US 2,020,309,455 · Filed 2020-03-23

The Two-Sided Door Flipper That Sorts Semiconductor Wafers

Imagine a cassette (a box holding delicate wafers used to make computer chips) with a door that needs to open from opposite sides depending on which way the material needs to move. This patent covers a clever mechanism that flips a closure device back and forth to open the door on either the left or right side — like a two-faced gatekeeper that knows which way traffic needs to flow.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a mechanical door opener with two opposing walls, each with its own opening. What's protected is the ability to move a closure device (the door-holder) from one wall to the opposite wall, holding the cassette door closed against whichever side the process requires. The innovation is that single mechanism can seal and unseal two different openings, saving space and complexity in the apparatus.

Why it matters

In semiconductor manufacturing, efficiency and precision matter enormously. This design lets a single substrate processing machine handle cassettes that need bidirectional access — material can flow in from one side and exit from the other, or be retrieved from either side without redesigning the entire apparatus. It's a compact solution to a real manufacturing constraint.

Real-world use

Every time a microchip fab loads or unloads a cassette of silicon wafers into an automated processing tool, this door-flipping mechanism is likely controlling which side opens and when.

Original USPTO abstract

The disclosure relates to a door opener to open a door of a cassette with substrates, the opener having a first wall to engage with the cassette and having a first opening to transfer the door and the substrates and a second wall opposite the first wall and having a second opening to transfer substrates. The door opener may have a closure device to hold the door of the cassette and having first and second sides and moveable in a chamber formed between the first and second wall. The opener may have a first actuator to move the closure device in a first direction from a first closing position where the first side closes against the first wall to a second closing position where the second side closes against the second wall, and from the second closing position to a transport position in between the first and second closing positions.

Patent details

Publication number: US 2,020,309,455
Filing date: 2020-03-23
Grant date: Application — not yet granted
Assignee: Asm Ip Holding B.V.
Inventor(s): FLUIT, JEROEN
CPC class: H01L21/67772

View original record on Google Patents →

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