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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8182192 | Equipment storage for substrate processing apparatus A substrate processing apparatus has a frame and a load port connected to the frame and adapted to mate a substrate transport container to the frame. The apparatus has transportable storage that is adapted to be removably connected to the frame and fit beneath the l... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8178829 | Wafer prescence detector with end effectors having optical couplers and fibers The presence of a workpiece on an end effector of a vacuum robotic handler is detecting using any of a number of non-contact techniques in which some or all of the detection hardware is positioned outside a vacuum chamber that encloses the vacuum robotic handler. Va... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8167522 | Substrate transport apparatus with active edge gripper A substrate transport apparatus comprising a drive mechanism, a movable arm assembly, and an end effector with an active edge gripper. The apparatus is configured to avoid the need to provide cables to the end effector for power or communication. In one aspect, the ... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8129984 | Multiple dimension position sensor An apparatus including a controller, a workpiece transport in communication with the controller having a movable portion and a transport path, and a multi-dimensional position measurement device including at least one field generating platen attached to the movable ... | 03/06/2012 |
| 8125652 | Wafer center finding with charge-coupled devices A device for handling a substantially circular wafer is provided. The device includes an interior accessible through a plurality of entrances, and a plurality of sensors consisting of two sensors for each one of the plurality of entrances, each sensor capable of det... | 02/28/2012 |
| 8112171 | Substrate apparatus calibration and synchronization procedure A method for positioning substrates in a substrate processing apparatus having a substrate alignment device, a first substrate transport apparatus and a second substrate transport apparatus, includes calibrating the substrate alignment device with a motion of the fi... | 02/07/2012 |
| 8091381 | Efficient heat exchanger for refrigeration process Aspects of the invention are found in a heat exchanger. The heat exchanger includes a fluid inlet manifold, a fluid outlet manifold, a plurality of heat transfer channels configured to communicate with the fluid inlet manifold and the fluid outlet manifold, and pack... | 01/10/2012 |
| 8083994 | System and method for selectively extracting individual vials from an array of vials within a rack An automated storage system for storing large quantities of samples in trays includes a storage compartment, a tray shuttle compartment abutting the storage compartment on one side and a plurality of independent modules on the other side. The modules perform process... | 12/27/2011 |
| 8082741 | Integral facet cryopump, water vapor pump, or high vacuum pump A cluster tool has a transfer chamber, and a load lock chamber. An adaptor is configured to be coupled between the transfer chamber and the load lock chamber. The adaptor has an adaptor housing with an interior space including an entrance with a first valve and an e... | 12/27/2011 |
| 8047253 | Device and method for removing a peelable seal A container or array of containers that is are sealed with a peelable seal is transported via a conveyor along a processing path toward a desealing station at which an adhesive surface having a width substantially the same as or greater than the width of the seal is... | 11/01/2011 |
| 8029226 | Semiconductor manufacturing systems Linear semiconductor handling systems provide more balanced processing capacity using various techniques to provide increased processing capacity to relatively slow processes. This may include use of hexagonal vacuum chambers to provide additional facets for slow pr... | 10/04/2011 |
| 8029225 | Stacked process modules for a semiconductor handling system Methods and systems are provided for a vacuum-based semiconductor handling system. The system may be a linear system with a four-link robotic SCARA arm for moving materials in the system. The system may include one or more vertically stacked load locks or vertically... | 10/04/2011 |
| 8016541 | Substrate handling system for aligning and orienting substrates during a transfer operation A system is provided for sensing, orienting, and transporting wafers in an automated wafer handling process that reduces the generation of particles and contamination so that the wafer yield is increased. The system includes a robotic arm for moving a wafer from one... | 09/13/2011 |
| 8008884 | Substrate processing apparatus with motors integral to chamber walls A substrate transport apparatus including a peripheral wall having an inner surface that defines a substrate transport chamber capable of holding an isolated atmosphere, at least one substantially ring shaped motor having at least one stator module located within th... | 08/30/2011 |
| 7988399 | Mid-entry load lock for semiconductor handling system In a system having a number of semiconductor processing modules sharing a common vacuum environment, a mid-entry load lock is provided to permit insertion and removal of wafers into the vacuum environment at a point between various other robotic handlers, process mo... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7988398 | Linear substrate transport apparatus Substrate processing apparatus having a chamber, a generally linear array of process modules, a substrate transport, and a drive system. The chamber is capable of being isolated from the outside atmosphere. Each process module of the array is communicably connected ... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7959395 | Substrate processing apparatus Substrate processing apparatus having a transport chamber, a linear array of substrate holding modules alongside the transport chamber, and a substrate transport located in the chamber. The chamber can hold an isolated atmosphere, and defines more than one substanti... | 06/14/2011 |
| 7946800 | Substrate transport apparatus with multiple independently movable articulated arms A substrate transport apparatus including a drive section having at least one drive shaft and at least two scara arms operably coupled to the at least one drive shaft, the at least one drive shaft being a common drive shaft for the at least two scara arms effecting ... | 05/24/2011 |
| 7945348 | Methods and systems for controlling a semiconductor fabrication process Software for controlling processes in a heterogeneous semiconductor manufacturing environment may include a wafer-centric database, a real-time scheduler using a neural network, and a graphical user interface displaying simulated operation of the system. These featu... | 05/17/2011 |
