Source: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8827617.html
Timestamp: 2019-09-22 13:57:31
Document Index: 68597624

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 60', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'arts 406', 'arts 22', 'arts 406', 'art 406', 'arts 406', 'art 229', 'art 700', 'art 700', 'art 700', 'art 700', 'art 700', 'art 700', 'art 700', 'art 700', 'art 760', 'art 760', 'art 760', 'art 760', 'arts 22', 'art 3229', 'art 3229', 'art 3229', 'art 3229', 'art 3229']

Substrate processing apparatus - Brooks Automation Inc.
United States Patent 8827617
13/764373
Brooks Automation Inc. (Chelmsford, MA, US)
156/345.31, 198/619, 414/222.12, 414/584, 414/939
H01L21/677; B65G49/07; H01L21/00; H01L21/67
414/217, 414/749.2, 198/619, 104/282, 310/12
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This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 13/195,401, filed Aug. 1, 2011 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,371,792) which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/962,787, filed Oct. 9, 2004 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,988,398) which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/624,987, filed Jul. 22, 2003, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/397,895, filed Jul. 22, 2002, which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
1. A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a first end configured for loading a substrate into the substrate processing apparatus; an apparatus module, connected to the first end to allow the substrate to be moved between the first end and the apparatus module, the apparatus module including a transport chamber module configured to hold a controlled atmosphere therein, the transport chamber module defining a linear travel slot having opposite side walls where at least one of the side walls includes at least one sealable port configured to allow passage of substrates to and from the transport chamber module; another apparatus module optionally connected to the apparatus module in series relative to the front end; a transport vehicle movably mounted within the transport chamber module for traversing the linear travel slot, the transport vehicle including a base and a substrate transfer arm that is movably jointed and movably mounted to the base for effecting transfer of the substrate between the transfer chamber module and each of the at least one sealable port on the at least one of the side walls; and a linear motor disposed at least partly within the transport chamber module and having windings that interface with corresponding linear motor portions of the transport vehicle to effect multi-axis movement of the substrate transfer arm relative to the base.
2. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the linear motor is configured for driving the transport vehicle through the linear travel slot, the linear motor being connected to the substrate transfer arm for rotating the arm relative to the base and articulating the arm in opposite directions.
3. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the at least one sealable port is configured for connection to a substrate holding module.
4. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 3, wherein the substrate holding module is a substrate processing module or a load lock chamber module.
5. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transport chamber module includes opposite ends, each of the opposite ends including at least one of the one or more sealable ports configured to allow passage of substrates to and from the transport chamber.
6. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 5, wherein each of the at least one sealable port is configured for connection to a substrate holding module.
7. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an alignment device connected to the transfer chamber module, wherein the transport vehicle includes a substrate holding chuck releasably mounted to the transport vehicle, where the substrate holding chuck is configured to be removed from the transport vehicle for placement on the alignment device for rotationally aligning a substrate thereon and the transport vehicle is configured to transport the substrate holding chuck through the transport chamber module.
8. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 7, wherein the substrate holding chuck is releasably mounted to the substrate transfer arm.
9. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transport chamber module comprises at least one transport chamber module section that is connectable to other transport chamber modules section for forming a longitudinally extended linear substrate transport chamber.
10. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 9, wherein at least one transport chamber module section includes a removable access panel, where when the panel is removed access is provided to an internal area of the at least one transport chamber.
