Appeal No. 1997-3515
Application No. 08/390,226
The Rejection Of Claims 1-4, 6-13 And 15-19
The invention recited in these claims is directed to
improvements in transport systems for moving wafers through a
series of adjacent housings that define a wafer processing
line and which are separated by isolation valves that are
opened and closed to permit wafers to be transported to and
from each of the series of housings. According to the
appellants, the prior art drive systems were mechanical in
nature, utilizing screws, racks, pinions, gears, nuts and the
like, which depend upon friction to operate and generate
particles and contamination, the result of which is to impair
the cleanliness of the operations that are performed upon the
wafers (specification, page 2). As manifested in independent
claim 1, the appellants’ invention comprises a track that is
divided into discontinuous sections by the isolation valves, a
wafer carrier adapted to carry a plurality of wafers and
mounted on wheels which engage the track, a plurality of
carrier magnets attached to the carrier along the length
thereof and substantially parallel with the track, a plurality
of magnetic drive units located outside of the housings and
6
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