| 7925378 | Process apparatus with on-the-fly workpiece centering A substrate processing apparatus having a transport apparatus, at least one sensor connected to the transport apparatus and a controller. The transport apparatus is adapted for transporting the substrate between processing stations of the processing apparatus. The s... | 04/12/2011 |
| 7921719 | Method and apparatus for storing vacuum gauge calibration parameters and measurement data on a vacuum gauge structure A method and apparatus for measuring gas pressure by combining an ionization gauge with at least one other vacuum sensor. Nonvolatile memory coupled to the vacuum gauge contains calibration parameters unique to each individual sensor based on factory calibration. Th... | 04/12/2011 |
| 7904182 | Scalable motion control system A control system includes a clustered architecture having a master controller, a central control section including one or more first remote controllers under direct control of the master controller, and a distributed control section including a cluster controller co... | 03/08/2011 |
| 7899562 | Methods and systems for controlling a semiconductor fabrication process Software for controlling processes in a heterogeneous semiconductor manufacturing environment may include a wafer-centric database, a real-time scheduler using a neural network, and a graphical user interface displaying simulated operation of the system. These featu... | 03/01/2011 |
| 7894657 | Wafer center finding A number of wafer center finding methods and systems are disclosed herein that improve upon existing techniques used in semiconductor manufacturing. ... | 02/22/2011 |
| 7891936 | High speed substrate aligner apparatus A substrate aligner providing minimal substrate transporter extend and retract motions to quickly align substrate without back side damage while increasing the throughput of substrate processing. In one embodiment, the aligner having an inverted chuck connected to a... | 02/22/2011 |
| 7891935 | Dual arm robot A dual arm robot assembly has two arms each having a set of joint/link pairs that, in conjunction with an actuator assembly, define at least three degrees of freedom to provide independent horizontal translation and rotation of a distalmost link. A vertical motion m... | 02/22/2011 |
| 7890194 | Robotics programming interface A programming interface for a hardware system includes an embedded layer for programmatic access to a physical realization of hardware, a simulation system for simulation of the hardware, and a diagnostics engine that analyzes and compares feedback data from the sim... | 02/15/2011 |
| 7882394 | Intelligent condition-monitoring and fault diagnostic system for predictive maintenance A system for condition monitoring and fault diagnosis includes a data collection function that acquires time histories of selected variables for one or more of the components, a pre-processing function that calculates specified characteristics of the time histories,... | 02/01/2011 |
| 7880155 | Substrate alignment apparatus comprising a controller to measure alignment during transport A substrate processing apparatus has a substrate transport apparatus for transporting substrates, a sensor, and a control system. The processing apparatus is adapted to effect relative movement between the substrate and the sensor. The processing apparatus is furthe... | 02/01/2011 |
| 7847559 | Method and apparatus for shielding feedthrough pin insulators in an ionization gauge operating in harsh environments Shields for feedthrough pin insulators of a hot cathode ionization gauge are provided to increase the operational lifetime of the ionization gauge in harmful process environments. Various shield materials, designs, and configurations may be employed depending on the... | 12/07/2010 |
| 7834618 | Position sensor system A sensing mechanism includes a magnetic source, a magnetic flux sensor, a sensor backing on which the magnetic source and flux sensor are mounted, and a ferromagnetic target, where the magnetic source, magnetic flux sensor, and ferromagnetic target are positioned to... | 11/16/2010 |
| 7806643 | Elevator-based tool loading and buffering system A substrate processing apparatus is provided. The apparatus has a casing, a low port interface and a carrier holding station. The casing has processing devices within for processing substrates. The load port interface is connected to the casing for loading substrate... | 10/05/2010 |
| 7798758 | Reduced capacity carrier, transport, load port, buffer system A semiconductor workpiece processing system having at least one processing apparatus for processing workpieces, a primary transport system, a secondary transport system and one or more interfaces between first transport system and second transport system. The primar... | 09/21/2010 |
| 7792350 | Wafer center finding A number of wafer center finding methods and systems are disclosed herein that improve upon existing techniques used in semiconductor manufacturing. ... | 09/07/2010 |
| 7788942 | Helium management control system A helium management control system for controlling the helium refrigerant supply from a common manifold supplies a plurality of cryogenic refrigerators with an appropriate helium supply. The system employs a plurality of sensors to monitor and regulate the overall r... | 09/07/2010 |
| 7769482 | Methods and systems for controlling a semiconductor fabrication process Software for controlling processes in a heterogeneous semiconductor manufacturing environment may include a wafer-centric database, a real-time scheduler using a neural network, and a graphical user interface displaying simulated operation of the system. These featu... | 08/03/2010 |
| 7768267 | Ionization gauge with a cold electron source An ionization gauge that eliminates a hot cathode or filament, but maintains a level of precision of gas density measurements approaching that of a hot cathode ionization gauge. The ionization gauge includes a collector electrode disposed in an ionization volume, an... | 08/03/2010 |
| 7762755 | Equipment storage for substrate processing apparatus A substrate processing apparatus has a frame and a load port connected to the frame and adapted to mate a substrate transport container to the frame. The apparatus has transportable storage that is adapted to be removably connected to the frame and fit beneath the l... | 07/27/2010 |
| 7712808 | End effector with centering grip A flat workpiece transport apparatus having a movable arm and an end effector. The end effector is connected to the arm. The end effector has a movable grip for holding a flat workpiece on the end effector. The end effector has a grip actuator operably connected to ... | 05/11/2010 |
| 7699573 | Reticle manipulating device A reticle manipulating device with an at least substantially closed housing for maintaining clean-room conditions inside the housing, an input/output station for introducing and discharging reticles in and out of the housing, and at least one functional unit arrange... | 04/20/2010 |
