November 1, 2011 -- Crossing Automation Inc. introduced its Crossing Spartan 450mm Development Platform and Crossing Certon 450 Loadport. The company has received orders for both products from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and has already been shipping the Loadport. The Development Platform will start shipping in the first quarter of 2012.

Also read: 450mm wafer sorter debuts from Crossing Automation from September 2011.

The development platform (see the figure above) enables OEMs to move wafers in and out of process chambers. The single FOUP EFEM accelerates OEMs' 450mm development efforts by eliminating the need to spend engineering time on platform development -- a possibility discussed in detail by the company’s VP of Marketing, May Su, in a podcast interview with ElectroIQ.com (listen below). The scalable platform allows OEMs to migrate to high-volume production without software and hardware interface changes, she explained. Also part of the company’s business strategy for the platform is the possibility that smaller equipment suppliers -- those that will not have sufficiently large development budgets -- might want to adopt the platform as their own, rather than develop proprietary architectures as the large equipment suppliers would do for the 450mm transition.   



The loadport product incorporates the company’s ergonomic “Tilt-and-Go” technology that allows a single person to install, uninstall and move the tool. The loadport weighs 80kg, half the industry average according to the company. The loadport has integrated mapping capability and a patent-pending horizontal door closing mechanism that ensures proper closing to prevent wafer damage and particle generation. The product is compliant to 450mm FOUP, FOSB, and MAC (Multi Application Carrier) standards.

The company is also enabling line balancing for 450mm manufacturing by offering a tool proximity buffering system that includes a shuttle lift – a kind of mini-transport overhead transport vehicle (OHT). This module allows 4, 6, 8, or 10 FOUPs to be located near the tool. “The shuttle lift will take the FOUPs and deliver them directly to the tool such that we can accommodate higher throughputs on a given tool, reduce the OHT congestion, and allow the line to be more balanced and reduce the overall WIP cycle time,” said Su.

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