chamber
- H01L21/67751—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations into and out of processing chamber vertical transfer of a single workpiece
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
- H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
- H01L21/677—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations
- H01L21/67763—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations the wafers being stored in a carrier, involving loading and unloading
- H01L21/67772—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations the wafers being stored in a carrier, involving loading and unloading involving removal of lid, door, cover
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- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
- Y10S—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y10S414/00—Material or article handling
- Y10S414/135—Associated with semiconductor wafer handling
- Y10S414/139—Associated with semiconductor wafer handling including wafer charging or discharging means for vacuum chamber
-
- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
- Y10S—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y10S414/00—Material or article handling
- Y10S414/135—Associated with semiconductor wafer handling
- Y10S414/14—Wafer cassette transporting
Definitions
- FIG. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view of another embodiment of a substrate transport and load lock assembly
Abstract
Description
- 1. Field of the Invention
- The present invention relates to processing of substrate and, more particularly, to an assembly of a vertically arranged load lock and substrate transport robot assembly.
- 2. Prior Art
- U.S. Pat. Nos.5,562,383 and 5,882,413 disclose different types of substrate processing apparatus. It is known in the art to provide a substrate transport robot between a station holding a cassette of substrates and a load lock into a main transfer chamber of the substrate processing apparatus. A problem with this type of arrangement is that the footprint is relatively large because the cassette holding station, substrate transport robot and load lock are arranged in series along a horizontal plane.
- In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention a substrate processing apparatus substrate transport and load lock assembly is provided comprising a first load lock, a first substrate elevator, and a transport robot. The first substrate elevator has a first vertical drive and a first substrate support connected to the vertical drive. The support is vertically movable by the vertical drive along a path including a first position outside of the load lock and a second position inside the load lock. The transport robot has a movable arm for supporting at least one substrate thereon. The movable arm is movable into and out of the path of the substrate support while the support is located in the load lock.
- In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention a substrate processing apparatus substrate transport and load lock assembly is provided comprising a frame, a substrate elevator, and a transport. The frame has a first load lock chamber and a substrate pod receiving chamber vertically orientated relative to each other. The substrate elevator has a vertical drive and a first substrate support connected to the vertical drive. The support is vertically movable by the vertical drive between a position inside the first load lock chamber and a position inside the substrate pod receiving chamber. The transport has a movable arm for supporting a portable substrate pod thereon and for moving a portable substrate pod into and out of the substrate pod receiving chamber to transfer substrates between the substrate pod and the substrate support.
- In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention a substrate processing apparatus substrate transport and load lock assembly is provided comprising a frame, a first substrate elevator, and a substrate transport robot. The frame has a first load lock chamber and a substrate transport robot chamber vertically orientated one above the other. The first substrate elevator has a vertical drive and a first substrate support connected to the vertical drive. The support is vertically movable by the vertical drive between a position inside the load lock chamber and a position inside the substrate transport robot chamber. The substrate transport robot has a movable arm assembly and an end effector connected to the movable arm assembly. The end effector is sized and shaped to support at least one substrate thereon. The movable arm assembly is located in the substrate transfer robot chamber. When the substrate support is located in the load lock chamber the movable arm assembly is movable in an area of the substrate transport robot chamber vertically offset and aligned, at least partially, with the substrate support.
- In accordance with one method of the present invention a method of transporting substrates between a first load lock chamber and a portable substrate container is provided comprising steps of moving the substrates from the portable substrate container to a first substrate elevator. The substrate elevator having a first substrate support for directly individually supporting the substrates thereon, the substrate support being located in a receiving chamber vertically aligned with the load lock; and moving the substrate elevator to vertically move the substrate support from the receiving chamber into the load lock chamber, wherein the portable substrate container is directly connected to the receiving chamber while the substrates are moved from the container to the substrate elevator.
