Wafer processing equipment and method for processing wafers

• Main Authors: STANLEY, TIMOTHY, MALTABES, JOHN
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 11.01.2003
• Edition: 7
• Subjects: BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; ELECTRIC SOLID STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRICITY; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ARTCOLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS

A wafer processing equipment comprises a track (10) for transporting wafers, a wafer launch station (20) for launching wafers into a section of said track (10), a first wafer processing tool (30) for performing a first process to wafers in said section of said track (10), a buffer (40) for storing wafers processed by said first wafer processing tool (30), a second wafer processing tool (50) for performing a second process to wafers processed by said first wafer processing tool (30), and control means (70) for controlling said wafer launch station (20) such that every wafer launched by said launch station (20) is processed by said second processing tool (50) within a predetermined time window.