Patent Application
20070006406
The invention is directed to substrate preparation systems and methods, and more particularly to apparatus and methods for cleaning of disk-shaped substrates, including silicon wafers of the type used in the fabrication of computer chips, and aluminum, ceramic, plastic, glass and multi-component disks for data storage devices such as hard disk drives (HDD), compact discs (CD), digital video discs (DVD), and the like, used in the computer, information and entertainment industries. A major aspect of the invention is provision of a pallet assembly comprising a framework in which small scrubber mandrels with brush elements are mounted, which is retro-fit-able into the footprint, and interfaces with cleaning fluid and drive systems of currently commercially available 95 and 65 mm disk cascade scrubbers so that the mandrels can clean small disks of size less than 50 mm diameter.
The computer, information, and entertainment industries produce and consume annually in excess of a billion disk-shaped substrates, principally silicon wafers, and aluminum, plastic, glass, or other multi-component disks. In the fabrication of computer CPU chips, silicon wafers are processed through multiple fabrication steps which include repeated application and selective removal of variously conductive, non-conductive and semi-conductive materials before the resulting micro-circuits are complete and separated into individual dies.
With respect to memory media of the hard drive type that utilize disk substrates, aluminum, glass, and other composite disk substrates are in current use. The substrates are over-coated with one or more layers of magnetic, optical, or magneto-optical materials in the fabrication of HDDs, CDs, DVDs, and other data storage products. As technology related to areal density improves, ever smaller disks are able to hold as much or more information than their larger counterparts. For example, 1″ (25 mm) and smaller disks are being used in cell phones and portable music players.
Substrates must be buffed, polished, etched, textured, cleaned, and otherwise prepared repeatedly during the fabrication process, both before sputtering with magnetic media and afterwards. By way of example, a microscopic contaminant of size on the order of 0.1 micron left on the surface of a hard drive disk substrate could cause the hard drive to fail, as the clearance between the drive head and the substrate magnetic media is only on the order of 0.0125 microns (0.5 micro-inches). Accordingly, the standard of cleanliness of hard drive substrates currently required in industry permits no more than 1 particle per side of size no greater than 0.1 micron.
To meet the ever increasing demands for cleaner substrates, both semiconductor and disk industries adopted rotating brush scrubbing as the standard cleaning procedure. In cascade-type scrubbers, each brush station includes one or more pair(s) of brushes. The brush material is usually polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), but other materials such as mohair and nylon can be used. To keep the brushes clean and extend the brush life, it is common practice to deliver water or other cleaning fluid from the exterior or/and the interior, that is, through a hollow brush core. The brush core has a one open end for cleaning fluid input.
In hollow core type mandrels, the cleaning fluid is delivered from the interior of the brush core to the interface of the brush and substrate surface being cleaned through a series of fine holes or channels distributed along the longitudinal length of the brush and passing through the wall of the brush. The open end of the brush core is coupled with a supply housing that provides cleaning fluid under pressure that continuously passes through the holes and flushes the interface of the brush with the substrate surface being cleaned.
Presently, commercially available cascade scrubber systems are available from Xyrates Technologies, Inc of Scotts Valley, Calif. (formerly Oliver Design, Inc.). These cascade scrubbers are designed for 65 mm (about 2½″), 95 mm (about 3¾″) and 48 mm (about 2″) diameter substrate, principally aluminum, disks. However, the industry is moving toward smaller glass disks, on the order of 21.6-40 mm (about ⅞″ to about 1.5″) diameter, for use in cell phones and other micro-devices such as portable storage media, music players, and the like. Even smaller, ¾ to ½″ diameter disks are anticipated (that is, as small as 10 mm) as ubiquitous data storage device components.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a cascade scrubber cleaning system that can handle smaller disks, and more particularly a system that includes a method for cleaning various new disk sizes simultaneously, that can be retrofit in the existing equipment base, and is simple and inexpensive to manufacture and maintain.
The present invention provides a simple and economic solution to resolve the issue of cleaning a plurality of sizes of small substrate disks by providing a Small Form Factor (herein “SFF”) pallet assembly comprising a framework in which small scrubber mandrels with brush elements are mounted, which is retrofittable into the footprint, and interfaces with cleaning fluid and drive systems of currently commercially available 95/65/48 mm disk cascade scrubbers so that the mandrels can clean small substrate disks, defined as substrate disks of size less than 45 mm diameter. The system includes a robotic handler for loading and unloading disks from incoming and to outgoing cassettes each carrying groups of 50 disks or more. The robotic handler assembly system is disposed, relative to the SFF scrubber bay, in an H-configuration, as seen in plan view, that is, at each end of the SFF scrubber bay. The handler includes pick up arms that unload/load incoming and outgoing cassettes onto disk nests, pick from/to the nests, traverse (shuttle laterally) between incoming and outgoing disk cassettes/nest station and the nip of the scrubber mandrels at each end thereof, and whose motion is timed to coordinate with the intermittent indexing motion of the SFF longitudinal disk transport system to advance disks along and through the scrubber stations of the inventive SFF pallet.
For the background context of cascade scrubber modules for hard-drive disk substrate cleaning into which the inventive pallet assembly is retrofit, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 6,625,835 and Published Regular US Application 2005-0015903, published Jan. 27, 2005 (Ser. No. 10/625,973 filed Jul. 23, 2003 by Adam Sean Harbison et al, entitled SEAL SYSTEM FOR IRRIGATED SCRUBBER MANDREL ASSEMBLY), the subject matter of which are hereby incorporated by reference as if reproduced here to the extent necessary for technical support.
The inventive SFF cascade scrubber system includes a longitudinal disk transport assembly comprising chain driven, spaced, adjustable finger yokes running parallel to a grooved disk-rotation drive track to replace the full-sized finger yoke system in the Disk Cascade Scrubber, U.S. Pat. No. 6,625,835. The inventive SFF system also includes a small-brush pallet assembly that replaces the full-sized, double-mandrel, internally irrigated, brush mechanism of that patent with a smaller, externally irrigated, double brush system. The inventive SFF pallet comprises a framework and paired small mandrels that couple with, engage and replace the drive system of the larger, currently available mandrels (disclosed for example in the above identified Published Application 2005-0015903 which has been incorporated by reference herein.
In combination, the inventive small form factor adjustable finger yoke and disk rotation transport system and cylindrical brush pallet transform the large format Disk Cascade Scrubber to an SFF scrubber, enabling it to clean small disks, yet the assemblies are removable to allow the flexibility of reattaching the larger disk form-factor scrubber mandrels, where the disk manufacturer has runs of the full range of disk form factors. That is, the inventive SFF system pallet substantially extends the range of use of the currently-available Cascade Scrubber modules to the full menu of disk substrate sizes, and does so in the same factory floor footprint. By the retrofit and interface properties of the inventive SFF cascade scrubber pallet system, the life of the larger machines is extended as the industry develops ever-smaller data storage disks.
The small sized disk substrates pose unique cleaning and handling problems, in large part due to their size, fragility, composition and light weight, to name four principal problem-causing parameters. As a result, the handling must be delicate, yet positive; glass substrates are on the order of 0.16 mm or less thick, and can shatter. Their small size means the positioning of the scrubber nip and the motions of the pick-and-place robotic handler must be precise, and aligned (not skewed) over the relatively long transfer distances from the scrubber bay to the nests. Further, the substrate composition, being glass raises additional problems, in that wetted disks not only stick together by virtue of their cleanliness (like material self-bonding) but also due to hydration bonding. That is, the film of water will cause the disks to stick together. In addition, disks that “lean” during handling will be attracted-to, and stick-to, adjacent handling equipment by water droplets. Other forces that cause the disks to mis-align or indeed fly off the handling equipment include vibration and air currents. Once the disks fall off or fly off, they are essentially invisible, being transparent glass. And where they fall can cause problems, including jamming equipment and contaminating other disks, thereby reducing process yield. Being light weight, the disks pose in-scrubber transport problems, in that the forces to move the disk must overcome brush drag, water meniscus and attractive forces, yet not be abrupt, causing disks to jump. The light weight and smooth glass composition means that glass disks may have a tendency to slip instead of rotate during longitudinal movement through the scrubber zones. Finally, the spacing of the mandrels above the belt is important. That is the centerline of the mandrel needs to be at the center line of the disk to insure fill coverage of the disks. Too high or too low, will clean only an annulus of the disk. These are good examples of application-specific problems attendant upon change of scale and nature of materials (size, weight, composition, fragility), the solutions to which are not pointed to by larger scale systems.
As for the SFF pallet disk transport (drive) system components, the disks are moved longitudinally from the input end to the output end of the scrubber nip by a chain or belt drive that has pusher fingers terminating in rollers that contact the lower periphery of the disk. This drive assembly is located below the scrubber mandrels. In addition, the disk is rotated by a grooved belt running in a track centered below the nip of the scrubber mandrels. The substrate edge contacts the groove. Typically, the grooved belt is driven in a direction opposite the direction of the chain/pusher drive, but may optionally be driven in the same direction. Thus, as the disk substrates traverse, say from left to right through the cascade scrubber assembly, the counter-rotating grooved belt imparts a clockwise rotation to the substrates. The belt profile must be specially configured for the small disks, in that the belt groove must be small enough to accept the edge of the disks but not a substantial area of the sides, yet provide suitable gripping surface to effect disk rotation. Within the scope of this invention, the belt can include, additionally and optionally, spaced transverse grooves, flutes or treads (raised ribs) to provide positive, continuous disk rotation. The disk rotation belts are preferably made of polyurethane of durometer in the range of from 60 to about 100. Other belt materials that can be used include alternating block homo and co-polymers of polyolefins such as polyethylene or/and polyproplylene, fluorosil, fluoro-elastomere (FKM, FPM), acrylonitrile-butadiene (NBR), urethane co-polymers, styrene-butadiene (SBR), ethylene propylene (EPDM, EPM), and other polymers.
The belt is a long profile of fixed cross-section, joined in a loop by splicing, preferably extruded, but may be pultruded if fiber reinforced, molded, pressure-formed and radiation cross-linked, or manufactured by lay-up (a common way to make belts). Alternative materials include any elastomer that is compatible with the chemistry used in the cascade scrubber and that is sufficiently flexible to elastically deform around the pulley radii while stretched taut, without significant plastic deformation (dependent on specific cross-sectional profile, the pulley radius, and tension applied. In addition to a fiber reinforced elastomer, made by layup or pultrusion, a composite belt made of compatible, flexible materials including stainless steel bands, elastomer layers, and fiber or fiber-reinforced layers can be used. These layers may be bonded, vulcanized, co-molded, pultruded, interlocked, or otherwise joined to create a single profile.
In the inventive SFF cascade scrubber palette system, the disk transport indexes the disks intermittently between stations. In a first embodiment, there are three stations along the longitudinal plane of the nip between the brushes. The disk pick-and-place handler shuttles between a cassette receiving (input) station that is oriented orthogonally to the scrubbing plane. It puts a first disk into station one. The disk is cleaned there while being rotated by the grooved drive belt underneath and contacting the edge of the disk. The disk is cleaned for a time period ranging from about 5 to about 20 seconds, and then the SFF scrubber pallet disk transport moves the disk quickly and smoothly to station 2 which is located about 4-8″ along the mandrel nip (scrubbing) plane. The disk is cleaned there for a similar period and then incremented to station 3 where is cleaned and then picked up and stacked in the outgoing nest for placement in a transfer cassette for movement to the next processing module. The time period in the stations can all be the same or varied.
The inventive SFF system for transport of disks along the scrubber stations provides 2-digit adjustable yokes, typically of two sizes (conventional large disk scrubbers use single fingers). The chain drive can be fitted with yokes of all the same size, or alternating different sized yokes are spaced along the chain. This latter is the preferred set-up, as it permits simple conversion from cleaning 21.6 mm disks to cleaning 35 mm without change of chain or installing new yokes. All that needs be done is to synchronize the placement of the larger disk in the appropriate yoke, or the space between adjacent yokes. For example, a first finger yoke with spacing for 40-48 mm disk between digits is spaced from a second yoke far enough to accept a 35 mm disk, and this yoke has finger spaced to accept a 21.6 mm disk between its fingers. The yokes alternate in that spacing secured along the drive chain that runs below and parallel to the plane of the nip between the SFF brush-mounted mandrels. Thus, three different sized disks can be sequenced onto the track in the finger yokes and spaces between them, rotated by the grooved disk rotation belt below and in which the disks ride, without change of drive chain. In the alternative, finger yokes of any size, attached to the track's chain drive in any sequence may be configured to render the apparatus useful even as disk sizes continue to evolve in the computer chip industry.
Another important feature of the inventive SFF pallet system is that the yokes are adjustable in X, Y and Z dimensions: The X dimension is longitudinal, that is parallel to the grooved disk rotation belt which is co-axial with the brush nip and defines the scrubber lane plane, e.g., Ln-1, Ln-2, . . . Ln-N; The Y dimension is lateral, that is horizontally orthogonal to the grooved disk rotation belt; The Z dimension is vertical, raising the rollers up or down with respect to the horizontal plane of the grooved disk rotation belt and the horizontal centerline of the brushes. The adjustments are implemented, in a principal embodiment, by use of slots and adjustment screws, the Z adjustment in the yoke vertical flange that connects it to the disk transport chain, the Y adjustment at the “wrist” juncture of the yoke “hand” portion to the vertical flange, and the X adjustment at the juncture of the individual fingers to the hand portion of the yoke assembly.
Thus, the SFF system provides for essentially infinite adjustability for any sized disks. For example, keeping X and Y dimensions the same, raising Z means a smaller disk can be retained in the groove for transport stability, while reducing Z (lowering the rollers) means a larger disk can be retained. This adjustability feature also permits retaining the disks at user-selected distances down from the center hole of the disks. Smaller, thinner disks may need to be held higher along their edges than larger ones, or vice versa, as processing conditions may be varied and controlled, as non-limiting examples: rotation speed of brushes; indexing interval (dwell time in each zone and time of transit between zones); speed of the transport chain drive; rinse fluid composition and flow rate; disk rotation rate (grooved belt drive speed); and disk rotation direction (clockwise vs counterclockwise); to name a few.
In the presently preferred embodiment of the SFF pallet, the brushes are wet only from the exterior, by a spray system of the scrubber assembly module. As the disks are smaller, exterior wetting has proven adequate for good rinsing of the disks during scrubbing. In this “dry mandrel” configuration, the water supply to the mandrel end housing of the scrubber assembly is turned off.
However, where needed for extra flushing-off of particulates, the inventive SFF brush mandrels may include a hollow core having a water supply from the idler end. The mandrel idler sockets are disposed in an end housing assembly in which a sliding piston inside the housing is configured with a flange having one or more recesses so that the piston is out of contact with the rotating part of the bearing assembly of the brush mandrel. The piston has a specially configured flange with an outer face that only contacts the stationary outer race of the mandrel bearing. The water supply piston is also configured with a full bore, that is, without a reduced bore forming a nozzle, thereby minimizing the hydraulic pressure of the input cleaning fluid so as to minimize the pressure on the end of the mandrel. In addition, a tolerance-controlled leak through the bearing is provided by the configuration of the outer, stepped face of the piston flange. This leak provides a flushing of the area in which wear might be a source of particle generation. Further, this controlled leak is up-stream of the brush core apertures, originates adjacent the potential wear faces and exits external to the brush upstream of it. In combination, these features function to substantially eliminate both the source of particle generation from contact wear between brush core mandrel and cleaning/rinsing fluid supply housing, and the contribution of such wear particles into the interface between the brush and the substrate surface being cleaned. In the full-sized version, two parallel mandrels terminate in two holes provided in the end housing assembly.
The inventive brush pallet, however, is smaller than its full-sized counterpart, and comprises two parallel mandrels equipped with rotating brushes terminating at a first end with an idler housing having short cylindrical or disk-shaped couplings that fit into the mandrel sockets of the original large form factor cascade scrubber mandrel housing system. The opposite end of the SFF pallet terminates in a geared transmission assembly having two projecting bayonet sockets that engage the drive pins of the original large form factor mandrel drive system. This drive counter-rotates the mandrels on which the brushes are mounted. Like its larger counterpart, the inventive SFF brush pallet is located above the chain drive/yoke transport system and grooved belt disk rotation system, its brushes counter-rotating to both scrub the disks from both sides, and push them downward, thus keeping them in contact with the grooved rotation belt and the grooved rollers on the ends of the yoke fingers.
In a preferred embodiment, spools having transverse flanges spaced about 4-8 mm apart are mounted on the mandrels close to the ends. These provide clearance for the lifter fingers to dip into the nip between the brushes without contacting the brush bristles or nubs. Thus, the mandrels include, from one end to the other: Short brush segment, spool, 3 or more longer brush segments defining the scrubbing zones, a second spool, and a short brush segment. The short brush segments are on the order of 15-30 mm long.
The inventive SFF pallet system also includes a robotic handler system that laterally transfers the disks in pairs (or more than 2 at a time) from incoming cassette receiving nests to the input nips of the scrubber lines, and the reverse at the output end (the end of the scrubber lines), in a series of motions: descend and engage disks, lift the disks, move laterally to the cleaning plane (plane of the nip between the brushes), descend to insert the disk in the insert space provided by the spools, release disk, lift out of the way, move laterally back to initial, start position.
In the presently preferred embodiment, the robotic handler includes pairs of lifters on which are mounted disk nests at each end and spaced to one side of the scrubber lines. These lifter-actuated nests receive/unload disks incoming from delivery cassettes, and present/load disks into outgoing cassettes. Once the disks are loaded onto the incoming nests, a disk transfer trolley of the robotic Pick-N-Place lateral transfer assembly having pairs of spaced arms (in the case of a 2-line scrubber module), moves laterally into place over the disks, descends to provide a finger next to the aperture in the disk, indexes over so a groove in the finger is aligned with the plane of the disk, then lifts the disks off the nest, transfers (moves) laterally over to the scrubber line, lowers the disk into the nip onto the rotational drive belt, indexes down slightly to disengage the tip of the finger from the inner marginal edge of the disk center hole, indexes laterally so the finger clears the disk, raises, and translates back to start (over the nest. That configuration is for a 2-line scrubber module. For 3, 4 or more line modules, the trolley is configured with the corresponding number of arms properly aligned to fetch and place disks from the corresponding number of nests.
It is preferred to configure the trolley arms with anti-vibration features, including arms and fingers parallel to the plane of the disks, reinforcing gussets, arms reinforced with ribs, robust and/or wide pick hooks or fingers, and the like. In addition, to insure precise alignment of the arm pairs with respect to each other at both rest positions: A. Over the nests; and B. over the scrubber brush nips, at least one finger includes a longitudinal position, fine adjustment system that provides precise alignment of the fingers with respect to each other by turn of a screw.
The preferred disk pick-ups are hook units attached to the end of the PNP trolley assembly fingers. These hooks descend to a position adjacent a disk and at a level where the upper tip of the hook clears the disk center hole, then indexes over to center the groove of the hook with the plane of the disk, and then rises to engage the inner periphery of the disk hole to lift and transport the disk. Where a disk pick hook is used to lift and transport disks by engaging the disk center hole, an optional releasable damper assembly can be employed to stabilize the disk.
In a second disk transfer assembly arm embodiment, the disk engagement lifters grasp the disks at multiple points along the disk periphery with a pair of forceps-type grooved fingers which open and close, contacting and lifting the disk at a point or region including slightly below the horizontal center line of the disk. The groove in each finger is generally V-shaped, so that the very edges, rather than the sides of the disk are contacted. The groove extends downwardly to the end of the lifter finger in order to provide a drip path for water. At the output end of the scrubber a similar robotic handler removes the disks from the last scrubber station and returns them to an outgoing, cleaned disk next for transfer to an outgoing cassette or cradle.
The transfer of disks from the cassettes to the nests, nests to nests, and the reverse is as follows: The incoming cassette is positioned at the output end of the upstream module (e.g., rinse, megasonic, ultrasonic, immersion tank, fresh (new disks production clean) over a lifter having a nest. The lifter raises the nest lifting the disks out of the cassette into position between the spaced arms of an inter-module horizontal transfer unit positioned over the nest. The arms close, taking the disks. The nest retracts to below the cassette. The inter-module transfer unit brings the disks into the scrubber module space and positions itself over the scrubber module lifter/nest assembly, which rises, accepts the disks. The inter-module transfer unit's arms open, and the disks are now on the scrubber nests, which lower into position for the disks to be picked by the arms of the scrubber lateral transfer trolley/arm unit. At the scrubber output end the reverse steps occur.
The invention is described in more detail with reference to the drawings, in which:
FIGS. 9A-C, 10A-C and 11A-C are line drawings of three embodiments of disk rotation belts, in which FIGS. 9A-C show the details of the belt for 27 mm disks and smaller, FIGS. 10A-C show the belt for 35 mm and larger disks, and FIGS. 11A-C show the details of a belt having transverse grooves or treads, in each of these series the
FIGS. 14A-D are isometric and side elevations, respectively of the preferred embodiment of the pick finger, in which
The following detailed description illustrates the invention by way of example, not by way of limitation of the scope, equivalents or principles of the invention. This description will clearly enable one skilled in the art to make and use the invention, and describes several embodiments, adaptations, variations, alternatives and uses of the invention, including what is presently believed to be the best modes of carrying out the invention. Being in a continuously wet environment and including cleaning compounds in the wetting or scrubbing fluids, the materials of construction include plastic, elastomers, stainless steel, brass and aluminum, the choice of which is within the skill of those experienced in this art.
In this regard, the invention is illustrated in the several figures, and is of sufficient complexity that the many parts, interrelationships, and sub-combinations thereof simply cannot be fully illustrated in a single patent-type drawing. For clarity and conciseness, several of the drawings show in schematic, or omit, parts that are not essential in that drawing to a description of a particular feature, aspect or principle of the invention being disclosed. Thus, the best mode embodiment of one feature may be shown in one drawing, and the best mode of another feature will be called out in another drawing.
All publications, patents and applications cited in this specification are herein incorporated by reference as if each individual publication, patent or application had been expressly stated to be incorporated by reference.
As shown by Arrow Ti, the input lateral disk transfer trolley assembly 22a picks the disks from the input nest 22a, transports them laterally into the scrubber bay zone 16 and places them into the nip between the scrub brushes. During scrubbing the disks are transported longitudinally down the scrubber lanes, as indicated by the Arrow L. At the output end of the scrubber zone 16, the output lateral disk transfer trolley assembly 22b picks the disks out of the scrubber nip, and transfers them laterally to the output nest 20b, as shown by the Arrow To. As shown the layout of the input, scrubber and output zones is generally C-shaped as seen in plan view. Also, as shown in
In contrast,
In an alternate embodiment of the inventive SFF pallet, the mandrels are hollow to provide inside-out flushing of the brushes. In this embodiment the mandrels extend into the bosses 78a, 78b and each of the bosses includes a passageway that leads through the idler assembly housing into the hollow mandrels so that they feed water from the manifold 44 into the SFF mandrel bores. As before, input gap 62 and output gap 64 are provide for the pick and place finger clearance. There also may be gaps 82 between adjacent scrubber zones.
At the left end is the mandrel idler housing assembly 44, the sleeves or sockets 42 for the idler bearings of the mandrels being shown. At the right end, the mandrel drive transmission assem-bly 50 is shown. Sprockets 52 are chain driven in counter rotation, and the output shafts have pins to engage the bayonet sockets of the brush mandrels (see
Thus, the universal disk transport assembly 104 comprises a chain 56 fitted with alternating yokes 106, 108 mounted thereon fitted in place of the original chain 84 (see
The SFF transmission 70 includes housing sections 128a, 128b and an internal gear mount framework 130. The output drive couplings 48a, 48b are mounted on output drive shafts 132a, 132b. The gear train 134 is retained in the framework 130 and aligned with the input shafts 74a, 74b and the output shafts 132a, 132b by means of suitable alignment/retainer coupling and spacer sets 136a, 136b.
Thus, the inventive universal disk transport system provides for essentially infinite adjustability for any sized disks. For example, keeping X and Y dimensions the same, raising Z means a smaller disk can be retained in the groove for transport stability, while reducing Z (lowering the rollers) means a larger disk can be retained. This adjustability feature also permits retaining the disks at user-selected distances down from the center hole of the disks. Smaller, thinner disks may need to be held higher along their edges than larger ones, or vice versa, as processing conditions may be varied and controlled, as non-limiting examples: rotation speed of brushes; indexing interval (dwell time in each zone and time of transit between zones); speed of the transport chain drive; rinse fluid composition and flow rate; disk rotation rate (grooved belt drive speed); and disk rotation direction (clockwise vs counterclockwise); to name a few. The height of the rollers above the belt can be varied from on the order of 0.25 mm to 25 mm, the range being to not contact the disk rotation belt 120 or the surface of the brushes.
Shown at the right in
FIGS. 9A-C, 10A-C and 11A-C are line drawings of three embodiments of disk rotation belts 94, 120, in which FIGS. 9A-C show the details of the belt 120 for 48 mm disks and smaller, FIGS. 10A-C show the belt 94 for 65 mm and larger disks, and FIGS. 11A-C show the details of a belt having transverse grooves or treads 180 spaced along the longitudinal groove 174. In each of these series the
As seen in
At the top of the elevator plate 226 of the PNP robotic handler assembly 230 is mounted a multi-part adjustable yoke assembly 232 (described in more detail below in reference to
In
In
In
As compared to the conventional LFF scrubber, the pick arms are more massive, have reinforcing ribs and have their strength dimension oriented transverse to the transfer motion of travel and are gusseted orthogonally to assist in reduction of harmonic vibration during transfer and up/down motion at the nests and nips. In addition, the damper of the
The robotic pick-and-place disk handler assembly 200 of
An identical pick-and-place robotic handler is used at the output end, with the sequence in reverse from picking up a clean disk and returning it to an output, clean disk nest station. Note that in the case of dual lane scrubber, one lane can be configured to handle large disks and the other small. By retrofit of the inventive disk transport yoke and pallet systems described above in reference to
It is clear that the inventive multi-finger disk transport yokes and SFF small brush palette system of this application have wide applicability to the disk cleaning industry, namely to brush scrubber systems for the preparation of new, small semiconductor wafers and of disk substrates for HDDs, CDs, DVDs and the like. The inventive SFF palette, handler system and drive has the clear potential of becoming adopted as the new standard for methods of cleaning disk substrates smaller than about 50 mm in diameter.
It should be understood that various modifications within the scope of this invention can be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit thereof and without undue experimentation. For example, the disk transport multi-finger yoke system can be re-sized to fit the disk diameter most in demand at any time in the industry, and differently sized diameter brush palettes can be manufactured to be retrofitted into the conventional standard mandrel manifold, as required. This invention is therefore to be defined by the scope of the appended claims as broadly as the prior art will permit, and in view of the specification if need be, including a full range of current and future equivalents thereof.
PARTS LIST To assist examination; may be canceled upon allowance at option of Examiner.
This application is the Regular application of Provisional U.S. Application Ser. No. 60/697,600 filed Jul. 8, 2005 by the same inventors under the same title, the benefit of the filing date of which is hereby claimed under one or more of 35 US Code §§ 119(e), 120, 121, 365(c) as applicable.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60697600 | Jul 2005 | US |
