Wafer treatment apparatus

Claim 2

Apparatus for processing discrete wafer-form items in a protected environment, including a vacuum chamber and an isolation entry lock through which a said item moves in a path between outside and inside the chamber, said isolation lock including a casing and a bottom closure member across said path, said bottom closure member overlapping a peripheral portion of said casing forming a face-to-face seal therewith, said member defining an item-receiving surface for said item when said member is in a closed position, said member being movable downwardly to an open position where said surface resides at an angle to the horizontal, said member in said open position defining a slide surface for sliding, guided gravity movement of said item from said lock to a receiver, means for producing a treatment beam in said chamber, said receiver including means to retain said wafer form thereon and said receiver being movable to a position exposing said retained wafer-form item to said treatment beam.

Claim 3

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said apparatus is an ion implantation device, said treatment beam comprising ions.

Claim 4

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said receiver comprises a wafer holder within said chamber, said bottom closure member in said open position being aligned with said wafer holder therebelow, adapted to slidably guide said waferform item into said wafer holder.

Claim 5

The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said wafer holder comprises a rotatable member, rotatable from a wafer receiving position to said exposure position.

Claim 6

The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said wafer holder is rotatable from said exposure position to a downwardly sloping discharging position, said holder in said downwardly sloping position defining a slide surface for guided gravity movement of said item from said holder.

Claim 7

The apparatus of claim 5 including an exit lock, the bottom closure of said exit lock being constructed also in accordance with claim 1, adapted to receive a said item from said wafer holder, and upon opening, to slidably discharge said item to a receiver outside said chamber.

Claim 8

The apparatus of claim 6 including a pair of conveyors, one arranged to deliver wafer-form items to said bottom closure member of said entry lock, and the other arranged to convey away wafer-form items received from said bottom closure member of said exit lock.

Claim 9

The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said wafer holder includes means for rotating a said wafer-form item in its own plane to orient said item relative to said exposure position.

Claim 10

The apparatus of claim 8 for use with round wafer-form items each having a flat edge at one predetermined point on its periphery, said items designed to be oriented in said wafer holder relative to said flat edge, said wafer holder comprising three support points arranged to supportingly receive the round periphery of said items, the middle of said points defined by a rotary drive element adapted to so apply rotative force to the round periphery of said items until arrival thereat of said flat.

Claim 11

The apparatus of claim 3 wherein in said waferreceiving position said wafer holder extends upwardly, at an angle to the vertical for slidably receiving a said item, said wafer holder being rotatable toward the vertical from said receiving position to said exposure position.

Claim 12

The apparaTus of claim 10 wherein said wafer holder includes a support surface and a pair of V support stops into which said wafer-form items slide into a retained position.

Claim 13

The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said wafer holder rotates from its exposure position through said receiving position to a downwardly sloping slidable discharge position at which said wafer-form item slides along said support surface of said wafer holder, out of said V support stops.

Claim 14

The apparatus of claim 1 including a movable conveyor arranged to discharge said wafer-form items upon said item receiving surface of said bottom closure member.

Claim 15

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said lock includes a top closure member having an open position enabling entry of said wafer-form item and a closed position overlapping a peripheral portion of said casing forming a face-to-face seal therewith.

Claim 16

The apparatus of claim 14 wherein both said top and bottom closure members comprise swingable doors.

Claim 17

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said bottom closure member comprises a swingable door.

Claim 18

Apparatus for processing discrete wafer-form items in a protected environment, including a vacuum chamber, means for producing a treatment beam in said chamber, a waferform item support within said chamber, said support being movable to a position to expose a said wafer-form item to said treatment beam, and an isolation exit lock through which the item moves from said receiver in a path between inside and outside the chamber, said isolation lock including a casing and a bottom closure member across said path said bottom closure member overlapping a peripheral portion of said casing forming a face-to-face seal therewith, said member defining an item-receiving surface for said item when said member is in a closed position, said member being movable downwardly to an open position where said surface resides at an angle to the horizontal, said member in said open position defining a slide surface for sliding, guided gravity movement of said item from said lock to discharge said item to a receiver outside said chamber.

