Longarmmanipulatorforstandardmechanicalinter.docx

Longarmmanipulatorforstandardmechanicalinter.docx

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Longarmmanipulatorforstandardmechanicalinter

Longarmmanipulatorforstandardmechanicalinterfaceapparatus

CROSSREFERENCETORELATEDAPPLICATIONS

Thefollowingcommonlyassignedapplicationsrelateingeneraltothefieldofstandardizedmechanicalinterfacesystems.

SEALEDSTANDARDINTERFACEAPPARATUS;Inventors:

GeorgeAllenManey,AndrewWilliamO'Sullivan,W.GeorgeFaraco;Ser.No.:

635,384;Filed:

July30,1984.

BOXDOORACTUATEDRETAINER;Inventors:

GeorgeAllenManey,AndrewWilliamO'Sullivan,W.GeorgeFaraco;Ser.No.686,443;Filed:

Dec.24,1984.

SHORTARMMANIPULATORFORSTANDARDMECHANICALINTERFACEAPPARATUS;Inventors:

AnthonyCharlesBonora;Ser.No.769,850;Filed:

Aug.26,1985.

FIELDOFTHEINVENTION

Thepresentinventionrelatestomanipulatingapparatusforstandardizedmechanicalinterfacesystemsforreducingparticlecontaminationandmoreparticularlytoapparatustransferringcassettescontainingarticlestobeprocessedintoandoutofsealedcontainerssuitableforuseinsemiconductorprocessingequipmenttopreventparticlecontamination.

BACKGROUNDOFTHEINVENTION

Astandardizedmechanicalinterface（SMIF）hasbeenproposedtoreduceparticlecontaminationbysignificantlyreducingparticlefluxesontowafers.Thisendisaccomplishedbymechanicallyensuringthatduringtransport,storageandprocessingofthewafers,thegaseousmedia（suchasairornitrogen）surroundingthewafersisessentiallystationaryrelativetothewafersandbyensuringthatparticlesfromtheambientoutsideenvironmentdonotentertheimmediateinternalwaferenvironment.

Controlofparticulatecontaminationisimperativeforcosteffective,high-yieldingandprofitablemanufacturingofVLSIcircuits.Becausedesignrulesincreasinglycallforsmallerandsmallerlinesandspaces,itisnecessarytoexertgreaterandgreatercontrolonthenumberofparticlesandtoremoveparticleswithsmallerandsmallerdiameters.

Somecontaminationparticlescauseprocessdefects,suchanincompleteetchinginspacesbetweenlinesleadingtoanunwantedelectricalbridge.Inadditiontosuchphysicalprocessdefects,othercontaminationparticlesmaycauseelectricalfailureduetoinducedionizationortrappingcentersingatedielectricsorjunctions.

Modernprocessingequipmentmustbeconcernedwithparticlesizeswhichrangefrombelow0.01micrometerstoabove200micrometers.Particleswiththesesizescanbeverydamaginginsemiconductorprocessing.Typicalsemiconductorprocessestodayemploygeometrieswhichare1micrometerandunder.Unwantedcontaminationparticleswhichhavegeometriesmeasuringgreaterthan0.1micrometersubstantiallyinterferewith1micrometergeometrysemiconductordevices.Thetrend,ofcourse,istohavesmallerandsmallersemiconductorprocessinggeometries.

Intypicalprocessingenvironmentstoday,"cleanrooms"areestablishedinwhich,throughfilteringandothertechniques,attemptsaremadetoremoveparticleshavinggeometriesof0.03micrometerandabove.Thereisaneed,however,toimprovetheprocessingenvironment.Theconventional"cleanroom"cannotbemaintainedasparticlefreeasdesired.Itisvirtuallyimpossibletomaintainconventionalcleanroomsfreeofparticlesofa0.01micrometersizeandbelow.

Themainsourcesofparticulatecontaminationarepersonnel,equipment,andchemicals.Particlesgivenoffbypersonnelaretransmittedthroughtheenvironmentandthroughphysicalcontactormigrationontothewafersurface.People,bysheddingofskinflakes,forexample,areasignificantsourceofparticlesthatareeasilyionizedandcausedefects.Althoughcleanroomgarmentsreduceparticleemissionstheydonotfullycontaintheemissions.Ithasbeenfoundthatasmanyas6000particlesperminuteareemittedintoanadjacentonecubicfootofspacebyafullysuitedoperator.

Tocontrolcontaminationparticles,thetrendintheindustryistobuildmoreelaborateandexpensivecleanroomswithHEPAandULPArecirculatingairsystems.Filterefficienciesof99.999%anduptotencompleteairexchangesperminutearerequiredtoobtainanacceptablelevelofcleanliness.

Tominimizeprocessdefects,processingequipmentmanufacturersmustpreventmachinegeneratedparticlesfromreachingthewafers,andsuppliersofgasesandliquidchemicalsmustdelivercleanerproducts.Mostimportant,asystemmustbedesignedthatwilleffectivelyisolatewafersfromparticlesduringstorage,transportandtransferintoprocessingequipment.TheStandardMechanicalInterface（SMIF）systemhasbeenproposedtoachievethisgoal.TheSMIFconceptisbasedontherealizationthatasmallvolumeofstill,particle-freeair,withnointernalsourceofparticles,isthecleanestpossibleenvironmentforwafers.Furtherdetailsofoneproposedsystemaredescribedinthearticle"SMIF:

ATECHNOLOGYFORWAFERCASSETTETRANSFERINVLSIMANUFACTURING",byMihirParikhandUlrichKaempf,SolidStateTechnology,July1984,pp.111-115andintheabovecross-referencedapplications.

TheproposedSMIFsystemhasthreemaincomponents,namely,

（1）minimumvolume,dustproofcontainersareusedforstoringandtransportingwafercassettes;

（2）canopiesareplacedovercassetteportsofprocessingequipmentsothattheenvironmentsinsidethecontainersandcanopiesbecomeminiaturecleanspaces;（3）doorsonthecontainersaredesignedtomatewithdoorsontheinterfaceportsontheequipmentcanopiesandthetwodoorsareopenedsimultaneouslysothatparticleswhichmayhavebeenontheexternaldoorsurfacesaretrapped（"sandwiched"）betweenthedoors.

IntheproposedSMIFsystem,acontainerisplacedattheinterfaceportontopofthecanopy;latchesreleasethecontainerdoorandthecanopyportdoorsimultaneously.Amechanicalelevatorlowersthetwodoors,withthecassetteridingontop,intothecanopycoveredspace.Amanipulatorpicksupthecassetteandplacesitontothecassetteport/elevatororotherlocationwithinthecanopyoftheequipment.Afterprocessing,thereverseoperationtakesplace.

TheSMIFsystemhasbeenprovedeffectivebyexperimentsusingprototypeSMIFcomponentsbothinsideandoutsideacleanroom.TheSMIFconfigurationachievedatenfoldimprovementovertheconventionalhandlingofopencassettesinsidethecleanroom.

However,duetothespacelimitationswithinthecanopyoftheprocessingstation,thesizeandconfigurationoftheelevatorsandmanipulatorsisimportant.Furthermoreitisdesirablethattheequipmentforremovingthecassetteholdingarticlestobeprocessedfromthestandardmechanicalinterfacecontainerbeconfinedtoasmallspacewhennotinusewhileprovidingalongreachtoadjacentequipment.

SUMMARYOFTHEINVENTION

Thepresentinventionisamanipulatorfortransferringacassette,holdingarticlestobeprocessed,toandfromacontainersupportedataprocessingstation.Theprocessingstationhasacassetteportforreceivingthecassettewhenthecassettemovesalongacentralaxisextendingfromoutsidetheprocessingstation,throughthecassetteport,andintotheprocessingstation.Acassetteplatformforsupportingthecassetteistransportablealongtheaxisfortransferringthecassettetoandfromthecontaineralongthecentralaxis.Amanipulatorisprovidedfortransferringthecassettetoandfromthecentralaxistoalocationoffsetfromtheaxiswherebythecassetteplatformcantravelalongtheaxispastthecassetteinabypassingrelation.

Themanipulatorincludesanarminanarrangementhavingapivotlocatedonandattachedtoanarmplatform.Thepivotarmlengthtogetherwiththelocationofthepivotpointonthearmplatformestablishesamechanismwhichmaximizesthereachfromthecentralaxiswhilestillpermittingtheco-axialloadingandunloading,inabypassingrelationship,ofthecassettefromandtothecassetteplatform.

Thepresentinventionmaximizestheamountofreachofthecassettewhichcanbeco-axiallyloadedandunloadedfromthecassetteplatform.Thislong-armfeatureisparticularlyusefulwhenthepresentinventionisadaptedtoSMIFprocessingapparatusinacleanroomenvironmentwherethereachdimensionneedstobelarge.

Additionalobjectsandfeaturesoftheinventionwillappearfromthefollowingdescriptioninwhichthepreferredembodimentsoftheinventionhavebeensetforthindetailinconjunctionwiththedrawings.

BRIEFDESCRIPTIONOFTHEDRAWINGS

FIG.1isaperspectiveviewofthemanipulatoraccordingtothepresentinventionwithasimplifieddepictionofaprocessingstation.

FIG.2throughFIG.6aresideviewdrawingsofthemanipulatoraccordingtothepresentinventionusedindescriptionofthemanipulationofacassetteholdingarticlestobeprocessedfromaSMIFcontainerintotheprocessingstation.

FIG.7isabackviewofthemanipulatoraccordingtothepresentinventionshowingameansfortransportingtheplatformsalongtheshaft.

FIG.8isasideviewdrawingofoneembodimentofthemanipulatoraccordingtothepresentinventionhavingamanipulatorarmwithamovablepivotpointonacarriageonthesecondplatform.

DETAILEDDESCRIPTION

WithreferencetotheFigures,adetaileddescriptionofpreferredembodimentforthepresentinventionisdescribed.

FIG.1showsaperspectiveviewofthemanipulator1ofthepresentinventionmountedwithasimplifieddepictionofaprocessingstation2withwhichthemanipulator1isused.Theprocessingstation2includesabody3inwhichaprocessingstepisconducted.Forinstance,whenthearticlestobeprocessedaresemiconductorwafers,theprocessingstationmayoperatetoplacealayerofphotoresistonthesurfaceofthewafer.Ofcourse,manyotherprocessingstepsmaybea