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Method-and-apparatus-for-transferring-articles-between-two-controlled-environments

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Details

Inventors: Bonora, Anthony C.; Guerre, Gilles; Parikh, Mihir; Rosenquist, Frederick T.; Jain, Sudhir;
Assignee: Asyst Technologies, Inc. (Milpitas, CA)
Primary Examiner: Bucci; David A.
Assistant Examiner: Keenan; James
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Fliesler, Dubb, Meyer & Lovejoy

A method and apparatus for transferring articles from a transportable container, for example, a SMIF pod, to a second container, for example, a processing station having a port which provides access to the interior region of the processing station. A non-contact seal or an isolation cover or skirt seals the port so that the interior region of the container can be purged of contaminants prior to exposing the interior environment of the processing station to the environment within the container. The purging of the container may be a multi-step process in which the container door is moved between several intermediate positions so that the container door iself is purged prior to the purging of the environment within the container.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for transferring articles from a SMIF pod to a processing station without contaminating the environment in the processing station.
A further object of the present invention is to provide for the use of a conventional SMIF pod with processing equipment having a controlled atmosphere.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for controlling the interaction of a SMIF pod and a processing station.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a processing station and a SMIF pod which operate to form a contact or a non-contact gas seal, thereby permitting the interior region of the SMIF pod to be purged without contaminating the internal environment of the processing equipment.
These and other objects of the present invention are provided by a method of and an apparatus for transferring articles from a SMIF pod to a processing station or transferring articles from a processing station to a SMIF pod in which the environment inside the SMIF pod is purged before this environment is exposed to the atmosphere inside the processing station.
One manner of purging the SMIF pod is to create a non-contact gas seal by opening the port door of the processing station by a small amount and to create a differential pressure with respect to the pressure in the SMIF pod.
The differential pressure is defined as the relationship of the relative pressures in the SMIF pod, the processing station, a gas inlet to the port assembly of the processing station, and a gas outlet form the port assembly.
The differential pressure causes the gas inside the processing equipment to escape through the small aperture between the port door and the processing station, thereby preventing gas from entering the interior region of the processing station through the non-contact gas seal.
In conjunction with providing the gas seal, a reduced pressure is created in the port region of the processing equipment in order to remove contaminates and the gas from both the pod door and the interior region of the pod as the pod is opened

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