- The foregoing aspects and other features of the present invention are explained in the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
- FIG. 1 is a schematic top view of a substrate processing apparatus comprising features of the present invention;
- FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 without the substrate processing modules attached to the main transfer chamber;
- FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the substrate transport and load lock assembly shown in FIG. 2;
- FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the portable substrate container shown in FIG. 3;
- FIG. 5 is a schematic top plan view of an alternate embodiment of the portable substrate container movement device;
- FIG. 6 is a schematic top plan view of another alternate embodiment of the portable substrate container movement device;
- FIG. 7 is a schematic top plan view of another alternate embodiment having two substrate transport and load lock assemblies;
- FIG. 8 is a perspective view as in FIG. 2 of another alternate embodiment of the main transfer chamber and two substrate transport and load lock assemblies;
- FIG. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view of another embodiment of a substrate transport and load lock assembly;
- FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the portable substrate container support and door opener of the assembly shown in FIG. 9;
- FIG. 11 is a schematic top plan view of an alternate embodiment of the substrate transport and load lock assembly; and
- FIG. 12 is a schematic top plan view of another alternate embodiment of the substrate transport and load lock assembly.
- Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a schematic top plan view of a
substrate processing apparatus 10 incorporating features of the present invention. Although the present invention will be described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the present invention can be embodied in many alternate forms of embodiments. In addition, any suitable size, shape or type of elements or materials could be used. - The
apparatus 10 generally comprises amain transfer chamber 12,substrate processing modules 14, and a substrate transport andload lock assembly 16. Thechamber 12 is shown as having four sides, but in alternate embodiments the chamber could have any suitable shape with any suitable number of sides. Thesubstrate processing modules 14 are well known in the art and are used for processing substrates such as semi-conductor wafers or flat panel display substrates. In this embodiment, themodules 14 are mounted to three sides of thechamber 12. In alternate embodiments themodules 14 could be mounted to more or less than three sides. Theassembly 16 is mounted to the fourth side of thechamber 12. In alternate embodiments more than oneassembly 16 could be provided and, could be mounted to one or more sides of the main transfer chamber. Referring also to FIG. 2, thechamber 12 has aframe 18 and vertically spacedapertures 20. Thechamber 12 may be comprised of multiple chambers stacked or otherwise connected to each other; perhaps with a common frame or multiple frames. Theprocessing modules 14 are mounted to theframe 18 at theapertures 20. Thus, vertical arrays or columns ofmodules 14 are attached to theframe 18. Thechamber 12 also has a substrate transport robot 22 (see FIG. 1) located, at least partially, inside theframe 18 for transporting substrates into, through and out of theframe 18. Any suitable type of robot could be provided in thechamber 12, but it needs to be vertically movable to pass through the vertically spacedapertures 20. Thechamber 12 could also have more than one robot located in main transfer area inside theframe 18. An example of one such robot is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/662,930 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Although FIG. 2 shows columns of fourapertures 20 on sides of theframe 18, more or less apertures could be provided on each side, theapertures 20 could be staggered on each side, and/or more than one column of apertures could be provided on a single side. - Referring also to FIG. 3, the substrate transport and load
lock assembly 16 is connected to oneside 24 of theframe 18. In this embodiment theside 24 has two vertically spacedapertures assembly 16 generally comprises aframe 30, asubstrate elevator 32, and atransport 34. Theframe 30 has two apertures aligned with theapertures apertures frame 18 or theframe 30. Theframe 30 has three stackedareas top area 36 is located at thetop aperture 26 and thebottom area 38 is located at thebottom aperture 28. In this embodiment theframe 30 has aledge 44 with anaperture 46 therethrough located between the top andmiddle area frame 30 also has aledge 48 with anaperture 50 located between the middle andbottom areas middle area 37 has anaperture 40 on an opposite side of theframe 30 from theapertures movable door 42 is connected to theframe 30 for opening and closing theaperture 40. - The
