Brooks Marathon Express - Station Coordinate System

6. Operation Marathon Express
Station Coordinate System Part Number: 605914 Rev. B
WhilethewaferisbeingprocessedtheMagnaTran7robotpicksthenextwaferfromtheVCEand
placesitontheVacuumAligner.Whenwaferprocessingiscompletethehostcontrollerinstructs
therobottoremovethewaferfromtheProcessModuleandplaceitintotheTopCooler.
ThehostcontrollerthenclosestheTopCoolerPoppetandinjectstheappropriateprocessgas
(typicallyargon)intotheCoolChamber.Afterthecycletimehaselapsedthehostcontrollerpumps
downtheCoolChamber,opensit,andinstructstherobottotransferthewaferintotheVCE.
Whilethewaferprocessingisrunningadditionalwafersareprocessedasdescribedabove.This
cyclecontinuesuntilallwafersareprocessed.Referto"SystemOperationOverview"onpage111
fordetailedinformation.
ConfiguringthesystemtoplaceprocessedwafersintoadifferentVCEfromtheunprocessed
wafersallowsuninterruptedprocessing.Byreplacingtheemptyunprocessedwafercarrierwitha
fullcarrierassoonasthecarrierisemptiedandbyreplacingthefullprocessedwafercarrierwithan
emptycarrierassoonasitisfilledthesystemwillbeabletocontinueprocessingwithoutanyidle
time.
Station Coordinate System
Therobotsoftwareusesastationcoordinatesystemforidentifyingspecificlocationswithinthe
MarathonExpressasshowninFigure6-1.EachstationisidentifiedbyitsThetaposition,itsRadial
position(amountofarmextension),anditsZposition(verticaldistancefromHome).
StationnumbersareassignedtorepresenteachmoduleconnectedtotheMarathonExpressand
eachmaterialtransferpointwithintheMXsystem.Allstationnumberassignmentsaredependent
uponthespecificsystemconfiguration.Byidentifyingthestationsinthismanner,itisonly
necessarytoprovidetherobotwiththestationnumberinsteadofthecompletecoordinateseteach
timeacommandisissuedtotherobot.Multiplestationnumbersmaybegiventoasinglephysical
location.
BrooksAutomationwillconfigurethestationsontheMarathonExpressasshownunlessdifferent
stationassignmentsarespecificallyrequested.Allreferencestosettingstationsinthismanualwill
reflectthestandardBrooksMXstationassignmentsshowninFigure6-1.
NOTE: Thestationsreferencedhereareforastandardconfiguration.Actualstation
assignmentsmayvarybasedonthesystemconfiguration.
Ifthestationnumberswereassignedatthefactory,changingthestationnumbers
maycauseinterlockstobeignored.
Changingthestationnumbersrequiresreconfigurationofallstationoptions.
AllnumberingofstationswithintheTransportChamberfortherobotisdoneinaclockwisedirection
startingwiththeLoadLockontheleftwhenlookingattheMarathonExpresssystemfromthetop,
108
Copyright © 2023, Brooks Automation, Inc.