In some electronic device manufacturing facilities, larger size substrates (e.g., 450 mm) may be used to develop electronic devices. Thus, such facilities may be equipped with substrate carriers (e.g., front opening unified pods, also known as FOUPS) adapted to hold these larger size substrates. However, such facilities may also develop devices using smaller size substrates (e.g., 300 mm) and thus, carriers suitable for holding and transporting the smaller size substrates may be employed. However, tools and transport systems adapted to accommodate two or more sizes of substrate carriers can be expensive, redundant, and add undesired complexity and equipment to the manufacturing facility. Thus, conventional adapter inserts 100 as depicted in
Such conventional adapter inserts 100 can include a top frame portion 102, a bottom frame portion 104 and two or more support rails 106, 108 extending between the top frame portion 102 and the bottom frame portion 104. The support rails 106, 108 include slots that receive and support smaller size substrates (e.g., 300 mm substrates) therein. The top frame portion 102 and the bottom frame portion 104 are sized and positioned to fit within slots of a larger size (e.g., 450 mm) substrate carrier at locations where two larger size substrates would ordinarily be held.
Even though the conventional adapter inserts 100 allow larger size carriers to safely and securely hold smaller size substrates, such conventional adapter inserts 100 may still require the robots and transfer systems of the manufacturing facility to be specially adapted to accommodate both substrate carriers with conventional adapter inserts 100 and carriers without such adapters, which can be expensive and add undesired complexity to the manufacturing facility. Thus, what is needed are improved adapter inserts and methods of detecting installed adapter inserts that do not require complex and expensive adaptions of existing robots and transfer systems of existing manufacturing facilities.
Embodiments of the present invention provide systems, methods, and apparatus for an adapter insert. The adapter insert includes an adapter frame, a support rail coupled to the adapter frame and adapted to support one or more substrates, a frame extension adapted to be coupled to the adapter frame, and a mapping feature formed on the frame extension and disposed to be detected by a sensor for determining whether an adapter insert is present or absent in a substrate carrier. Numerous additional features are disclosed.
In another embodiment, a substrate carrier adapter apparatus is provided. The substrate carrier adapter apparatus includes an adapter insert frame, and a mapping feature coupled to, or integral with, the adapter insert frame and disposed to be detected by a sensor for determining whether the substrate carrier adapter apparatus is present or absent in a substrate carrier.
Some embodiments of the present disclosure include computer-implemented methods for loading/unloading a substrate carrier. Some methods include providing a substrate carrier for loading or unloading of substrates, and determining whether an adapter insert is present or absent based on detecting a mapping feature. Subsequently, mapping of any substrates within the carrier based on the determining may be carried out.
In another embodiment, a substrate carrier assembly is provided. The substrate carrier assembly includes a substrate carrier, and an adapter insert received in the substrate carrier, the adapter insert including an adapter frame, a support rail coupled to the adapter frame and adapted to support one or more substrates, a frame extension coupled to the adapter frame, and a mapping feature formed on the frame extension and disposed to be detected by a sensor for determining whether an adapter insert is present or absent in the substrate carrier.
Numerous other aspects and embodiments are provided. Other features and aspects of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description, the appended claims, and the accompanying drawings.
The present invention provides systems, methods, and apparatus to allow substrate carriers designed to hold substrates of a first size to be adapted to hold substrates of a second size without requiring extensive adaptation of the robots and transfer systems of a manufacturing facility. By adding a mapping feature or flag to an adapter insert, the existing substrate mapping sensors on the robot's end effector are easily able to detect the presence of the adapter insert of the present invention within the substrate carrier. The mapping feature (e.g., flag or other suitable structure) can be mounted on any practicable part of the frame (e.g., upper and/or lower portion) or support rails of the adapter insert and in some embodiments, the mapping feature can be formed from a portion of a cross bar or extension that mounts on one or more portions of the frame and/or support rails.
Turning now to
Note that any suitably shaped mapping feature 110 may be used to form the novel adapter insert 200 according to embodiments of the present invention, such as a tab or contour extending from a front of the adapter insert 200. Any practicable materials may be used to form the mapping feature 110 and the frame extension 116 that supports the mapping feature 110.
In the depicted embodiment, the mapping feature 110 is formed, or part of, a frame extension 116 that is coupled to or integral with the lower frame portion 104. However, the mapping feature 110 may be disposed on, or part of, any portion of the adapter insert frame, such as the top frame portion 102, or even disposed on, or part of, the support rails 106, 108. Any suitably shaped feature may be used. In some embodiments, the mapping feature 110 may include vertically-spaced indicator portions that have predetermined spacing different than the spacing of substrates held in the adapter insert 200.
Turning now to
The various methods described herein for performing one or more processes also described herein may be embodied as computer programs (e.g., computer executable instructions and data structures) developed using an object oriented programming language that allows the modeling of complex systems with modular objects to create abstractions that are representative of real world, physical objects and their interrelationships. However, any practicable programming language and/or techniques may be used. The software for performing the inventive processes, which may be stored in a memory or storage device of the computer system described herein, may be developed by a person of ordinary skill in the art based upon the present disclosure and may include one or more computer program products. The computer program products may be stored on a computer readable medium such as a server memory, a computer network, the Internet, and/or a computer storage device.
Various other modifications and alterations in the structure and method of operation of the embodiments of the present disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Although the present disclosure has been described in connection with certain embodiments, it should be understood that the claims should not be unduly limited to such embodiments. It is intended that the following claims define the scope of the present disclosure and that structures and methods within the scope of these claims and their equivalents be covered thereby.
This application is a continuation application of, and claims priority to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/332,976, filed Jul. 16, 2014, titled “CARRIER ADAPTER INSERT APPARATUS AND CARRIER ADAPTER INSERT DETECTION METHODS”, which claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/847,732, filed Jul. 18, 2013, entitled “CARRIER ADAPTER INSERT APPARATUS AND CARRIER ADAPTER INSERT DETECTION METHODS”, each of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
5667388 | Cottrell | Sep 1997 | A |
6454508 | Toshima et al. | Sep 2002 | B2 |
6454519 | Toshima et al. | Sep 2002 | B1 |
6599076 | Toshima et al. | Jul 2003 | B2 |
6955197 | Elliot | Oct 2005 | B2 |
7147424 | Weaver | Dec 2006 | B2 |
7258520 | Weaver | Aug 2007 | B2 |
7275905 | Lee | Oct 2007 | B2 |
7299831 | Elliot | Nov 2007 | B2 |
7467919 | Weaver | Dec 2008 | B2 |
7611319 | Shah et al. | Nov 2009 | B2 |
9171748 | Hatano | Oct 2015 | B2 |
20030002960 | Toshima et al. | Jan 2003 | A1 |
20030122146 | Iijima | Jul 2003 | A1 |
20060245854 | Toshima et al. | Nov 2006 | A1 |
20070116545 | Rice et al. | May 2007 | A1 |
20070140822 | Elliott et al. | Jun 2007 | A1 |
20100192806 | Heugel | Aug 2010 | A1 |
20100194420 | Kitazume | Aug 2010 | A1 |
20150022821 | Mazzocco et al. | Jan 2015 | A1 |
Entry |
---|
Non-Final Office Action of U.S. Appl. No. 14/332,976 dated Dec. 27, 2016. |
Mar. 1, 2017 Reply to Dec. 27, 2016 Non-Final Office Action of U.S. Appl. No. 14/332,976. |
Final Office Action of U.S. Appl. No. 14/332,976 dated Apr. 28, 2017. |
Jun. 22, 2017 Reply to Apr. 28, 2017 Final Office Action of U.S. Appl. No. 14/332,976. |
Advisory Action of U.S. Appl. No. 14/332,976 dated Jul. 3, 2017. |
Non-Final Office Action of U.S. Appl. No. 14/332,976 dated Oct. 19, 2017. |
Jan. 8, 2018 Reply to Oct. 19, 2017 Non-Final Office Action of U.S. Appl. No. 14/332,976. |
Final Office Action of U.S. Appl. No. 14/332,976 dated Apr. 9, 2018. |
Jun. 11, 2018 Reply to Apr. 9, 2018 Final Office Action of U.S. Appl. No. 14/332,976. |
Advisory Action of U.S. Appl. No. 14/332,976 dated Jul. 2, 2018. |
Notice of Allowance of U.S. Appl. No. 14/332,976 dated Aug. 27, 2018. |
Comments on Examiners Statements for Reasons of Allowance of U.S. Appl. No. 14/332,976, filed Sep. 24, 2018. |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20180350637 A1 | Dec 2018 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
61847732 | Jul 2013 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 14332976 | Jul 2014 | US |
Child | 16102670 | US |