Patent ID: 11921431
Assignee: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD.
Field: Optics (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 16:
17. A system comprising:
a photolithography mask inspection tool configured to inspect one or more surfaces of a photolithography mask during a selected period of time;
a mask pod including an inner pod and an outer pod housing the inner pod, the inner pod configured to house the photolithography mask;
a mask pod inspection tool;
an automatic transport tool;
a processor configured to control a swap operation of the mask pod, the processor being operatively coupled to the photolithography mask inspection tool, the mask pod inspection tool, and the automatic transport tool, the processor further configured to:
provide a signal which causes the automatic transport tool to place the mask pod including the mask adjacent to the photolithography mask inspection tool;
provide a signal which causes the automatic transport tool to obtain the mask from inside the mask pod resulting in an empty mask pod;
provide a signal which causes the automatic transport tool to place the obtained mask inside the photolithography mask inspection tool;
provide a signal which causes the photolithography mask inspection tool to inspect the mask during the selected period of time;
provide a signal which causes the automatic transport tool to retrieve the empty mask pod during the selected period of time and deliver the empty mask pod to the mask pod inspection tool; and
provide a signal which causes the mask pod inspection tool to inspect the empty mask pod during the selected period of time.