Substrate processing system and method
First Claim
1. A wafer processing system, comprising:
- a vacuum enclosure having a processing region;
a processing chamber attached to the vacuum enclosure and defining a processing zone within the vacuum enclosure;
a first rail assembly positioned inside the vacuum enclosure on one side of the processing chamber;
a first elevation mechanism coupled to the first rail assembly and configured to raise the first rail assembly to elevated position and lower the first rail assembly to lower position;
a second rail assembly positioned inside the vacuum enclosure on opposite side of the first rail assembly;
a second elevation mechanism coupled to the second rail assembly and configured to raise the second rail assembly to elevated position and lower the second rail assembly to lower position;
a first chuck assembly positioned and configured to ride on the first rail assembly in a forward travel direction while traversing under the processing region when the first rail assembly is in the elevated position to thereby perform pass-by processing; and
,a second chuck assembly positioned and configured to ride on the second rail assembly in a forward travel direction while traversing under the processing region when the second rail assembly is in the elevated position to thereby perform pass-by processing.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for processing substrates has a vacuum enclosure and a processing chamber situated to process wafers in a processing zone inside the vacuum enclosure. Two rail assemblies are provided, one on each side of the processing zone. Two chuck arrays ride, each on one of the rail assemblies, such that each is cantilevered on one rail assemblies and support a plurality of chucks. The rail assemblies are coupled to an elevation mechanism that places the rails in upper position for processing and at lower position for returning the chuck assemblies for loading new wafers. A pickup head assembly loads wafers from a conveyor onto the chuck assemblies. The pickup head has plurality of electrostatic chucks that pick up the wafers from the front side of the wafers. Cooling channels in the processing chucks are used to create air cushion to assist in aligning the wafers when delivered by the pickup head.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A wafer processing system, comprising:
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a vacuum enclosure having a processing region; a processing chamber attached to the vacuum enclosure and defining a processing zone within the vacuum enclosure; a first rail assembly positioned inside the vacuum enclosure on one side of the processing chamber; a first elevation mechanism coupled to the first rail assembly and configured to raise the first rail assembly to elevated position and lower the first rail assembly to lower position; a second rail assembly positioned inside the vacuum enclosure on opposite side of the first rail assembly; a second elevation mechanism coupled to the second rail assembly and configured to raise the second rail assembly to elevated position and lower the second rail assembly to lower position; a first chuck assembly positioned and configured to ride on the first rail assembly in a forward travel direction while traversing under the processing region when the first rail assembly is in the elevated position to thereby perform pass-by processing; and
,a second chuck assembly positioned and configured to ride on the second rail assembly in a forward travel direction while traversing under the processing region when the second rail assembly is in the elevated position to thereby perform pass-by processing. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification