Abstract: A wafer load lock and linear delivery system including within a load lock vacuum chamber a paddle cantilevered from a trolley traveling on a single rail extending on a lateral side of the wafer end of the paddle while it is retracted into the load lock chamber. The trolley is magnetically coupled to an external mechanical drive through a vacuum wall of the vacuum chamber which drives the wafer on the paddle into an attached processing chamber. A single wafer may be loaded onto the paddle through a door in the vacuum wall. Alternatively, a cassette of wafers may be loaded into a cassette station opposite the processing chamber. One end of the paddle removes a wafer from the cassette, and a hand off station moves the wafer to a second end of the paddle, which then moves it into the processing chamber.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
August 4, 2004
Date of Patent:
December 6, 2005
Assignee:
Transfer Engineering and Manufacturing, Inc.
Abstract: A wafer load lock and linear delivery system including within a load lock vacuum chamber a paddle cantilevered from a trolley traveling on a single rail extending on a lateral side of the wafer end of the paddle while it is retracted into the load lock chamber. The trolley is magnetically coupled to an external mechanical, drive through a vacuum wall of the vacuum chamber which drives the wafer on the paddle into an attached processing chamber. A single wafer may be loaded onto the paddle through a door in the vacuum wall. Alternatively, a cassette of wafers may be loaded into a cassette station opposite the processing chamber. One end of the paddle removes a wafer from the cassette, and a hand off station moves the wafer to a second end of the paddle, which then moves it into the processing chamber.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
October 1, 2002
Date of Patent:
August 30, 2005
Assignee:
Transfer Engineering and Manufacturing, Inc.