Standalone Prealigner

Nidec Genmark’s standalone prealigner is an autonomous device, which provides accurate, non-contact measurement of the eccentricity and orientation of substrate placement. It can be integrated with numerous substrate-manipulating devices when high alignment accuracy is required in the face of wide range initial substrate misplacement.

The substrate can be placed onto a chuck or onto optional resting pins of the pre aligner, depending on the shape of the robot’s end effector. The chuck is equipped with two servo-axes, X and Y, which enable it to move underneath the substrate (which at that time is resting on the pins) and compensate for any misalignment. The operations of the standalone prealigner include wafer displacement measurement, calculation of the necessary compensation, and orientation of the notch (or the flat) to the desired angle. The high-resolution and accuracy of the chuck-movement guarantees very precise alignment in wide range substrate displacement.

The standalone prealigner is designed for use in a wide range of applications regardless of the size, shape, transparency, and thickness of the substrates that are to be aligned. The custom-designed lighthouse provides accurate and reliable measurement of both solid and transparent objects. The built-in optics allow for substrate thickness as much as 6mm. The prealigner can measure wafers with diameters ranging from 75 to 300mm and square substrates from 75 to 200mm. An optional moving lighthouse provides software-controlled adjustment for different substrate sizes.