Michael R Parodi, 521452 George Ct, Benicia, CA 94510

5766824, Jun 16, 1998

Jul 27, 1995

8/508028

William T. Batchelder - San Mateo CA
Michael L. Parodi - Alamo CA
Michael R. Biche - Union City CA

Semiconductor Systems, Inc. - Fremont CA

G03F 700

430330

A substrate photolithography system includes a substrate handling robot that pivots about a fixed point and transfers substrates between photoresist coater, a developer, and a heating/cooling unit, all of which are clustered about the robot. The end effector of the robot is capable of both vertical and lateral movement so that individual modules of the heating/cooling unit may be stacked. For heating/cooling, the substrate is placed in the heating/cooling unit in close proximity to a hotplate/chillplate and a thermally conductive, non-reactive gas, such as helium, is introduced into the airspace between the substrate and the hotplate/chillplate. The thermally conductive, non-reactive gas, is preheated/precooled before introduction into the airspace between the substrate and the hotplate/chillplate when the gas passes through a bore in the hotplate/chillplate. Additionally, the substrate is automatically aligned in a milled recession in the hotplate surface for future handling.

5798140, Aug 25, 1998

Apr 30, 1996

8/640248

Michael L. Parodi - Alamo CA
Roy E. Hurtig - Anacortes WA

Semiconductor Systems, Inc. - Fremont CA

B05D 312

427240

An apparatus and method are provided for efficiently and effectively coating a substantially flat surface, i. e. , a substrate, with a high-viscosity liquid chemical, such as photoresist. The flat surface is oscillated by rotating the surface in one direction and then repeatedly reversing the direction of rotation of the surface. The chemical is spread by both the centrifugal force of the rotation of the surface and the tangential force of the angular acceleration of the surface. The tangential force helps spread the chemical without prematurely overcoming the surface tension of the chemical resulting in a particularly effective coating using substantially less chemical. Chemical is alternatively spread by vibrating the flat surface. Vibrating applies to the chemical, in addition to radial, centrifugal force, if any, non-radial forces which are not directly opposed by surface tension. The chemical is therefore spread more evenly and efficiently without overcoming the surface tension of the chemical.

5651823, Jul 29, 1997

Mar 29, 1995

8/412650

Michael L. Parodi - Alamo CA
Michael R. Biche - Union City CA
H. Alexander Anderson - Santa Cruz CA
Alexander Lurye - Fremont CA

Semiconductor Systems, Inc. - Fremont CA

B65G 2500

118500

A substrate photolithography system includes a substrate handling robot which pivots about a fixed point and transfers substrates between photoresist coater, a developer, and a heating/cooling unit, all of which are clustered about the robot. The end effector of the robot is capable of both vertical and lateral movement so that individual modules of the heating/cooling unit may be stacked. An apparatus and a method for baking and cooling silicon substrates are disclosed. Both baking and cooling of silicon substrates are done in a single integrated thermal process module. Each thermal process module includes two hot plate assemblies, a cool plate assembly, two local linear transfer arms and a micro-processor based module controller. Both transfer arms are capable of transferring substrates among the cool and hot plate assemblies. A cassette input/output unit handles cassettes which contain semiconductor wafers or other substrates that are to be delivered to or withdrawn from a semiconductor processing system.