SYSTEM OF TRANSPORTING AND STORING CONTAINERS OF SEMICONDUCTOR WAFERS

• Main Authors: POLI, BERNARD, LERO, CHRISTOPHE, HADDAD, FLORENT, GAUDON, BERNARD
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 10.08.2005
• Edition: 7
• Subjects: BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; CONVEYING; ELECTRIC SOLID STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRICITY; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL; PACKING; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS; SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS; STORING; TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING ORTIPPING; TRANSPORTING

A system for conveying and storing wafer containers in connection with wafer processing tools arranged in a row of a wafer fabrication facility and having substantially vertical faces in a common plane with wafer loading/unloading openings associated therewith includes a wafer container storage area, a wafer container temporary support, and a wafer container transfer mechanism. A row conveyor conveys wafer containers to the row. The wafer container transfer mechanism is located rearwardly of the vertical faces of the tools and the wafer container storage area, which has a plurality of stacked shelves, is located reawardly of the faces and above the tools in a subframe. The wafer container temporary support protrudes from the front of the faces. A wafer container transfer mechanism drive moves the wafer container transfer mechanism in X, Y, and Z directions in order to access the container storage area, the wafer container temporary support, and the openings of the tools. The wafer container transfer mechanism employs a wafer container grasping mechanism, a device for movement in the Y direction, and an elevator system for lowering and raising grasped containers from the openings of the tools in the row.