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Newport Receives Patent Award for Load Port Latch Key Design on Automatic Door Opener
May 7, 2003 |Estimated reading time: 1 minute
Irvine, Calif. — Newport Corp. has been awarded U.S. patent no. 6,501,070 B1 for its 300 mm Front-Opening Unified Pod (FOUP) Load Port Latch Key design.
This mechanism performs the semiconductor fabrication industry's best door open, close and retention of 300 mm FOUP pod wafer carriers in use. The patented Latch Key design is available on the company's Automatic Door Opener (ADO) 300-millimeter Load Port Front Opening Interface Mechanical Standard (FIMS) product, currently shipping to customers and in operation worldwide.
Newport's ADO patented latchkey opening mechanism is said to completely eliminate the need for vacuum cups, ensuring reliable and repeatable pod door opening, minimizing errors and particulate contamination, and providing the highest industry throughput performance under Class 1 clean room conditions. This design feature also eliminates the preventive maintenance cycles associated with keeping vacuum cups clean, traditional areas of weakness in competing products.
FOUP interoperability, defined as the ability to reliably open various models of FOUPs, and repeatedly open the same FOUP model among the possibly thousands of FOUPs in a typical semiconductor fabrication facility, has become a significant challenge in the semiconductor industry today. When a FOUP to Load Port interface jams, associated capital equipment and wafer processing can grind to a halt. Restarting the production line may require hours of clearing and down time. Such down time and potential loss of wafer product can lead to tens of thousands of dollars of product and revenue loss. .Newport's patented ADO latch key profile is optimized for faultless engagement and disengagement operation to prevent such jams. Additionally, the two keys operate synchronously, but independently, and feature a compliant second axis of freedom allowing the keys to positively engage under the most difficult FOUP latch position conditions without damage to the FOUP or Load Port. The keys feature an innovative "twist and pull" motion design to secure the FOUP door to the opening, maintaining both a smooth particle free door opening and a proper registration of the door during the replace and close operation to prevent contamination and the attendant cleaning and downtime associated with it.
Newport Corp. is a leading global supplier of advanced technology products and systems to the semiconductor, communications, electronics and research markets. For more information, visit www.newport.com.