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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8061959 | Board inverter The present invention relates to a board inverter and a boarding inverting system. The board inverter includes a support, a first board picking device, an second board picking device and a controller. Each of the first board picking device and the second board picki... | 11/22/2011 |
| 7959400 | Aligner, wafer transferring device, and semiconductor production device In a preferred embodiment, an aligner includes a grip mechanism provided with a plurality of damp arms for holding an external periphery of a wafer; a rotary mechanism for rotating the grip mechanism to rotate the wafer in a prescribed rotational direction, and a li... | 06/14/2011 |
| 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 |
| 7794194 | Pick and place work piece flipper An apparatus and associated method is provided for individually positioning first and second input links of a four-bar linkage to move first and second follower links pivotally joined therebetween in order to move a chuck supported by one of the follower links betwe... | 09/14/2010 |
| 7789614 | Aligner It is an object to provide an aligner for centering a wafer and adjusting an angle of a notch or the like of the wafer while gripping edges of the wafer capable of attaining a shortened takt time and miniaturization of the apparatus by employing a mechanism capable ... | 09/07/2010 |
| 7785061 | Apparatus and method for reorienting a tire and core assembly in a tire manufacturing line Apparatus and method for reorienting a toroidally shaped core configured to carry a green tire. The core includes a central axis defined through first and second oppositely facing tapered recesses respectively including first and second locking mechanisms. The appar... | 08/31/2010 |
| 7695239 | End effector gripper arms having corner grippers which reorient reticle during transfer The present invention is a pod opener having an end effector which: a. grips and releases a reticle supported above the base of a pod; and b. while transferring the reticle between the base of the pod and an adjace... | 04/13/2010 |
| 7433759 | Apparatus and methods for positioning wafers A method for calibrating a controller of a robotic arm in a microelectronics manufacturing apparatus that includes storing a default position for an edge detector, moving a blade on the robotic arm based on the default position of the edge detector such that at leas... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7406362 | Workpiece regrasping system for robot A workpiece regrasping system for a robot. The system includes a manipulator grippable a workpiece; a deck member having a deck surface on which a workpiece is placeable; a support mechanism rotatably supporting the deck member about an axis parallel to the deck sur... | 07/29/2008 |
| 7360985 | Wafer processing apparatus including clean box stopping mechanism The semiconductor wafer processing apparatus includes a clean box having an opening, a lid for closing the opening, a door to be in contact with the lid and to detach the lid from the clean box, a first stopper adapted to move in conjunction with movement of the cle... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7354335 | CMP apparatus and load cup mechanism In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a load cup mechanism is provided for loading and unloading apparatus such as a CMP apparatus. The load cup mechanism, configured to load a work piece into and to unload a work piece from the apparatus, comprises a ... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7355394 | Apparatus and method of dynamically measuring thickness of a layer of a substrate A method and apparatus are provided for measuring the thickness of a test object. The apparatus includes an eddy current sensor having first and second sensor heads. The sensor heads are positioned to have a predetermined gap therebetween for passage by at least a p... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7349106 | Apparatus and method for thin-layer metrology An apparatus (1) and a method for thin-layer metrology of semiconductor substrates (16) are disclosed. The semiconductor substrates (16) are delivered or transported to the apparatus (1) by means of at least one cassette element. A measur... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7340323 | Industrial robot with controlled flexibility and simulated force for automated assembly An industrial robot that uses a simulated force vector to allow a work piece held by the robot end effector to be mated with a work piece whose location and orientation is not precisely known to the robot. When the end effector makes contact with the location and or... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7315373 | Wafer positioning method and device, wafer process system, and wafer seat rotation axis positioning method for wafer positioning device In wafer positioning by moving a center point (0) of a wafer (21) to a given position and orienting a notch part (21a) of the wafer in a given direction, wafer seat drive means (2,3,8, or 9) positions a rotation axis (B) of ... | 01/01/2008 |
| 7290978 | Photomask flipper and single direction inspection device for dual side photomask inspection A flipper for rotating and positioning a photomask in two flip orientations includes a flip unit rotatably held in a base. The flip unit includes a flip frame in which clamps are preferably spring loaded guided such that the clamps are oppositely and laterally displ... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7284318 | Apparatus for mounting semiconductor chips An apparatus for mounting semiconductor chips has a pick and place system arranged stationary in vertical direction for the picking, transport and placement of a semiconductor chip onto a substrate. The pick and place system comprises a bondhead with a chip gripper ... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7274464 | Position measuring device A position measuring device for detecting the spatial position of a movable element in relation to a base body, the device including a linear measuring device that measures a distance between a movable element and a base body and an angle-measuring apparatus that me... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7241103 | Method and system for adjusting a position of an object According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method for adjusting a position of an object to compensate for tilt includes providing a rotatable base supporting an object and directing the object relative to the base such that the position of the object is... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7239399 | Pick and place machine with component placement inspection Improved component placement inspection and verification is performed by a pick and place machine. Improvements include stereovision imaging of the intended placement location; enhanced illumination to facilitate the provision of relatively high-power illumination i... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7233842 | Method of determining axial alignment of the centroid of an edge gripping end effector and the center of a specimen gripped by it A method determines axial alignment between the centroid of an end effector and the effective center of a specimen held by the end effector. The method is implemented with use of an end effector coupled to a robot arm and having a controllable supination angle. A co... | 06/19/2007 |
