WaferServer™ Series 300mm Wafer Handling Front-Ends

Berkeley Process Control, Inc. (Berkeley), a leading provider of semiconductor tool automation, announced today that it now offers integrated 300mm wafer handling front-ends, dubbed the WaferServer™ series. They will be shown at Semicon Europa in April.

According to Mark Arola, Director of Sales and Marketing for Semiconductor Business, this development is a significant expansion of the company's semiconductor product lineup. "OEMs have been asking for front-ends integrating our powerful BXi machine controller with robust, reliable wafer handling mechanical systems. We've done that, and added Autocalibration(tm)technology too," said Arola.

System features
The integrated 300mm front-ends feature Berkeley's new BXr(tm) series robots and its remarkable BXi controllers. Berkeley developed separate optimized versions of the new WaferServer series front-end to address the requirements of single-wafer, and batch process tools. Throughput rates as high as 400 wafers per hour are supported. WaferServer front-ends feature Berkeley's patented Autocalibration technology that totally eliminates the need for the manual robot teaching of conventional front-end designs.

Reliability
Berkeley Process Control's BXi motion and machine controller integrates powerful 64-bit RISC-based processing, fast Ethernet networking, digital I/O, and up to 6 driven servo axes into one compact package. This high level of integration, and the elimination of multiple disparate controllers simplifies front-end design and enhances reliability. BXr series robots feature mechanical designs with dramatically lowered parts counts to deliver outstanding reliability. Integrated e-Diagnostics enable predictive maintenance reducing unscheduled down time, and shorten MTTR.

Performance
WaferServer front-ends incorporate Berkeley's fast, robust wafer handling components including BXr robots and BXpa(tm) pre-aligners. At the heart of WaferServer front-end performance is the BXi controller's ability to generate and manage shared state information. This enables powerful multitasking and coordinated motion capabilities, dramatically increasing throughput. WaferServer front-ends deliver reliable throughputs as highas 400 wafers per hour.

Berkeley Process Control, Inc., 1003 Canal Boulevard, Richmond, CA 94804. Tel: 510-236-3333; Fax: 510-236-1186.