substrate elevator 32 is similar to the elevator disclosed U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/049,314 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. In this embodiment theelevator 32 has two independentlymovable sections top elevator section 52 generally comprises adrive 56 and asubstrate support 58. Thesubstrate support 58 is adapted to separately support individual substrates thereon in a spaced configuration. Thesupport 58 is connected to thedrive 56 by adrive rod 60. Thedrive 56 can move thedrive rod 60 vertically up and down to move thesupport 58 vertically up and down between positions in thetop area 36 and themiddle area 37. Thetop elevator section 52 also has twoplates support 58. Thetop plate 62 makes a sealing engagement with a top side of theledge 44 when thetop elevator section 52 is in a down position with thesupport 58 in themiddle area 37. Thebottom plate 63 makes a sealing engagement with an underside of theledge 44 when thetop elevator section 52 is in an up position with thesupport 58 in thetop area 36. In one embodiment thedrive 56 can also axially rotate therod 60 and, thus, rotate thesupport 58 and substrates thereon. Thebottom elevator section 54 generally comprises adrive 66 and asubstrate support 68. Thesubstrate support 68 is adapted to separately support individual substrates thereon in a spaced configuration. Thesupport 68 is connected to thedrive 66 by adrive rod 70. Thedrive 66 can move thedrive rod 70 vertically up and down to move thesupport 68 vertically up and down between positions in thebottom area 38 and themiddle area 37. Thebottom elevator section 54 also has twoplates support 68. Thetop plate 72 makes a sealing engagement with a top side of theledge 48 when thebottom elevator section 54 is in a down position with thesupport 68 in thebottom area 38. Thebottom plate 73 makes a sealing engagement with an underside of theledge 48 when thebottom elevator section 54 is in an up position with thesupport 68 in themiddle area 37. In one embodiment thedrive 66 can also axially rotate therod 70 and, thus, rotate thesupport 68 and substrates thereon. - The
top area 36 and thebottom area 38 provide the function of being load lock chambers between the main chamber inside theframe 18 and themiddle area 37. The top andbottom areas areas top substrate support 58 is in thetop area 36 the robot 22 (see FIG. 1) can move substrates through theaperture 26 onto and off of thesupport 58. When thebottom substrate support 68 is in thebottom area 38 therobot 22 can move substrates through theaperture 28 onto and off of thesupport 68. Themiddle area 37 forms a receiving area for loading substrates from aportable substrate container 74, also known as a carrier or pod, onto and off of the substrate supports 58, 68 when thesupports middle area 37. In a preferred embodiment theplates plates middle area 37 when the top andbottom areas apertures plates - Referring also to FIG. 4, an exploded perspective view of one embodiment of a
portable substrate container 74 is shown. Thecontainer 74 has amain housing 76 and aremovable side door 78. Thecontainer 74 is similar to that described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/243,516 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Thecontainer 74 is a FOUP (Front Opening Unified Pod) design for supporting and transporting a plurality of wafers in spaced relationship in a substantially particle free environment. Thecontainer 74 has a plurality ofrack members 80 for supporting the wafers generally horizontally, in a generally vertically spaced relationship. At any one time, all or only some of therack members 80 may actually be supporting wafers. In alternate embodiments other types of portable substrate holders could be used. - The
