公开(公告)号：US10710819B1

公开(公告)日：2020-07-14

申请号：US16445550

申请日：2019-06-19

申请人： Applied Materials, Inc.

发明人： Rajkumar Thanu ,  Damon K. Cox

IPC分类号： H01L21/67 ,  B65G47/91 ,  B25J9/00 ,  B25J15/06 ,  H01L21/687

摘要： A processing system includes a robot arm with an end effector having a longitudinal axis, the robot arm having a reach of at least 45 inches, wherein the end effector includes: a first wafer pocket defined within the end effector at a first location along the longitudinal axis, wherein the first wafer pocket has the reach of at least 45 inches; and a second wafer pocket defined within the end effector at a second location along the longitudinal axis, wherein the second wafer pocket has a second reach that is less than 45 inches. The end effector is capable of concurrently carrying a first wafer in the first wafer pocket and a second wafer in the second wafer pocket.

公开(公告)号：US10537997B2

公开(公告)日：2020-01-21

申请号：US15591694

申请日：2017-05-10

申请人： Applied Materials, Inc.

发明人： Narayanan Ramachandran ,  Karthik Narayanan Balakrishnan ,  Rajkumar Thanu ,  Jeffrey Hudgens

IPC分类号： B25J9/16 ,  H01L21/67 ,  H01L21/687 ,  B25J13/08 ,  B25J19/02

摘要： Embodiments described herein generally relate to an apparatus and method of performing a robot calibration process within a substrate processing system. In one embodiment, a calibration device is used to calibrate a robot having an end effector. The calibration device includes a body, a first side and a second side opposite to the first side. The calibration device further includes a sensor disposed on the second side of the body. In some embodiments, the sensor covers the entire second side of the body. In this configuration, because the sensor covers the entire second side of the body of the calibration device, the calibration device can be utilized to sense the contact between the sensor and various differently configured chamber components found in different types of processing chambers or stations disposed within a processing system during a calibration process performed in each of the different processing chambers or stations.

公开(公告)号：US11547030B2

公开(公告)日：2023-01-03

申请号：US16890346

申请日：2020-06-02

申请人： APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.

发明人： Gayatri Natu ,  Geetika Bajaj ,  Prerna Goradia ,  Darshan Thakare ,  David Fenwick ,  XiaoMing He ,  Sanni Seppaelae ,  Jennifer Sun ,  Rajkumar Thanu ,  Jeff Hudgens ,  Karuppasamy Muthukamatchy ,  Arun Dhayalan

IPC分类号： H05K9/00 ,  H01J37/32 ,  H01J37/20 ,  B25J18/00 ,  H01L21/687 ,  H05F1/02 ,  B65G49/07

摘要： Disclosed in some embodiments is a chamber component (such as an end effector body) coated with an ultrathin electrically-dissipative material to provide a dissipative path from the coating to the ground. The coating may be deposited via a chemical precursor deposition to provide a uniform, conformal, and porosity free coating in a cost effective manner. In an embodiment wherein the chamber component comprises an end effector body, the end effector body may further comprise replaceable contact pads for supporting a substrate and the contact surface of the contact pads head may also be coated with an electrically-dissipative material.

公开(公告)号：US10968052B2

公开(公告)日：2021-04-06

申请号：US16828537

申请日：2020-03-24

申请人： Applied Materials, Inc.

发明人： Rajkumar Thanu ,  Damon K. Cox

IPC分类号： B65G47/91 ,  B25J15/06 ,  H01L21/67 ,  B25J9/00 ,  H01L21/687

摘要： A robotic handling system includes a transfer chamber and a robot arm disposed within the transfer chamber with an end effector having a longitudinal axis. The end effector includes a first wafer pocket defined within the end effector at a first location and a second wafer pocket defined within the end effector at a second location along the longitudinal axis. A first chamber, coupled to the transfer chamber, is reachable by the first wafer pocket and by the second wafer pocket. A second chamber, coupled to the first chamber, where the first chamber is positioned between the transfer chamber and the second chamber, and the second chamber is reachable by the first wafer pocket but not the second wafer pocket.

公开(公告)号：US11443973B2

公开(公告)日：2022-09-13

申请号：US16922727

申请日：2020-07-07

申请人： Applied Materials, Inc.

发明人： Jason M. Schaller ,  Luke Bonecutter ,  Charles T. Carlson ,  Rajkumar Thanu ,  Karuppasamy Muthukamatchi ,  Jeff Hudgens ,  Benjamin Riordon

IPC分类号： H01L21/68 ,  H01L21/687 ,  B65G47/90 ,  H01L21/67

摘要： Exemplary substrate processing systems may include a transfer region housing defining a transfer region fluidly coupled with a plurality of processing regions. A sidewall of the transfer region housing may define a sealable access for providing and receiving substrates. The systems may include a plurality of substrate supports disposed within the transfer region. The systems may also include a transfer apparatus having a central hub including a first shaft and a second shaft counter-rotatable with the first shaft. The transfer apparatus may include an eccentric hub extending at least partially through the central hub, and which is radially offset from a central axis of the central hub. The transfer apparatus may also include an end effector coupled with the eccentric hub. The end effector may include a plurality of arms having a number of arms equal to the number of substrate supports of the plurality of substrate supports.