11. A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a first end configured for loading a substrate into the substrate processing apparatus; an apparatus module, connected to the first end to allow the substrate to be moved between the first end and the apparatus module, the apparatus module including a transport chamber module configured to hold a controlled atmosphere therein, the transport chamber module defining a linear travel slot having opposite side walls where at least one of the side walls includes at least one sealable port configured to allow passage of substrates to and from the transport chamber module; another apparatus module optionally connected to the apparatus module in series relative to the front end; a linear motor disposed at least partly within the transport chamber module; and a transport vehicle movably mounted within the transport chamber module of the apparatus module for traversing the linear travel slot, the transport vehicle including a base and a substrate transfer arm that is movably mounted to the base for effecting transfer of the substrate between the transfer chamber module and each of the at least one sealable port on the at least one of the side walls, the base including drive members that are movable relative to each other and driven by the linear motor where movement of the drive members by the linear motor effects both linear movement of the base within the linear travel slot and transfer of the substrate between the transfer chamber module and each of the at least one sealable port.
12. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 11, wherein the linear motor is connected to the substrate transfer arm for rotating the arm relative to the base and articulating the arm in opposite directions.
13. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 11, wherein each of the at least one sealable port is configured for connection to a substrate holding module.
14. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 13, wherein the substrate holding module is a substrate processing module or a load lock chamber module.
15. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 11, wherein the transport chamber module includes opposite ends, each of the opposite ends including at least one of the one or more sealable ports configured to allow passage of substrates to and from the transport chamber.
16. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 15, wherein each of the at least one sealable port is configured for connection to a substrate holding module.
17. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 11, further comprising an alignment device connected to the transfer chamber module, wherein the transport vehicle includes a substrate holding chuck releasably mounted to the transport vehicle, where the substrate holding chuck is configured to be removed from the transport vehicle for placement on the alignment device for rotationally aligning a substrate thereon and the transport vehicle is configured to transport the substrate holding chuck through the transport chamber module.
18. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 17, wherein the substrate holding chuck is releasably mounted to the substrate transfer arm.
19. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 11, wherein the transport chamber module comprises at least one transport chamber module section that is connectable to another transport chamber module section for forming a longitudinally extended linear substrate transport chamber.
20. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 19, wherein at least one transport chamber module section includes a removable access panel, where when the panel is removed access is provided to an internal area of the at least one transport chamber.
21. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 11, wherein the substrate transfer arm is movably jointed.
22. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 21, wherein the substrate transfer arm is a SCARA-type arm.
23. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 11, wherein the substrate transfer arm is configured to move along a linear path relative to the transport vehicle base.
24. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 23, wherein the transport vehicle includes at least one slide and substrate transfer arm includes at least one end effector and wherein the at least one end effector is configured to move along the at least one slide to provide linear motion of the at least one end effector.
25. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 23, wherein the transport vehicle includes at least one slide and substrate transfer arm includes at least one end effector and a frame and wherein the at least one end effector and the frame are configured to move along the at least one slide to provide linear motion of the frame and the at least one end effector.
Still referring to FIG. 2, the processing apparatus 10, which as noted before may be used for processing semiconductor substrates (e.g. 200/300 mm wafers), panels for flat panel displays, or any other desired kind of substrate, generally comprises transport chamber 18, processing modules 20, and at least one substrate transport apparatus 22. The substrate transport apparatus 22 in the embodiment shown is integrated with the chamber 18. In this embodiment, processing modules are mounted on both sides of the chamber. In other embodiments, processing modules may be mounted on one side of the chamber as shown for example in FIG. 4. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, processing modules 20 are mounted opposite each other in rows Y1, Y2 or vertical planes. In other alternate embodiments, the processing modules may be staggered from each other on the opposite sides of the transport chamber or stacked in a vertical direction relative to each other. The transport apparatus 22 has a cart 22C that is moved in the chamber to transport substrates between load locks 16 and the processing chambers 20. In the embodiment shown, only one cart 22C is provided, in alternate embodiments, more carts may be provided. As seen in FIG. 2, the transport chamber 18 (which is subjected to vacuum or an inert atmosphere or simply a clean environment or a combination thereof in its interior) has a configuration, and employs a novel substrate transport apparatus that allows the processing modules to be mounted to the chamber 18 in a novel Cartesian arrangement with modules arrayed in substantially parallel vertical planes or rows. This results in the processing apparatus 10 having a more compact footprint than a comparable conventional processing apparatus (i.e. a conventional processing apparatus with the same number of processing modules) as is apparent from comparing FIGS. 1 and 2. Moreover, the transport chamber 22 may be capable of being provided with any desired length to add any desired number of processing modules, as will be described in greater detail below, in order to increase throughput. The transport chamber may also be capable of supporting any desired number of transport apparatus therein and allowing the transport processing chamber on apparatus to reach any desired processing chamber on the transport chamber without interfering with each other. This in effect decouples the throughput of the processing apparatus from the handling capacity of the transport apparatus, and hence the processing apparatus throughput becomes processing limited rather than handling limited. Accordingly, throughput can be increased as desired by adding processing modules and corresponding handling capacity on the same platform.
Still referring to FIG. 2, the transport chamber 18 in this embodiment has a general rectangular shape though in alternate embodiments the allow chamber may have any other suitable shape. The chamber 18 has a slender shape (i.e. length much longer than width) and defines a generally linear transport path/linear travel slot (see longitudinal side walls 252, 254 and floor 250 in FIG. 12B) for the transport apparatus therein. The chamber 18 has longitudinal side walls 18S. The side walls 18S have transport openings or ports 18O formed therethrough. The transport ports 18O are sized large enough to substrates to pass through the ports (can be through valves) into and out of the transport chamber. As can be seen in FIG. 2, the processing modules 20 in this embodiment are mounted outside the side walls 18S with each processing module being aligned with a corresponding transport port in the transport chamber. As can be realized, each processing module 20 may be sealed against the sides 18S of the chamber 18 around the periphery of the corresponding transport aperture to maintain the vacuum in the transport chamber. Each processing module may have a valve, controlled by any suitable means to close, the transport port when desired. The transport ports 18O may be located in the same horizontal plane. Accordingly, the processing modules on the chamber are also aligned in the same horizontal plane. In alternate embodiments the transport ports may be disposed in different horizontal planes. As seen in FIG. 2, in this embodiment, the load locks 16 are mounted to the chamber sides 18S at the two front most transport ports 18O. This allows the load locks to be adjacent the EFEM 14 at the front of the processing apparatus. In alternate embodiments, the load locks may be located at any other transport ports on the transport chamber such as shown for example in FIG. 4. The hexahedron shape of the transport chamber allows the length of the chamber to be selected as desired in order to mount as many rows of processing modules as desired (for example see FIGS. 3, 5, 6-7A showing other embodiments in which the transport chamber length is such to accommodate any number of processing modules).
As noted before, the transport chamber 18 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 has one substrate transport apparatus 22 having a single cart 22C. The transport apparatus 22 is integrated with the chamber to translate cart 22C back and forth in the chamber between front 18F and back 18B. The transport apparatus 22 has cart 22C having end effectors for holding one or more substrates. The cart 22C of transport apparatus 22 also has an articulated arm or movable transfer mechanism 22A for extending and retracting the end effectors in order to pick or release substrates in the processing modules or load locks. To pick or release substrates from the processing modules/load ports, the transport apparatus 22 may be aligned with desired module/port and the arm is extended/retracted through the corresponding port 18O to position the end effector inside the module/port for the substrate pick/release.
However, the transport chamber 18′ may have another transport zone 18′A, 18′B which allow the two transport apparatus to pass over each other (akin to a side rail, bypass rail or magnetically suspended zone that does not require rails). In this case, the other transport zone may be located either above or below the horizontal plane (s) in which the, processing modules are located. In this embodiment the transport apparatus has two slide rails, one for each transport apparatus. One slide rail may be located in the floor, or side walls of the transport chamber, and the other slide rail may be located in the top of the chamber. In alternate embodiments, a linear drive system may be employed which simultaneously drives and suspends the carts where the carts may be horizontally and vertically independently moveable, hence allowing them independent of each other to pass or transfer substrates. In all embodiments employing electric windings, these windings may also be used as resistance heaters as in the case where it is desired that the chamber be heated for degas as in the case to eliminate water vapor for example. Each transport apparatus in this case may be driven by a dedicated linear drive motor or a dedicated drive zone in which the cart resides similar to that described before.
