Fortrend PLUS 500 SMIF Loaders

The Fortrend PLUS 500

The PLUS 500 is Fortrend’s SMIF loader for open-cassette process tools. It stands in front of the tool, opens a 200mm SMIF pod and moves the cassette onto the tool’s own stage, so a tool built for open cassettes can run in a SMIF line. It can also load cassettes into tools in a non-SMIF area. Fortrend introduced the first 200mm SMIF loader, and the PLUS 500 is still the core of its 200mm range. Fortrend’s list of OEM tools that run with its SMIF equipment has more than 170 models on it.

SiSTEM is Fortrend’s distributor for the UK, Ireland and Europe. We specify the loader with you and Fortrend’s engineers, and our team installs it, teaches it to your tool stage and services it.

Choosing the arm

Fortrend builds twelve arm designs for 200mm cassettes and seven for 150mm cassettes carried inside 200mm SMIF pods (the -150 models), in two body sizes.

• PLUS 500S: straight arm with 90° tilt, meeting all SEMI E15 load port requirements
• PLUS 500R: turns the cassette anywhere from 0° to 359° for angled stages, with a 305mm or extended 390mm reach
• PLUS 500SL and SR: tilt the cassette, then slide it up to 80mm left or right for narrow-pitch stages
• PLUS 500SD: straight arm without tilt, for tools with low doors that take horizontal loads only
• PLUS 500CL and CR: compact-body versions of the SL and SR
• PLUS 500SH, SDH and RH: heavy-lift versions carrying up to 7.5kg
• PLUS 500UX: built for Canon stepper open-cassette stages
• PLUS 500F: loads multi-level stages such as the ASM A400 furnace
• PLUS 500LM: a pod opener that leaves the cassette for the tool’s own robot, mounted on a SEMI E63 BOLTS interface

What every PLUS 500 does

A built-in mini-environment with filtered airflow keeps the cassette at Class 1 while the arm moves it. Sensors check that the pod is present and seated and that a cassette is there. A protrusion sensor stops the arm if a wafer is sticking out, and a mapper reads the slots. DC stepper motors with encoder feedback drive each axis.

The loader fixes to the tool on a diamond-pin plate with quick-release latches, or stands on its own floor mount. It can be taken off and reconnected in 15 minutes or less, which helps during ramp-up, when a loader may come off a tool twice a day while the process is adjusted.

Specification (PLUS 500S)

• 200mm cassettes, or 150mm on the -150 models
• Load and unload each under 55 seconds
• Arm reach 390mm, arm Z travel 135mm, payload 3.2kg
• 34.8cm wide, 49.8cm deep and 170.9cm high without wheels; 93kg
• Repeatability ±0.1mm on arm extension and elevator, ±0.15° on tilt
• 100 to 240 VAC, 50/60 Hz
• RS-232 with Fortrend HEX, ASCII or SECS, plus parallel I/O. An E84 communication board is available for tools that can’t handle E84 handshakes
• IR (Smart Tag) lot ID reader, with RFID read/write as an option
• Fortrend certifies the range to SEMI E19.4, S2 and S8, and for CE and UKCA

To quote a PLUS 500 we’ll ask about

• The tool make and model, and the height and angle of its cassette stage
• 200mm or 150mm cassettes, and the pod type
• Whether pods arrive by hand, AGV or OHT
• How the tool or host will control the loader, and any lot ID system