Batch substrate handling

• US 8,950,998 B2
• Filed: 04/21/2008
• Issued: 02/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brooks Automation Ltd. (United Kingdom) (Azenta, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Brooks Automation Incorporated (Azenta, Inc.)
• Inventors: Meulen, Peter van der
• Primary Examiner(s): KEENAN, JAMES W
• Application Number:
  US12/106,975
• Publication Number:
  US 20080260500A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,486 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 414/217
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/161 Hardware, e.g. neural networks, fuzzy logic, interfaces, processor
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 25/02 the carrier or impeller having different forward and return paths of movement, e.g. walking beam conveyors
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 37/00 Combinations of mechanical conveyors of the same kind, or of different kinds, of interest apart from their application in particular machines or use in particular manufacturing processes series of co-operating belt conveyor units B65G15/22; series of co-operating chain conveyor units B65G17/26; sequence control of combined conveyors B65G43/10
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/41865 characterised by job scheduling, process planning, material flow
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67167 surrounding a central transfer chamber
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67276 Production flow monitoring, e.g. for increasing throughput program-control systems per se G05B19/00, e.g. total factory control G05B19/418
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67742 Mechanical parts of transfer devices robots in general in B25J
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/68707 the wafers being placed on a robot blade, or gripped by a gripper for conveyance
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 414/139 including wafer charging or discharging means for vacuum chamber
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 706/904 Manufacturing or machine, e.g. agricultural machinery, machine tool

Abstract

A substrate-handling vacuum robot includes a first robotic arm with a single-substrate end effector and a second robotic arm with a batch end effector. The single-substrate end effector permits single-substrate pick-and-place operations while the batch end effector permits batch handling of substrates within a vacuum environment.

Claims

1. A vacuum handling robot for a vacuum processing system, the vacuum handling robot comprising:

a multifaceted chamber having a base with a center axis and being configured so that each facet of the multifaceted chamber on no more than one side of the center axis is configured to couple to both batch processing modules and single-substrate processing modules;

a first robotic arm rotatably coupled to the base and a drive section, the first robotic arm including a single-substrate end effector and the drive section being configured to independently operate movement of the first robotic arm to each of the facets of the multifaceted chamber;

a second robotic arm rotatably coupled to the base and the drive section, the second robotic arm including a batch end effector including a plurality of vertically-stacked end effectors in a fixed orientation relative to one another and the drive section being configured to independently operate movement of the second robotic arm to each of the facets of the multifaceted chamber; and

a controller including a neural network scheduler, the controller including the neural network scheduler being configured to coordinate movement of the first and second robotic arms within the vacuum processing system, where the neural network scheduler

coordinates movement of the first robotic arm for accessing at least the single-substrate processing modules and

coordinates movement of the second robotic arm for accessing the batch processing modules, and

coordinates movement of the first robotic arm and the second robotic arm through a common opening of the multifaceted chamber.

2. The vacuum handling robot of claim 1 wherein the first robotic arm is a two-link SCARA unit.

3. The vacuum handling robot of claim 1 wherein the second robotic arm is a two-link SCARA unit.

4. The vacuum handling robot of claim 1 wherein at least one of the first robotic arm and the second robotic arm has z-movement capability.

5. The vacuum handling robot of claim 1 wherein a first link of the first robotic arm and a first link of the second robotic arm have a fixed rotational orientation to one another with respect to the center axis of the base.

6. The vacuum handling robot of claim 1 wherein the batch end effector includes at least three vertically-stacked end effectors.

7. The vacuum handling robot of claim 1 wherein the batch end effector includes at least two side-by-side end effectors.

8. The vacuum handling robot of claim 1 wherein the plurality of vertically-stacked end effectors includes at least two vertically-aligned end effectors.

9. The vacuum handling robot of claim 1 wherein the plurality of vertically-stacked end effectors includes at least two vertically-offset end effectors.

10. The vacuum handling robot of claim 1 wherein the base is rotatable.

11. The vacuum handling robot of claim 1 further comprising a load lock sharing a vacuum environment with the vacuum handling robot and positioned within reach of at least one of the first robotic arm and the second robotic arm.

12. The vacuum handling robot of claim 1 further comprising a batch load lock sharing a vacuum environment with the vacuum handling robot and positioned within reach of at least one of the first robotic arm and the second robotic arm.

13. The vacuum handling robot of claim 1 wherein the single substrate processing module shares a vacuum environment with the vacuum handling robot and is positioned within reach of at least one of the first robotic arm and the second robotic arm.

14. The vacuum handling robot of claim 1 wherein the batch processing module shares a vacuum environment with the vacuum handling robot and is positioned within reach of at least one of the first robotic arm and the second robotic arm.

15. The vacuum handling robot of claim 1 further comprising a batch aligner sharing a vacuum environment with the vacuum handling robot and positioned within reach of at least one of the first robotic arm and the second robotic arm.

16. The vacuum handling robot of claim 1 wherein at least one of the first robotic arm and the second robotic arm is a telescoping arm.