container 74 includes thehousing 76 with acarrier port 82 for providing access to the interior 84 thereof. Acarrier door 78 is removably connected to thehousing 76 and is movable between a closed position overlying thecarrier port 82 and an open position spaced from thecarrier port 82. Thecarrier door 78 is illustrated as including a generally rectangular plate and has a peripherally extending continuous raised flange. Asuitable seal 86 is interposed between the flange and the carrier port for sealing the interior of thecarrier 74 from the surrounding atmosphere when the carrier door is in the closed position. For selectively locking thecarrier door 78 in place overlying thecarrier port 82 and with the flange firmly engaged with theseal 86, a plurality oflatch members 88 are provided on the carrier door at peripherally spaced locations movable between an extended, locking position so as to be engaged with respectively positioned locking recesses 90 on the carrier adjacent the carrier port and a retracted release position disengaged from the locking recesses 90. Suitable keyway mechanisms externally indicated bylatch keyways 92 are operably connected to thelatch members 88 for moving the latch members between the locking position and the release position. The mechanisms (not shown) may be linkages or may be solenoid operated of may be of other appropriate design. In a typical manner, when the latch keyways 92 are vertically oriented thelatch members 38 are extended such that the carrier door is closed and locked with the flange bearing firmly against thecarrier port 82 with theseal 86 interposed between the flange and the port to maintain the particle free environment within theinterior 84 of the carrier. When the latch keyways 92 are horizontally oriented thelatch members 88 are retracted such that the carrier door is unlocked and capable of being removed from thecarrier port 82. In this latter condition, thecarrier door 78 is free to be removed from the carrier in a manner to be described below. - Referring back to FIG. 3, the
transport 34 generally comprises acarrier door opener 94, asupport frame 96, amovable arm 98, and adrive 100 for moving themovable arm 98. Thecarrier door opener 94 is connected to thesupport frame 96 and is adapted to remove and replace thedoor 78 with themain housing 76 of theportable container 74 as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/243,516. Themovable arm 98 is adapted to have thecontainer 74 removably mounted thereon. Thedrive 100 is adapted to horizontally move thearm 94 to move themain housing 76 of thecontainer 74 relative to thesupport frame 96, as indicated by arrow A, through theaperture 40 into and out of themiddle chamber 37 of theassembly 16. Thedrive 100 is preferably also able to slightly move thearm 98 vertically up and down when themain housing 76 is in themiddle chamber 37 as indicated by arrow B. Of course, themovable door 42 must be out of the way of theaperture 40 for thearm 98 andmain housing 76 of thecontainer 74 to move in and out of themiddle chamber 37. - The
container 74, with substrates therein, is initially placed on thearm 98 by an operator. Thedoor 78 is then removed from themain housing 76 by theopener 94. Thedoor 42 is opened and thearm 98 is moved to move themain housing 76 into themiddle chamber 37. One of the substrate supports 58 or 68 is located in themiddle chamber 37 withplates middle chamber 37 from top and bottomload lock chambers main housing 76 are moved into position over individualsubstrate support shelves 102 of thesupport shelves 102 off of therack members 80 by merely moving themain housing 76 downward. Thearm 98 is then retracted back to the position shown in FIG. 3 to withdraw themain housing 76 from themiddle chamber 37. Thedoor 42 is moved to a closed position to close theaperture 40. Themiddle chamber 37 can be evacuated before moving the substrate support and substrates thereon. If theupper substrate support 58 was in themiddle chamber 37, it is moved up into the upperload lock chamber 36 with theplate 63 being sealed against theledge 44. The robot 22 (see FIG. 1) can then move the substrates from and to thesupport 58 while in the topload lock chamber 36. If thelower substrate support 68 was in themiddle chamber 37, it is moved down into the lowerload lock chamber 38 with theplate 72 being sealed against theledge 48. Therobot 22 can then move the substrates from and to thesupport 68 while in the bottomload lock chamber 38. - Once the unprocessed substrates are removed from the
supports supports middle chamber 37, thedoor 42 opened and themain housing 76 is inserted into themiddle chamber 37 again by thearm 98. Themain housing 76 is moved upward in themiddle chamber 37 to remove the substrates from theshelves 102 and now support the substrates on therack members 80. Thearm 98 is then moved to remove themain housing 76 from themiddle chamber 37 with the processed substrates in themain housing 76. Thedoor 42 is closed. Thedoor 78 is replaced onto themain housing 76. The operator can now replace thecontainer 74 with a new container of new substrates to be processed to repeat the process. - With the present invention the footprint of the
