Wafer aligner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016126128-A1
Application number	US-201514928352-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 30, 2015
Priority date	Nov 4, 2014
Publication date	May 5, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A semiconductor wafer transport apparatus includes a frame, a transport arm movably mounted to the frame and having at least one end effector movably mounted to the arm so the at least one end effector traverses, with the arm as a unit, in a first direction relative to the frame, and traverses linearly, relative to the transport arm, in a second direction, and an edge detection sensor mounted to the transport arm so the edge detection sensor moves with the transport arm as a unit relative to the frame, the edge detection sensor being a common sensor effecting edge detection of each wafer simultaneously supported by the end effector, wherein the edge detection sensor is configured so the edge detection of each wafer is effected by and coincident with the traverse in the second direction of each end effector on the transport arm.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A semiconductor wafer transport apparatus comprising:
a frame; a transport arm movably mounted to the frame and having at least one end effector movably mounted to the arm so that the at least one end effector traverses, with the arm as a unit, in a first direction relative to the frame, and traverses linearly, relative to the transport arm, in a second direction; and an edge detection sensor mounted to the transport arm so that the edge detection sensor moves with the transport arm as a unit relative to the frame, the edge detection sensor being a common sensor effecting edge detection of each wafer of more than one wafers simultaneously supported by the at least one end effector; wherein the edge detection sensor is configured so that the edge detection of each wafer is effected by and coincident with the traverse in the second direction of each end effector of the at least one end effector on the transport arm.

2 . The semiconductor wafer transport apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the traverse of each end effector in the second direction linearly transports a corresponding wafer, seated on the end effector, of the more than one wafers simultaneously supported by the at least one end effector, relative to the edge detection sensor effecting edge detection.

3 . The semiconductor wafer transport apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the edge detection sensor is configured to detect an edge of the wafer and identify therefrom a wafer location and misalignment with respect to a predetermined reference frame.

4 . The semiconductor wafer transport apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising a wafer aligner mounted to the transport arm so that the aligner and the transport arm move as a unit relative to the frame, the aligner being disposed to cooperate with each end effector and effect wafer alignment of the corresponding wafer seated on the end effector.

5 . The semiconductor wafer transport apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising a controller configured to cycle a linear traverse of each end effector past the edge detection sensor and effect edge detection of each corresponding wafer.

6 . The semiconductor wafer transport apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the controller is configured to sequentially cycle the linear traverse of all end effectors before engaging a first wafer with a wafer aligner mounted to the transport arm.

7 . The semiconductor wafer transport apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each end effector has an independent drive configured so that each end effector has independent linear traverse in the second direction.

8 . The semiconductor wafer transport apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one end effector includes a first end effector and a second end effector, each being independently driven relative to the transport arm.

9 . The semiconductor wafer transport apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the edge detection is an on the fly edge detection.

10 . A wafer processing apparatus comprising an enclosure with a load port and the transport apparatus as in claim 1 .

11 . A semiconductor wafer transport apparatus comprising:
a frame; a transport arm movably mounted to the frame and having a first end effector and a second end effector movably mounted to the arm so that
the first end effector and second end effector traverse, with the arm as a unit, in a first direction relative to the frame, and,
the first end effector and second end effector are independently driven for independent linear traverse, relative to the transport arm, in a second direction different from the first direction; and
an edge detection sensor mounted to the transport arm so that the edge detection sensor moves with the transport arm as a unit relative to the frame, the edge detection sensor being a common sensor effecting edge detection of each wafer of more than one wafers simultaneously supported by the first end effector and second end effector; wherein the edge detection sensor is configured so that the edge detection of each wafer is effected by and coincident with the traverse in the second direction of each end effector of the first end effector and second end effector on the transport arm.

12 . The semiconductor wafer transport apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the traverse of each end effector in the second direction linearly transports a corresponding wafer, seated on a respective end effector, of the more than one wafers simultaneously supported by the first end effector and the second end effector, relative to the edge detection sensor effecting edge detection.

13 . The semiconductor wafer transport apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the edge detection sensor is configured to detect an edge of the wafer and identify therefrom a wafer location and misalignment with respect to a predetermined reference frame.

14 . The semiconductor wafer transport apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising a wafer aligner mounted to the transport arm so that the aligner and the transport arm move as a unit relative to the frame, the aligner being disposed to cooperate with each end effector and effect wafer alignment of the corresponding wafer seated on a respective one of the first end effector and the second end effector.

15 . The semiconductor wafer transport apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising a controller configured to cycle a linear traverse of each end effector past the edge detection sensor and effect edge detection of each corresponding wafer.

16 . The semiconductor wafer transport apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the controller is configured to sequentially cycle the linear traverse of all end effectors before engaging a first wafer with a wafer aligner mounted to the transport arm.

17 . The semiconductor wafer transport apparatus of claim 11 , wherein each end effector has an independent drive configured to effect the independent linear traverse of each end effector in the second direction.

18 . A wafer processing apparatus comprising an enclosure with a load port and the transport apparatus as in claim 11 .

19 . The wafer processing apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the edge detection is an on the fly edge detection.

20 . A method of processing a semiconductor wafer, the method comprising:
providing a transport arm movably mounted to a frame; providing at least one end effector movably mounted to the arm so that the at least one end effector traverses, with the arm as a unit, in a first direction relative to the frame, and traverses linearly, relative to the transport arm, in a second direction different from the first direction; and sequentially cycling linear traversal of each end effector of the at least one end effector in the second direction so that more than one wafers are each sequentially shuffled and scanned by a common edge detection sensor, mounted to the transport arm, during the sequential cycling of the linear traversal of each end effector.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein scanning by the common edge detection sensor during the sequential shuffle effects on the fly edge detection of each wafer of the more than one wafers simultaneously supported by the at least one end effector where the common edge detection sensor is mounted to the transport arm so that the common edge detection sensor moves with the transport arm as a unit relative to the frame.

22 . The method of claim 20 , further comprising engaging a first wafer with a wafer aligner mounted to the transport arm after completion of the sequential shuffling of

Assignees

• Brooks Automation Inc

Inventors

• Bonora Anthony C
• Graciano Justo

Classifications

• H10W46/401

  for identification or tracking · CPC title

• H10W46/103

  alphanumeric information, e.g. words, letters or serial numbers · CPC title

• H10P72/0606

  Position monitoring, e.g. misposition detection or presence detection · CPC title

• H10P72/0458

  vertical arrangement · CPC title

• H10P72/0456

  in-line arrangement · CPC title