Wafer aligner

Details Wafer aligner Wafer aligner

2005-08-23

2005-08-23

Crawford, Gene O. (Department: 3651)

Material or article handling

Article reorienting device

Article frictionally engaged and rotated by relatively...

C414S433000, C414S936000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06932558

ABSTRACT:
A prealigner for aligning a disk-like work piece such as a silicon wafer, by centering and rotationally orienting the work piece. The prealigner centers and orients the work piece while only touching the periphery of the work piece using a plurality of wafer rollers and an air bearing table to support the weight of the wafer. The prealigner can accept a range of different diameters of work piece without modification because the wafer rollers are radially moveable until they contact and center the work piece. The prealigner includes a plurality of simple optical sensors for detecting a notch in the work piece and the work piece is rotationally oriented based on a notch detection signal from the optical sensors.

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