apparatus 10, when compared to prior art substrate processing apparatus, can be reduced. More specifically, the present invention allows the load lock chamber between the environment in themain transfer chamber 12 and the environment outside thechamber 12 to be vertically aligned, at least partially, with at least a portion of the robot(s) used to transfer the substrates from the initial portable substrate container placement area to the load lock chamber(s). In the prior art, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,512,320 the robot in the atmospheric exchange section was located totally horizontally outward from the load locks. This increased the footprint of the processing apparatus. The present invention significantly reduces the size of the atmospheric exchange section by vertically stacking a part of the atmospheric exchange section with the load lock chamber(s) and vertically stacking a part of the robot of the atmospheric exchange section with theportable substrate container 74. - FIG. 5 shows a schematic top plan view of an alternate embodiment of the
transport 34′. Thetransport 34′ has aframe 96′, acarrier door opener 94′, threemovable arms 98′ each having a separate drive (not shown). Theframe 96′ is automatically or robotically movable relative to theassembly 16 outside theclean room wall 104 as indicated by arrow C. This allows thecontainers 74 andarms 98′ to be separately brought into registry with thedoor opener 94′ andassembly 16 for interaction therewith. The two other areas not in registration with thedoor opener 94′ andassembly 16 can be used by the operator to load and unload thecontainers 74 on thearms 98′. - FIG. 6 shows a schematic top plan view of another alternate embodiment of the
transport 34″. In this embodiment the transport has aframe 96″, acarrier door opener 94″ and twomovable arms 98″. Theframe 96″ can be rotated as indicated by arrows D to move thecontainers 74 into and out of registry with thedoor opener 94″ for introduction of thecontainers 74 into theassembly 16. In an alternate embodiment thetransport 34″ could have two lateral side carrier door openers atlocations 95″ wherein thecontainers 74 would be loaded on one of themovable arms 98″ when the movable arm was located in a front position and the substrates and/or container moved into theassembly 16 when moved to either lateral side of theassembly 16. - FIG. 7 shows a schematic top plan view of another alternate embodiment. In this embodiment the substrate processing apparatus has two
assemblies 16 attached to themain transfer chamber 12′. Eachassembly 16 has itsown transport 34 for movingseparate containers 74 into and out of theseparate assemblies 16. - Referring now to FIG. 8 a schematic perspective view, similar to FIG. 2, of an alternate embodiment is shown. The
frame 112 of themain transfer chamber 110 has threesides apertures 20 for mounting thesubstrate process modules 14 in vertically columns. Theframe 112 also has twoother sides assemblies 120 separately mounted to eachside assemblies 120 are substrate transport and load lock assemblies similar to theassemblies 16. However, theassemblies 120 each only comprise oneelevator section 122 rather than two elevator sections and oneload lock chamber 124 rather than two load lock chambers. For eachassembly 120, thetransport 34 is able to move thecontainer 74 into and out of its receivingchamber 126. Thedrives 128 and respective substrate supports 130 are able to move the substrates between theirrespective chambers - Referring now to FIG. 9, another alternate embodiment will be described. In this embodiment the substrate processing apparatus has a
main transfer chamber 140 with two laterally spaced entrance apertures 142 (only one of which is shown). Adoor 144 is located at eachaperture 142 for selectively sealing the aperture. Aload lock chamber 146 is connected to thechamber 140 at eachaperture 142. Eachload lock chamber 146 has abottom aperture 148 with aledge 150. Anelevator 152 is provided with eachload lock chamber 146 having adrive 154 and amulti-substrate holder 156 connected to thedrive 154. Thedrive 154 is adapted to vertically move theholder 156 into and out of thechamber 146. Theelevator 152 has abottom plate 158 which can contact theledge 150 to seal off thechamber 140 when the elevator is in an up position. Located vertically spaced from theload lock chambers 146 is arobot 160 for moving substrates between theportable substrate container 74 and thesubstrate holders 156 when the holders are in a down position. One such robot is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,590 and another in U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,529 which are hereby incorporated by reference. However, any suitable robot could be used. Referring also to FIG. 10, theportable container 74 is positioned on aframe 162. Adoor opener 164 is connected to theframe 162 to remove the door to thecontainer 74. Themain housing 76 remains stationary on theframe 162 as therobot 160 moves the substrates into and out of themain housing 76. Theload lock chambers 146 and thedrive 161 of therobot 160 are contained in a same vertical plane which does not intersect themain transfer chamber 140 orcontainers 74. Thus, the footprint of theassembly containers 74 and entrance to thechamber 140 is smaller than in the prior art. - FIGS. 11 and 12 show two different adaptations using this type of principle. In FIG. 11 the
main transfer chamber 140 has twoload lock chambers 146 attached to it. Eachload lock chamber 146 has its ownseparate elevator section 152. Theframe 162 includes atrack section 166, and twocontainer support areas 168. Thecontainers 74 can be mounted on thesupport areas 168. Eachsupport area 168 has aseparate door opener 164 associated therewith. Therobot 160 is mounted on acar 170. Thecar 170 is movably mounted on thetrack 166. A similar car/track configuration is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/891,523 which is hereby incorporated by reference. However, any suitable horizontal traverse robot relocation system could be used. Therobot 160 can move under theload lock chambers 146. - In FIG. 12 the
robot drive 161 is not moved from the relative position shown. Instead, therobot 160 uses a scara arm with an off-center pick technique similar to that described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/163,844 which is hereby incorporated by reference. Thearms 163 of therobot 160, including the proximal orupper arm 165, can move under theload lock chambers 146. - It should be understood that the foregoing description is only illustrative of the invention. Various alternatives and modifications can be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the present invention is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variances which fall within the scope of the appended claims.
Claims (35)
Priority Applications (4)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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US09/362,490 US6318945B1 (en) | 1999-07-28 | 1999-07-28 | Substrate processing apparatus with vertically stacked load lock and substrate transport robot |
PCT/US2000/016289 WO2001009020A1 (en) | 1999-07-28 | 2000-06-14 | Vertically stacked load lock and transport robot |
JP2001514228A JP2003517724A (en) | 1999-07-28 | 2000-06-14 | Vertically stacked load locks and transfer robot |
AU57369/00A AU5736900A (en) | 1999-07-28 | 2000-06-14 | Vertically stacked load lock and transport robot |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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US09/362,490 US6318945B1 (en) | 1999-07-28 | 1999-07-28 | Substrate processing apparatus with vertically stacked load lock and substrate transport robot |
Publications (2)
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US20010041120A1 true US20010041120A1 (en) | 2001-11-15 |
US6318945B1 US6318945B1 (en) | 2001-11-20 |
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US09/362,490 Expired - Fee Related US6318945B1 (en) | 1999-07-28 | 1999-07-28 | Substrate processing apparatus with vertically stacked load lock and substrate transport robot |
Country Status (4)
Country | Link |
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US (1) | US6318945B1 (en) |
JP (1) | JP2003517724A (en) |
AU (1) | AU5736900A (en) |
WO (1) | WO2001009020A1 (en) |
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JP2000286319A (en) * | 1999-03-31 | 2000-10-13 | Canon Inc | Substrate transferring method and semiconductor manufacturing apparatus |
US6811369B2 (en) * | 1999-09-02 | 2004-11-02 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Semiconductor fabrication apparatus, pod carry apparatus, pod carry method, and semiconductor device production method |
JP2002184831A (en) * | 2000-12-11 | 2002-06-28 | Hirata Corp | Foup opener |
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US6869263B2 (en) * | 2002-07-22 | 2005-03-22 | Brooks Automation, Inc. | Substrate loading and unloading station with buffer |
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FR2844258B1 (en) * | 2002-09-06 | 2005-06-03 | Recif Sa | SYSTEM FOR TRANSPORTING AND STORING SEMICONDUCTOR PLATE CONTAINERS, AND TRANSFER MECHANISM |
US7207766B2 (en) | 2003-10-20 | 2007-04-24 | Applied Materials, Inc. | Load lock chamber for large area substrate processing system |
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Also Published As
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AU5736900A (en) | 2001-02-19 |
US6318945B1 (en) | 2001-11-20 |
JP2003517724A (en) | 2003-05-27 |
WO2001009020A1 (en) | 2001-02-08 |
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