Portable stocker and method of using same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9048274-B2
Application number	US-32966408-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 8, 2008
Priority date	Dec 8, 2008
Publication date	Jun 2, 2015
Grant date	Jun 2, 2015

Abstract

A system comprising a conveyor. A semiconductor processing tool has a lifter port. The tool is positioned near the conveyor, such that the lifter port is configured to transport a Front Opening Unified Pod (FOUP) between the conveyor and the lifter port. An upstream stocker and a downstream stocker are both co-located with the conveyor and the tool. The upstream and downstream stockers each have a respective storage space for the FOUP and a respective robotic device configured to transport the FOUP between its respective storage space and the conveyor. The upstream stocker is configured to receive the FOUP from an overhead transport (OHT) and deliver the FOUP to the conveyor. The downstream stocker is configured to receive the FOUP from the conveyor and deliver the FOUP to the OHT.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a first stocker having external walls containing a storage space;
a robotic device;
a conveyor;
a semiconductor processing tool having a lifter port; and
an alignment mechanism,
the first stocker, conveyor and semiconductor processing tool being co-located with each other and the first stocker including a set of integrally mounted wheels and configured to be rolled on the wheels;
the robotic device configured to transport a…

Assignees

• Wang Wei-Cheng
• Lee Feng-Ning
• Tung Chi-Feng
• Kao Mao-Lin
• Ko Li-Jen
• Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Wang Wei-Cheng
• Lee Feng-Ning
• Tung Chi-Feng
• Kao Mao-Lin
• Ko Li-Jen

Classifications

• H10P72/3402

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H10P72/3408 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L21/67766

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L21/67775 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic