Substrate transfer shuttle having a magnetic drive
First Claim
1. An apparatus for processing a substrate comprising:
- a first chamber;
a second chamber in communication with the first chamber;
a substrate support movable along a generally linear path between the first chamber and the second chamber, the substrate support including a plurality of linearly-spaced magnets;
a first plurality of guide rollers positioned to contact a lower portion of the substrate support;
a second plurality of guide rollers positioned to contact an upper portion of the substrate support; and
a rotatable pinion having a plurality of pinion magnets, wherein the pinion magnets and the linearly-spaced magnets can magnetically engage so that rotation of the pinion magnets is magnetically translated to the substrate support to move the substrate support along the linear path.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A magnetic drive system for moving a substrate transfer shuttle along a linear path between chambers in a semiconductor fabrication apparatus. A rack with rack magnets is secured to the shuttle, and a rotatable pinion with pinion magnets is positioned adjacent the rack so that the pinion magnets can magnetically engage the rack magnets. Thus, rotation of the pinion will cause the shuttle to move along the linear path. The magnets may be oriented with a helix angle between their primary axis and the axis of rotation of the pinion. One rack and one pinion are located on each side of the shuttle. A set of lower guide rollers supports the shuttle, and a set of upper guide rollers prevents the shuttle from lifting off the lower guide rollers.
206 Citations
13 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for processing a substrate comprising:
-
a first chamber;
a second chamber in communication with the first chamber;
a substrate support movable along a generally linear path between the first chamber and the second chamber, the substrate support including a plurality of linearly-spaced magnets;
a first plurality of guide rollers positioned to contact a lower portion of the substrate support;
a second plurality of guide rollers positioned to contact an upper portion of the substrate support; and
a rotatable pinion having a plurality of pinion magnets, wherein the pinion magnets and the linearly-spaced magnets can magnetically engage so that rotation of the pinion magnets is magnetically translated to the substrate support to move the substrate support along the linear path. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
-
-
5. An apparatus for processing a substrate, comprising:
-
a first chamber;
a second chamber in communication with the first chamber;
a substrate support movable along a generally linear path between the first chamber and the second chamber, the substrate support including a plurality of linearly-spaced magnets;
a rotatable pinion having a plurality of pinion magnets, wherein the pinion magnets and the linearly-spaced magnets can magnetically engage so that rotation of the pinion magnets is magnetically translated to the substrate support to move the substrate support along the linear path wherein each linearly-spaced magnet and each pinion magnet is a plate and each plate is oriented at an angle α
between a primary axis of the plate and an axis of rotation of the pinion.- View Dependent Claims (6)
-
-
7. An apparatus for processing a substrate, comprising:
-
first chamber;
a second chamber in communication with the first chamber;
a substrate transfer shuttle movable along a generally linear path between the first chamber and the second chamber, the shuttle including first and second pluralities of rack magnets located along opposite sides of the shuttle;
a first rotatable pinion having a first plurality of pinion magnets;
a second rotatable pinion having a second plurality of pinion magnets;
a first plurality of guide rollers positioned to contact a lower portion of the shuttle so as to support the shuttle and guide the shuttle along the linear path, and a second plurality of guide rollers positioned to contact an upper portion of the shuttle to prevent the shuttle from lifting off the first plurality of guide rollers; and
wherein the first plurality of pinion magnets can magnetically engage the first plurality of rack magnets and the second plurality of pinion magnets can magnetically engage the second plurality of rack magnets, so that rotation of the first and second pinion magnets is magnetically translated to the shuttle to move the shuttle along the linear path. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. An apparatus for processing a substrate, comprising:
-
a first chamber;
a second chamber in communication with the first chamber;
a substrate transfer shuttle movable along a generally linear path between the first chamber and the second chamber, the shuttle including first and second pluralities of rack magnets located along opposite sides of the shuttle;
a first plurality of guide rollers positioned to contact a lower portion of the shuttle;
a second plurality of guide rollers positioned to contact an upper portion of the shuttle;
a first rotatable pinion having a first plurality of pinion magnets;
a second rotatable pinion having a second plurality of pinion magnets; and
wherein the first plurality of pinion magnets can magnetically engage the first plurality of rack magnets and the second plurality of pinion magnets can engage the second plurality of rack magnets, so that rotation of the first and second pinions magnets is magnetically translated to the shuttle to move the shuttle along the linear path.
-
Specification