| 7223063 | Method and system for adjusting a position of an object According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method for adjusting a position of an object to compensate for tilt includes providing a rotatable base supporting an object and directing the object relative to the base such that the position of the object is... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7210589 | Transport apparatus The present invention provides an apparatus for suspending and transporting articles, and is provided with a wobble prevention member that is capable of moving between a support position where it abuts against a lateral surface of an article and a release position, ... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7181314 | Industrial robot with controlled flexibility and simulated force for automated assembly An industrial robot that has uses a simulated force vector to allow a work piece held by the robot end effector to be mated with a work piece whose location and orientation is not precisely known to the robot. When the end effector makes contact with the location an... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7153087 | Centering mechanism, centering unit, semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and centering method A centering unit comprises a plate, centering mechanism, link mechanism, and cylinder mechanism. The plate vertically divides the interior of a frame. The support table is located substantially on the center of the plate. The centering mechanism can center each wafe... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7153088 | Method and apparatus for transferring a semiconductor substrate A method and apparatus for transferring a substrate is provided. In one embodiment, an apparatus for transferring a substrate includes at least one end effector. A disk is rotatably coupled to the end effector. The disk is adapted to rotate the substrate relative to... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7151981 | Methods and apparatus for positioning a substrate relative to a support stage In a first aspect, a substrate positioning system includes a plurality of pushers arranged in a spaced relation about a stage adapted to support a substrate. Each pusher is adapted to assume a retracted position so as to permit the substrate to be loaded onto and un... | 12/19/2006 |
| 7130716 | System of path planning for robotic manipulators based on maximum acceleration and finite jerk constraints A system for wafer handling employing a complex numerical method for calculating a path of wafer travel that controls wafer acceleration and jerk, and results in maximum safe speed of wafer movement from a first point to a second point. Motion is begun along a strai... | 10/31/2006 |
| 7112961 | Method and apparatus for dynamically measuring the thickness of an object A method and apparatus are provided for measuring the thickness of a test object. The apparatus includes an eddy current sensor having first and second sensor heads. The sensor heads are positioned to have a predetermined gap therebetween for passage by at least a p... | 09/26/2006 |
| 7108476 | Method and device for changing a semiconductor wafer position A mechanical apparatus and method are disclosed for orienting and positioning semiconductor wafers while avoiding contamination of elements on the faces thereof, by only contacting the peripheries thereof. The apparatus may include a frame for wafer supports and a s... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7108144 | Portable work stations Portable work stations which permit a one-step, touch-free finishing of all surfaces of doors, shutters, window sashes, cabinet doors, garage doors, spindles, and other workpieces. There are also provided trim measuring and cutting, and hinge mortising and prep rack... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7104578 | Two level end effector An end effector alternately (or simultaneously) transports susceptors and wafers. Separate contact surfaces are provided for wafer transport and for susceptor transport. In one embodiment, the wafer contact surface is spaced above the susceptor contact surface, and ... | 09/12/2006 |
| 7052229 | Alignment of semiconductor wafers and other articles A wafer or some other article is aligned while being held by an end-effector. ... | 05/30/2006 |
| 7044703 | Automatic guided vehicle, automatic guided vehicle system and wafer carrying method Improvement of the workability in an automatic guided vehicle which carries and transfers a semiconductor wafer between stations in a semiconductor manufacturing plant etc. An automatic guided vehicle 1 is moved to an objective station after storing a ... | 05/16/2006 |
| 7032287 | Edge grip chuck An actuated edge grip chuck includes tabs with raised portions that press against the side of a substrate as opposed clamping on the top or bottom surfaces. The edge grip chuck includes a solid-state actuator to move a moveable tab into an open position. The solid-s... | 04/25/2006 |
| 7033126 | Method and apparatus for loading a batch of wafers into a wafer boat A receiver frame loads and unloads a batch of semiconductor wafers onto wafer holders in a wafer boat. The wafer holders extends continuously about the perimeter of an overlying wafer. The receiver frame is provided with a plurality of supporting arms which are immo... | 04/25/2006 |
| 7019817 | Edge-holding aligner The angular position of a notch (17) is determined on the basis of data provided by second notch detectors (24a) and (24b) and an encoder (25). A controller (38) turns a rotational arm (22) for angular displace... | 03/28/2006 |
| 7004714 | Method and apparatus for automatically loading socks, knee socks and the like onto forms An apparatus for automatically loading socks on forms (1) comprises a suction unit (20) at an inlet, a carousel (10) with several stations (2, 3, 4, 5), a positioning unit (30) of the sock (S), a tucking-up unit (40) and a p... | 02/28/2006 |
| 7004718 | Downender transport table An improved downender device for translating heavy objects such as steel coils from a vertical configuration to a horizontal configuration. Comprises a downender transport table having a center channel, a drive chain disposed in said center channel, and an arbor for... | 02/28/2006 |
| 6997671 | Separating arrangement for a cartoning machine A separating arrangement for the individual removal of carton blanks (Z) from a magazine (M) and for shifting the removed carton blank (Z) from a removal position into a transfer position has a motor-driven pivoting arm (5) and means (6) arranged there... | 02/14/2006 |