Claim 19

Apparatus for processing discrete wafer-form items in a protected environment, including a vacuum chamber, means for producing a treatment beam in said chamber, a waferform item support within said chamber, said support being movable to a position to expose a said wafer-form item to said treatment beam, and an isolation exit lock through which the item moves from said receiver in a path between inside and outside the chamber, said isolation lock including a casing and a bottom closure member across said path said bottom closure member overlapping a peripheral portion of said casing forming a face-to-face seal therewith, said member defining an item-receiving surface for said item when said member is in a closed position, said member being movable downwardly to an open position where said surface resides at an angle to the horizontal, said member in said open position defining a slide surface for sliding, guided gravity movement of said item from said lock to discharge said item to a receiver outside said chamber.

Claim 20

The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said receiver comprises a movable conveyor adapted to convey wafer-form items away from said chamber.

Claim 21

The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said bottom closure member comprises a door swingable about a substantially horizontal axis.

Claim 22

The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said lock includes a top closure member having an open position enabling entry of said wafer-form item and a closed position overlapping a peripheral portion of said casing forming a face-to-face seal therewith.

Claim 23

The apparatus of claim 20 wherein both said top and bottom closure members comprise swingable doors.

Claim 24

In apparatus for processing discrete wafer-form items in a protected environment, including a vacuum chamber, means for producing a treatment beam in said chamber, positioning means for disposing a said item for exposure to said beam, delivery means for delivering said item to said positioning means, and receiver means for receiving said item from said positioning means after said exposure thereof to said beam, the improvement wherein said positioning means comprise a wafer holder having structure defining the plane of a said item disposed thereon, means for swinging said holder to predetermined orientations with respect to a substantially horizontal axis which is positioned below said delivery means and above said receiver means, said plane in a first holder orientation being upwardly sloped with respect to said horizontal axis and disposed to receive said item by sliding guided gravity movement from said delivery means, said plane in a second holder orientation being downwardly sloped with respect to said horizontal axis and disposed to deliver said item to said receiver means by a sliding guided gravity movement.

Claim 25

In apparatus for processing discrete wafer-form items in a protected environment, including a vacuum chamber, means for producing a treatment beam in said chamber, positioning means for disposing a said item for exposure to said beam, delivery means for delivering said item to said positioning means, and receiver means for receiving said item from said positioning means after said exposure thereof to said beam, the improvement wherein said positioning means comprise a wafer holder having structure defining the plane of a said item disposed thereon, means for swinging said holder to predetermined orientations with respect to a substantially horizontal axis which is positioned below said delivery means and above said receiver means, said plane in a first holder orientation being upwardly sloped with respect to said horizontal axis and disposed to receive said item by sliding guided gravity movement from said delivery means, said plane in a second holder orientation being downwardly sloped with respect to said horizontal axis and disposed to deliver said item to said receiver means by a sliding guided gravity movement.

Claim 26

The apparatus of claim 22 wherein said beam has a beam axis which is horizontal, said plane in a third holder orientation being within about 10* of the vertical, said item being exposed to said beam when said holder is in said third orientation.

Claim 27

The apparatus of claim 23 for use with round wafer-form items each having a flat edge at one predetermined point on its periphery, said items designed to be oriented in said wafer holder relative to said flat edge, said wafer holder comprising three support points arranged to supportingly receive the round periphery of said items, the middle of said points defined by a rotary drive element adapted to so apply rotative force to the round periphery of said items until arrival thereat of said flat.

Claim 28

The apparatus of claim 23 wherein said delivery means comprise an isolation entry lock constructed in accordance with claim 1.

Claim 29

The apparatus of claim 23 wherein said receiver means comprise an isolation exit lock constructed in accordance with claim 17.

Claim 30

The apparatus of claim 23 wherein said delivery means comprise means for heating said items in said chamber.

Claim 31

The apparatus of claim 27 wherein said receiver means comprises means for cooling said item in said chamber.

Claim 32

The apparatus of claim 28 wherein said means for heating and said means for cooling comprise conveyors having itembearing surfaces which are, respectively, heated and cooled.

Claim 33

The apparatus of claim 23 further including means for producing a second treatment beam spaced apart from the first mentioned treatment beam and a second positioning means associated with said second treatment beam, the second positioning means holder in its first orientation forming said receiver means.

Claim 34

The apparatus of claim 23 further including means for producing a second treatment beam spaced apart from the first mentioned treatment beam and a second positioning means associated with said second treatment beam in like manner as said first mentioned positioning means are associated with said first mentioned treatment beam, said apparatus including transfer means comprising said receiver means for transferring said item from said first mentioned positioning means in its second orientation to said second positioning means in its first orientation.