Referring now to FIGS. 6, and 7 there are shown other substrate processing apparatus in accordance with other embodiments of the present invention. As seen in FIGS. 6 and 7 the transport chamber in these embodiments is elongated to accommodate additional processing modules. The apparatus shown in FIG. 6 has twelve (12) processing modules connected to the transport chamber, and each apparatus (two apparatus are shown) in FIG. 7 has 24 processing module connected to the transport chamber. The numbers of processing modules shown in these embodiments are merely exemplary, and the apparatus may have any other number of processing modules as previously described. The processing modules in these embodiments are disposed along the sides of the transport chamber in a Cartesian arrangement similar to that previously discussed. The number of rows of processing modules in these case however have been greatly increased (e.g. six (6) rows in the apparatus of FIG. 6, and twelve (12) rows in each of the apparatus of FIG. 7). In the embodiment of FIG. 6, the EFEM may be removed and the load ports may be mated directly to load locks. The transport chamber of the apparatus in FIGS. 6, and 7 have multiple transport apparatus (i.e. three apparatus in the case of FIG. 6, and six apparatus in the case of FIG. 7) to handle the substrates between the load locks and the processing chambers. The number of transport apparatus shown are merely exemplary and more or fewer apparatus may be used. The transport apparatus in these embodiments are generally similar to that previously described, comprising an arm and a cart. In this case, however, the cart is supported from zoned linear motor drives in the side walls of the transport chamber. The linear motor drives in this case provide for translation of the cart in two orthogonal axis (i.e. longitudinally in the transport chamber and vertically in the transport chamber). Accordingly, the transport apparatus are capable of moving past one another in the transport chamber. The transport chamber may have “passing” or transport areas above and/or below the plane (s) of the processing modules, through which the transport apparatus may be routed to avoid stationary transport apparatus (i.e. picking/releasing substrates in the processing modules) or transport apparatus moving in opposite directions. As can be realized, the substrate transport apparatus has a controller for controlling the movements of the multiple substrate transport apparatus.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, more or less processes 18A and 18B may be provided that are different processes, for example etch, CMP, copper deposition, PVD, CVD, etc. . . . where the processing apparatus 18A, 18B, etc. in combination with tool 300 being, for example a photolithography cell are capable of processing equal amounts of substrates as, for example multiple apparatus shown in FIG. 9 but without the associated material handling overhead associated with transporting FOUPs from stockers to individual process tool bays and a lithography bay via an AMHS, and transporting individual wafers via EFEM's to the respective processing tools. Instead, the automation within the lithography cell directly transfers FOUPS, substrates or material to the load ports (3 shown per process type, more or less could be provided depending on throughput requirements) where the substrates are dispatched to their respective process depending on the desired process and/or throughput required. An example of such an alternative is shown in FIG. 7A. In this manner, the apparatus in FIG. 7 processes substrates with less cost, lower footprint, less WIP required—therefor less inventory and with a quicker turnaround when looking at the time to process a single carrier lot (or “hot lot”), and with a higher degree of contamination control resulting in significant advantages for the fab operator. Within the tool 18A, 18B or the tool or cell 300 may further have metrology capability, processing capability, sorting capability, material identification capability, test capability, inspection capability (put boxes . . . ) etc. . . . as required to effectively process and test substrates. As can be realized from FIG. 7, the processing apparatus 18A, 18B, and tool 300 may be coupled to share a common controller environment (e.g. inert atmosphere, or vacuum). This ensures that substrates remain in a controlled environment from tool 300 and throughout the process in apparatus 18A, 18B. This eliminates use of special environment controls of the FOUPs as in conventional apparatus configuration shown in FIG. 8.
