Wafer swapper

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016314995-A1
Application number	US-201514972366-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 17, 2015
Priority date	Apr 24, 2015
Publication date	Oct 27, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure generally relates to semiconductor process equipment used to transfer semiconductor substrates between process chambers. More specifically, embodiments described herein are related to systems and methods used to transfer, or swap, semiconductor substrates between process chambers using a transport device that employs at least two blades for the concurrent transfer of substrates between processing chambers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system for processing a substrate, comprising:
at least two processing chambers each having a slit valve configured to receive a substrate; and a transfer chamber system operatively connected with the at least two processing chambers, the transfer chamber system comprising:
a first chamber;
a second chamber;
a first slide assembly disposed within the first chamber;
a second slide assembly disposed within the second chamber;
a plurality of stepper motors, wherein each stepper motor is operatively connected with at least one slide assembly;
a first two-axis robot blade and a second two-axis robot blade each coupled to the first slide assembly, wherein the first two-axis robot blade has a rotational movement direction along a first plane and the second two-axis robot blade has a rotational movement direction along a second plane, and wherein the first plane and the second plane do not intersect; and
a third two-axis robot blade and a fourth two-axis robot blade each coupled to the second slide assembly, wherein the third two-axis robot blade has a rotational movement direction along a third plane and the fourth two-axis robot blade has a rotational movement direction along a fourth plane, and wherein the third plane and the fourth plane do not intersect.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first chamber comprises the first two-axis robot blade and the second two-axis robot blade.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the second chamber comprises the third two-axis robot blade and the fourth two-axis robot blade.

4 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the first two-axis robot blade is disposed above the second two-axis robot blade.

5 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the third two-axis robot blade is disposed above the fourth two-axis robot blade.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the at least two processing chambers has a plurality of lift pins, wherein each lift pin is adjustably extendable to at least a first length and a second length.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the at least two processing chambers has a substrate support and the transfer chamber has a lateral dimension less than a surface dimension of the substrate supports.

8 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of servo motors located outside the transfer chamber, wherein each servo motor controls linear motion of the slide assemblies.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein each slide assembly further comprises a belt, a screw, and a pillow block operatively connected with each servo motor, wherein each servo motor is coupled to the belt, the belt is coupled to the screw, and the screw is coupled to the pillow block to move the slide assembly.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein each stepper motor is a five-face stepper motor.

11 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of transfer chamber systems and a plurality of processing chambers, wherein each transfer chamber system is operatively disposed between two processing chambers and configured to concurrently swap a plurality of substrates between the plurality of processing chambers.

12 . A system for transferring substrates, comprising:
a first processing chamber and a second processing chamber; a substrate transfer apparatus having a first side coupled to the first processing chamber and a second side opposite the first side, the second side coupled to the second processing chamber, wherein a first slit valve allows for access between the substrate transfer apparatus and the first processing chamber, and a second slit valve allows for access between the substrate transfer apparatus and the second processing chamber; a first robot blade and a second robot blade disposed within the substrate transfer apparatus, wherein the first robot blade reaches a first position proximate to the first substrate support and a second position proximate to the second substrate support, and the second robot blade reaches the second position proximate to the second substrate support and the first position proximate to the first substrate support, and wherein the first slit valve and the second slit valve each has a dimension to accommodate the first robot blade and the second robot blade at the same time; and at least one servo motor, wherein the servo motor is operatively connected with a belt, wherein the belt is operatively connected with a screw, wherein the screw is configured to move a slide operatively connected with the first robot blade and second robot blade.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the first processing chamber has a first plurality of lift pins and the second processing chamber has a second plurality of lift pins, wherein the first plurality of lift pins are extendable to a first length to transfer a substrate, and the second plurality of lift pins are extendable to a second length to transfer a substrate.

14 . The system of claim 12 , further comprising a third processing chamber coupled to the first side of the substrate transfer apparatus and a fourth processing chamber coupled to the second side of the substrate transfer apparatus.

15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the substrate transfer apparatus further comprises a third slit valve coupled to the third processing chamber and a fourth slit valve coupled to the fourth processing chamber, wherein the third robot blade reaches a third substrate location in the third processing chamber and a fourth substrate location in the fourth processing chamber, and the fourth robot blade reaches the fourth substrate location in the fourth processing chamber and the third substrate location in the third processing chamber.

16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein each of the third slit valve and the fourth slit valve has a dimension to accommodate the third robot blade and the fourth robot blade at the same time.

17 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the substrate transfer apparatus comprises a first chamber and a first slide assembly disposed within the first chamber, wherein the first slide assembly is coupled with the first robot blade and the second robot blade.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the substrate transfer apparatus further comprises a second chamber and a second slide assembly disposed within the second chamber, wherein the second slide assembly is coupled with a third robot blade and a fourth robot blade.

19 . The system of claim 12 , further comprising a controller configured to:
control positioning of the first robot blade and the second robot blade; and control rotational movement of the first robot blade and the second robot blade.

20 . A method for swapping a substrate between a first processing chamber and a second processing chamber, comprising:
raising a first substrate in the first processing chamber from a first position on a first heater to a second position via a first plurality of lift pins; raising a second substrate in the second processing chamber from a third position on a second heater to a fourth position via a second plurality of lift pins; securing the first substrate with a first robot blade at the second position; securing the second substrate with a second robot blade at the fourth position; operating the first robot blade to move the first substrate from the second position in the first processing chamber to the fourth position in the second processing chamber; operating the second robot blade to move the second substrate from the fourth position in the second processing chamber to

Assignees

• Applied Materials Inc

Inventors

• Du Bois Dale R
• Rocha-Alvarez Juan Carlos
• Janakiraman Karthik
• Ponnekanti Hari K
• Baluja Sanjeev
• Wilton Prajeeth

Classifications

• H10P72/3306

  Horizontal transfer of a single workpiece · CPC title

• H10P72/3302 Primary

  Mechanical parts of transfer devices · CPC title

• H10P72/0464 Primary

  characterised by the construction of the transfer chamber · CPC title

• B25J11/0095 Primary

  Manipulators transporting wafers · CPC title

• H01L21/6776 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic