Tactile wafer lifter and methods for operating the same

Abstract

A tactile wafer lifting apparatus includes a pedestal and a vertical drive connected to the pedestal. The vertical drive is defined to provide controlled upward and downward movement of the pedestal. The tactile wafer lifting apparatus also includes a wafer support member disposed over the pedestal. A tactile switch is disposed between the wafer support member and the pedestal such that sufficient downward force on the wafer support member causes activation of the tactile switch. The tactile switch is connected to the vertical drive so as to interrupt upward movement of the pedestal and wafer support member disposed thereover upon activation of the tactile switch.

Description

Background technique [0001] In fabricating semiconductor devices (eg, integrated circuits, memory cells, etc.), a series of fabrication operations are performed to define features on a semiconductor wafer ("wafer" or "substrate"). The wafer includes integrated circuit devices defined in a multi-level structure on a silicon substrate. At the substrate level, transistor devices are formed with diffusion regions. At subsequent levels, interconnecting metal lines are patterned and electrically connected to transistor devices to define the desired integrated circuit devices. Also, the patterned conductive layer is isolated from other conductive layers by a dielectric material. [0002] Various wafer fabrication operations require shipping and moving wafers. For example, some manufacturing operations require that a wafer be moved vertically at a specific location, and lift equipment is used to provide the vertical movement of the wafer. A basic wafer lifter may be defined to onl...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

It should be understood that such disturbances or collisions may result in damage to the wafer lifter, components involved in the collision, and / or the wafer itself (if present on the wafer lifter or components at the time of the collision)

As expected, said damage was very costly in terms of product loss and system downtime

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