Referring now to FIG. 7A, there is shown an exemplary fabrication facility layout 601 incorporating features of the embodiment shown in FIG. 7. Carts 406, similar to carts 22A, 122A transport substrates or wafers through process steps within the fabrication facility 601 through transport chambers 602, 604, 606, 608, 610, 612, 614, 616, 618, 620, 624, 626. Process steps may include epitaxial silicon 630, dielectric deposition 632, photolithography 634, etching 636, ion implantation 638, rapid thermal processing 640, metrology 642, dielectric deposition 644, etching 646, metal deposition 648, electroplating 650, chemical mechanical polishing 652. In alternate embodiments, more or less processes may be involved or mixed; such as etch, metal deposition, heating and cooling operations in the same sequence. As noted before, carts 406 may be capable of carrying a single wafer or multiple wafers and may have transfer capability, such as in the case where cart 406 has the capability to pick a processed wafer and place an unprocessed wafer at the same module. Carts 406 may travel through isolation valves 654 for direct tool to tool or bay to bay transfer or process to process transfer. Valves 654 may be sealed valves or simply conductance type valves depending upon the pressure differential or gas species difference on either side of a given valve 654. In this manner, wafers or substrates may be transferred from one process step to the next with a single handling step or “one touch”. As a result, contamination due to handling is minimized. Examples of such pressure or species difference could be for example, clean air on one side and nitrogen on the other; or roughing pressure vacuum levels on one side and high vacuum on the other; or vacuum on one side and nitrogen on the other. Load locks 656, similar to chambers 184P4 in FIG. 7, may be used to transition between one environment and another; for example between vacuum and nitrogen or argon. In alternate embodiments, other pressures or species may be provided in any number of combinations. Load locks 656 may be capable of transitioning a single carrier or multiple carriers. Alternately, substrate (s) may be transferred into load lock 656 on shelves (not shown) or otherwise where the cart is not desired to pass through the valve. Additional features 658 such as alignment modules, metrology modules, cleaning modules, process modules (ex: etch, deposition, polish etc. . . . ), thermal conditioning, modules or otherwise, may be incorporated in lock 656 or the transport chambers. Service ports 660 may be provided to remove carts or wafers from the tool. Wafer or carrier stockers 662, 664 may be provided to store and buffer process and or test wafers. In alternate embodiments, stockers 662, 664 may not be provided, such as where carts are directed to lithography tools directly. Another example is where indexer or wafer storage module 666 is provided on the tool set. Re-circulation unit 668 may be provided to circulate and or filter air or the gas species in any given section such as tool section 612. Re-circulation unit 668 may have a gas purge, particle filters, chemical filters, temperature control, humidity control or other features to condition the gas species being processed. In a given tool section more or less circulation and or filter or conditioning units may be provided. Isolation stages 670 may be provided to isolate carts and/or wafers from different process or tool sections that can not be cross contaminated. Locks or interconnects 672 may be provided to change cart orientation or direction in the event the cart may pick or place within a generic workspace without an orientation change. In alternate embodiments or methods any suitable combination of process sequences or make up could be provided.
Linear motion of platen 172 in direction 176 and the translated linear motion of secondary frame 160 along direction 152. also further extends end effector 158 in direction 152 as shown. Pulleys 210 and 212 are rotatably coupled to secondary frame 160. Cable 214 is coupled to end effector 158 at point 216, wraps around pulley 210 as shown, and terminates at 218 on frame 156. Cable 220 is coupled to end effector 158 at point 222, wraps around pulley 212 and terminates at 224 on frame 156. In this manner, linear motion of platen 172 in direction 176 is translated into linear motion of secondary frame 160 along direction 152 which is further translated to further extension of end effector 158 in direction 152 as shown. In lieu of cable pulleys, the transmissions between platens and end effectors may use belts, bands or any other suitable transmission means made of any suitable materials. In alternate embodiments a suitable linkage system may be used in place of cable pulleys to transmit motion from the platens to the end effectors. Retraction of the end effector 158, to the position shown substantially in FIG. 12, is accomplished in a similar but reverse manner. Further, extension of the end effector 158 to a position similar to but opposite from that shown in FIG. 12B is effected by moving platens 168, 172 in an opposite manner to that described above.
Referring now to FIG. 12B, there is shown an end view of cart 229 before being extended into exemplary process module 166.
Slides 240 constrain frame 156 to be slideable along linear path 150 as shown. Frame 156 has magnetic platens 168 on its underside which interface with synchronous motor 170. Drive platen 172 interfaces with synchronous motor 174. Drive platen 172 is mounted on the underside of and slideable relative to frame 156 along a direction which is substantially parallel to direction indicated by arrow 150 (see FIG. 12). Movement of platens 168 and 172 simultaneously along direction 150 allows the cart to move in direction indicated by arrow 150 without motion in direction 152. Holding platens 168 stationary while simultaneously moving platen 172 along direction 176 relative to frame 156 causes a radial motion along direction 152 of substrate and end effector 148, 158. Platens 172 and 168 may have magnets that interface with motors 170 and 174. Chamber 244 may be made from a nonmagnetic material, for example nonmagnetic stainless steel and provide a barrier 246, 248 between the motor windings and their respective platens. In alternate embodiments, more or less linear drives or carts may be provided. For example, a single drive motor may be provided-having additional drive zones where platens 168 and 172 would interface with the same drive motor but be independently driveable by the different zones. As a further example, additional carts could be driven by different drive systems in the floor 250, the walls 252, 254 above in line with or below the slot openings or in the cover 256 of the chamber.
Referring now to FIG. 13B, there is shown a section view of the exemplary drive system 701 and cart 700 taken along line 13B-13B in FIG. 13A. Referring also to FIG. 13C, there is shown another side section view of the exemplary drive system 701 in FIG. 13B. System 701 has opposing stationary winding sets 727, 729 that drive cart 700. Winding sets 727, 729 are wound in a combination of one and two dimensional driving arrays, for example, vertical 705 and lateral 704. The driving arrays may be linear motors or linear stepping type motors in one or two dimensional arrays. Examples of such driving arrays are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,958,115, 5,126,648, 4,555,650, 3,376,578, 3,857,078, 4,823,062, which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. In alternate embodiments, integrated two dimensional winding sets could be employed with platens having two dimensional magnets or patterns. In other alternate embodiments, other types of one or two dimensional drive systems could be employed. In alternate embodiments, additional arrays could be provided to drive cart 700 in different directions, for example by coupling system 701 to another similar system oriented 90 degrees therefrom. The arrays are driven in multiple zones in order to allow multiple carts to be driven independently. As an example, zone 685 could be a supply zone, zone 683 could be a transfer zone, and zone 681 could be a return zone. Within each zone may be sub-zones which allow driving multiple carts within each zone. In alternate embodiments, more or less zones or sub-zones may be provided in any of a number of combinations. Cart 700 is supported by the fields produced by winding sets 727, 729 and is positionable in a levitated and non-contact manner by biasing the fields between winding sets 727 and 729. FIG. 13C shows one possible winding combination that could be driven by the system shown in FIG. 13D and employed to levitate cart 700 (as for example as discussed further below with reference to FIG. 14A, or through multiple axis active levitation). One dimensional winding sets. are provided in winding zones 732A-C and 730A-C and 734A-C and 742A-B and 740A-B. Two dimensional winding sets are provided in winding zones 736A-E and 738A-C. In alternate embodiments, any suitable combination of winding sets could be provided or a full 2-D array or otherwise could be provided. Cart 700 has platens 720 and 710 which may be used in combination with arrays 738B for platen 720 and arrays 736B, C and D for platen 710. By moving platen 710 in direction 704 (see FIG. 13A) and holding platen 720 stationary, a wafer may be radially moved through slot 718A. By simultaneously moving 710 and 720 in direction 70S (see FIG. 13B), a wafer may be picked or placed. By coordinating winding commutation and winding switching between zones, cart 700 may selectively be moved vertically and/or laterally through the different winding and drive zones. Chamber 716 may be provided as a barrier between winding sets 727, 729 and cart 700. In alternate embodiments, no barrier need exist, such as in the event that, winding sets 727, 729 are inside the enclosure 716 where there is for example a clean air or nitrogen environment. In alternate embodiments, more or less platens or windings may be provided. Arrays of sensors 746, 747, 748 may be provided for sensing the presence of the magnets in the platens or the platens or the cart (s) for determining proper commutation and location and for fine position determination of the platens and the cart, or for determining positions, such as the gap between platens and windings. A cart identification tag, as noted before, may be provided with a reader provided at appropriate stations to determine cart id by station.