公开(公告)号：US11358809B1

公开(公告)日：2022-06-14

申请号：US17188374

申请日：2021-03-01

申请人： APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.

发明人： Rajkumar Thanu ,  Jeffrey C. Hudgens ,  Karuppasamy Muthukamatchi

IPC分类号： H01L21/677 ,  B65G47/91 ,  H01L21/687

摘要： Methods, systems, and devices including a robot apparatus with at least one lower arm configured to rotate about a first rotational axis and at least one upper arm rotatably coupled to the at least one lower arm at a second rotational axis that is spaced away from the first rotational axis. The robot apparatus further include a first end effector coupled to the upper arm. The robot apparatus further includes a second end effector coupled to the at least one upper arm. The robot apparatus is suitable for accommodating varying pitches between two adjacent processing chambers or between two adjacent load lock chambers. The robot apparatus may operate in dual substrate handling mode, single substrate handling mode, or a combination thereof. The robot apparatus may also be an off-axis robot.

公开(公告)号：US20210013084A1

公开(公告)日：2021-01-14

申请号：US16922727

申请日：2020-07-07

申请人： Applied Materials, Inc.

发明人： Jason M. Schaller ,  Luke Bonecutter ,  Charles T. Carlson ,  Rajkumar Thanu ,  Karuppasamy Muthukamatchi ,  Jeff Hudgens ,  Benjamin Riordon

IPC分类号： H01L21/687 ,  H01L21/67 ,  B65G47/90

摘要： Exemplary substrate processing systems may include a transfer region housing defining a transfer region fluidly coupled with a plurality of processing regions. A sidewall of the transfer region housing may define a sealable access for providing and receiving substrates. The systems may include a plurality of substrate supports disposed within the transfer region. The systems may also include a transfer apparatus having a central hub including a first shaft and a second shaft counter-rotatable with the first shaft. The transfer apparatus may include an eccentric hub extending at least partially through the central hub, and which is radially offset from a central axis of the central hub. The transfer apparatus may also include an end effector coupled with the eccentric hub. The end effector may include a plurality of arms having a number of arms equal to the number of substrate supports of the plurality of substrate supports.

公开(公告)号：US20230005783A1

公开(公告)日：2023-01-05

申请号：US17940369

申请日：2022-09-08

申请人： Applied Materials, Inc.

发明人： Jason M. Schaller ,  Luke Bonecutter ,  Charles T. Carlson ,  Rajkumar Thanu ,  Karuppasamy Muthukamatchi ,  Jeff Hudgens ,  Benjamin Riordon

IPC分类号： H01L21/687 ,  B65G47/90 ,  H01L21/67

摘要： Exemplary substrate processing systems may include a transfer region housing defining a transfer region fluidly coupled with a plurality of processing regions. A sidewall of the transfer region housing may define a sealable access for providing and receiving substrates. The systems may include a plurality of substrate supports disposed within the transfer region. The systems may also include a transfer apparatus having a central hub including a first shaft and a second shaft counter-rotatable with the first shaft. The transfer apparatus may include an eccentric hub extending at least partially through the central hub, and which is radially offset from a central axis of the central hub. The transfer apparatus may also include an end effector coupled with the eccentric hub. The end effector may include a plurality of arms having a number of arms equal to the number of substrate supports of the plurality of substrate supports.

公开(公告)号：US20220388158A1

公开(公告)日：2022-12-08

申请号：US17886709

申请日：2022-08-12

申请人： APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.

发明人： Jeff Hudgens ,  Damon K. Cox ,  Rajkumar Thanu

IPC分类号： B25J9/10 ,  B25J18/00 ,  B25J17/02 ,  H01L21/677 ,  H01L21/687 ,  F16H35/02

摘要： Disclosed herein are multi-turn drive assemblies, systems and methods of use thereof. The multi-turn drive assemblies enable a robot link member to have a maximum rotation of at least 360 degrees about an axis. The multi-turn drive assemblies can be incorporated into a robot arm for enabling 360 degrees rotation of one or more link members about an axis. The robot arm may be located in a transfer chamber of an electronic device processing system. Also disclosed are methods of controlling the multi-turn drive assemblies and related robots.

公开(公告)号：US20220274788A1

公开(公告)日：2022-09-01

申请号：US17742228

申请日：2022-05-11

申请人： APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.

发明人： Rajkumar Thanu ,  Jeffrey C. Hudgens ,  Karuppasamy Muthukamatchi

IPC分类号： B65G47/91 ,  H01L21/677 ,  H01L21/687

摘要： Methods, system, and devices including a robot apparatus with at least one lower arm configured to rotate about a first rotational axis and at least one upper arm rotatably coupled to the at least one lower arm at a second rotational axis that is spaced away from the first rotational axis. The robot apparatus further include a first end effector coupled to the upper arm. The robot apparatus further includes a second end effector coupled to the at least one upper arm. The robot apparatus is suitable for accommodating varying pitches between two adjacent processing chambers or between two adjacent load lock chambers. The robot apparatus may operate in dual substrate handling mode, single substrate handling mode, or a combination thereof. The robot apparatus may also be an off-axis robot.