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Wafer center finding with kalman filter

  • US 8,634,633 B2
  • Filed: 09/14/2012
  • Issued: 01/21/2014
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2003
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A semiconductor handling device comprising:

  • a vacuum environment including a plurality of robotic handling facilities, each of the robotic handling facilities having a plurality of entrances configured to allow wafer transport to and from an interior of a respective robotic handling facility;

    a controller;

    a first wafer center finding system including a plurality of sensors connected to the controller and arranged so that no more than two sensors are provided for each entrance of a first one of the plurality of robotic handling facilities, the first wafer center finding system being configured to determine a wafer position using the plurality of sensors and to apply an extended Kalman Filter to estimate the wafer position based upon encoder data from one or more robots; and

    a second wafer center finding system includingat least one sensor connected to the controller, where the second wafer center finding system is configured to determine the wafer position within a second one of the plurality of robotic handling facilities by detecting wafer presence, using the at least one sensor, during a robotic movement that includes at least one rotation, orat least one image contact sensor connected to the controller and configured to capture an image of the wafer within the second one of the plurality of robotic handling facilities while the wafer moves through the second one of the robotic handling facilities, where the second wafer center finding system is configured to determine the wafer position using the contact image sensor.

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