In FIG. 14B the relationship between the restoring force F and the axial deflection Z from the desired position of cart 760 is graphically illustrated. In the respective positive or negative axial direction (z direction) the restoring force first increases in magnitude to a value FMAX or −FMAX respectively up to a maximal deflection ZMAX or −ZMAX respectively, but decreases again however when this deflection is exceeded. Therefore, if a force is applied to cart 760 (such as cart weight or external forces, such as from other winding sets that drive the same or other platens or otherwise) that exceeds FMAX, then the cart escapes from the windings 762, 764. Otherwise, cart 760 will stay within the fields as long as they are applied. This principle, described in US patent references (which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety) U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,485,531, 6,559,567, 6,386,505, 6,351,048, 6,355,998 for a rotary devices is applied in the drive system 701, of the apparatus described herein, in a linear fashion to levitate exemplary cart 760. In alternate embodiments, other drive systems or levitation systems may be used.
Referring now to FIG. 15, an exemplary wafer aligner 500 for use with apparatus 10 is shown. The wafer aligner carrier 500 may generally include two parts, wafer chuck 504 and the wafer transport carrier 502. The aligner provides wafer alignment and movement within the linear cartesian transport tool. The aligner is made to interface with the transport cart (s) in the apparatus (such, as for example carts 22, 122A, 406, 700, 1557) or in some cases may be included in the robot cart of the linear process tool architecture.
Referring now to FIG. 27, there is shown a substrate processing system 3010 in accordance with yet another exemplary embodiment of the invention. The system 3010 in FIG. 27 is generally similar to processing systems and tools 10, 10′, 18, 18A, 18B, 601 described before and shown in the drawings, except as otherwise noted below. Similar features are similarly numbered. System 3010 generally includes substrate processing tool 3014 and in this embodiment tool interfaces 3012 and 3016. As in the previous exemplary embodiments, tool 3018 has a controlled atmosphere and is isolated from the outside atmosphere. The tool interfaces 3012, 3016 generally provide an interface between the tool 3014 and other cooperative systems in the fab. For example, tool interface 3012 may be an EFEM suitably configured for interaction with a fab mass substrate transport system 3001, such as automated guided vehicles, or other desired automated material handling system. The EFEM 3012 may be able to allow or provide for loading and offloading of substrates between the mass transport system 3001 and EFEM, and hold unprocessed substrates for entry (in the direction indicated by arrow 3000S) into the processing tool 3018. The EFEM 3012 may also be capable of receiving from the processing tool 3018 (in the direction indicated by arrow 3000P), processed substrates for return transfer to the fab transport system 3001. As noted before, in this embodiment system 3010 has another tool interface 3016, such as an environmental second end module (ESEM), at the opposite end of the tool 3018 from EFEM 3012. ESEM 3016, in this embodiment, is substantially similar to EFEM 3012, capable for example of receiving processed substrates from the tool 3018 (in the direction indicated by arrow 3000P in FIG. 27) and able to facilitate subsequent transfer of the substrates to an adjoining portion of fab transport system 3001. If desired, ESEM 3016 may also be used to feed unprocessed substrates to tool 3018. In alternate embodiments, the processing system may have a tool interface at but one of the tool ends. In that case, unprocessed substrates would be input, and processed substrates would be output, throughout the one end of the process tool where the tool interface is located. In other alternate embodiments, the tool may interface or be otherwise connected directly to another tool