Methods and systems for reducing the effect of vibration in a vacuum-based semiconductor handling system

1 . A system comprising a component for material handling in a semiconductor manufacturing process, the component having a taper that establishes a non-uniform cross-section that mitigates a propagation of resonant vibrations in the component.

2 . The system of claim 1 wherein the component includes an end effector.

3 . The system of claim 2 wherein a top surface of the end effector is flat.

4 . The system of claim 2 wherein a bottom surface of the end effector is tapered.

5 . The system of claim 2 wherein the end effector is made of a cast material.

6 . The system of claim 5 wherein the taper is designed into a casting for the cast material used to build the end effector.

7 . The system of claim 1 wherein the component is a robotic arm.

8 . The system of claim 1 wherein the component is a link of a robotic arm.

9 . The system of claim 7 further comprising a plurality of tapered links, at least two of the links tapered in a manner to minimize a thickness of the tapered links when the tapered links are overlapped.

10 . The system of claim 1 wherein the component includes an end effector and a robotic arm, each of the end effector and the robotic arm being tapered.

11 . A semiconductor handling method, comprising:

providing an end effector for handling a semiconductor wafer; and

tapering the end effector to reduce resonant vibrations of the end effector.

12 . The method of claim 11 further comprising constructing the end effector of aluminum silicon carbide.

13 . A semiconductor handling method comprising:

providing a robotic arm facility; and

tapering at least one link of the robotic arm facility to dampen vibrations of the robotic arm facility.

14 . The method of claim 13 further comprising constructing at least one link of the robotic arm from aluminum silicon carbide.