or to a transport chamber having a controlled atmosphere (such as in a manner similar to that shown in FIG. 7A for transport. chambers, 602-626). Still referring to FIG. 27, tool 3018 generally comprises a substrate transport chamber 3014 and process modules 3020, 3020A. As noted before, chamber 3014 may have a controlled atmosphere such as a vacuum or inert gas and may be isolated from the outside atmosphere. Transport chamber 3014 may have different sections 3014A, 3014B, 3014C, capable of being isolated from each other such that each section may be capable of holding a different controlled atmosphere (e.g. vacuum, near high vacuum, high vacuum). As seen in FIG. 27, the transport chamber 3014 has a generally linear shape. The process modules 3020, 3020A are mounted in this embodiment to the lateral sides of the transport chamber 3014. The process modules 3020, 3020A may be similar or different from each other. For example, the processing tool 3018 may have one or more load lock chamber modules 3020A (in the embodiment shown in FIG. 27 there are four load lock chamber modules 3020A, two of which communicate with each tool interface 3012, 3016) as desired to allow transfer of substrates into and out of the tool (in the direction indicated by arrows 3000 I/O) without affecting the controlled atmosphere in the tool. The other process modules may be configured to perform desired processing on substrates in the tool, such as dielectric or metal deposition, etching, ion implantation, rapid thermal processing, chemical or mechanical polishing, metrology and others. The process modules, are connected to the sides of the transport chamber 3018 to form a seal with the chamber and maintain the controlled atmosphere in the chamber. The process modules 3020 may be arranged in any desired order along the chamber 3014, such as for example to provide a desired serial processing sequence when substrates progress through the tool in direction 3000S. As will be described further below, tool 3018 does not limit the process sequence, to which substrates are subjected, to merely the serial order of the process modules arrangement on the tool, but rather allows selectability of the process steps. In alternate embodiments, the process modules of the tool 3018 may each provide substantially the same process. As seen in FIG. 27, the tool 3018 has at least one transport vehicle or cart 3229 located in chamber 3014, and capable of holding one or more substrates thereon. The cart 3229 is capable of linear traverse inside the chamber 3014 (in the direction indicated by arrow 3000X). The cart 3229, as will be described below, may also have a suitable operable substrate transfer device 3160 for transferring substrates between the cart, inside the transport chamber 3014, and the process modules 3020, 3020A (in the direction indicated by arrow 3000Y in FIG. 27). The cart 3229 in this embodiment is passive, without motors or powered systems. The transport chamber 3014 includes a drive system 3400 that interfaces with the cart to move the cart within the chamber (direction 3000X) and effect operation of the cart substrate transfer device 3160 to transfer substrates (indicated by direction 3000Y). The transport chamber 3014 may also include a position feed back system 3336 for identifying the position of the cart 3229 and substrate. The drive system 3400 and position feed back system 3336 are operated by the CPU to move the cart and transfer substrates in order to select any desired process sequence for the substrates processed by the tool. As seen in FIG. 27 the transport chamber 3014 is formed by modules 3016, 3016A, 3016B, 3016C that are abutted to each other. As will be described below, each module 3016, 3016A, 3016B, 3016C is a self contained unit with integral drive system and, position feed back system portion to allow each module to operate as an individual transport chamber, and to allow integration of any desired number of modules to form the transport chamber 304 of desired length.
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