The Remote Pre-aligner (RPA) is an intelligent robot add-on, providing accurate and non-contact measurement of the eccentricity and the orientation of substrate placement. It is designed to be seamlessly integrated with Gencobot series 4, 7, 8, and GPR-SM when substrate alignment is required by the material handling application.

The device can be arbitrarily placed inside the robot's working envelope. It can be configured with several vertical travel-ranges or without any vertical motion at all. The substrate can be placed on a chuck or on optional resting pins of the pre-aligner, depending on the shape of the robot's end-effector.

The operation of the pre-aligner includes a measurement of the wafer displacement, calculation of the necessary compensation, and orientation of the notch (or the flat) to the desired angle. After the orientation is completed, the robot picks the wafer with necessary offset compensation. In order to maximize the system throughput, the controller allows simultaneous operation of the pre-aligner and the robot - while the wafer is being measured, the robot can perform other tasks.

The RPA is designed for use in a wide range of applications regardless of the size, shape, transparency, and thickness of the substrates that are to be aligned. The custom-designed lighthouse provides accurate and reliable measurement of both solid and transparent objects. The built-in optics allow for substrate thickness as much as 6 mm. The pre-aligner can measure wafers with diameters ranging from 50 to 300 mm and square substrates from 75 to 200 mm. An optional moving lighthouse provides software-controlled adjustment to the different substrate sizes.

FEATURES
• High accuracy, performance and reliability
• Cost-effective, seamless integration with the Genmark robots
• Versatility - measures all substrate sizes and shapes, both solid and transparent without adjustment
• Numerous options for simple integration - vertical travel, moving lighthouse, resting pins

SPECIFICATIONS
• Vertical travel - 0, 8.5", 13.5", 16.5"
• Alignment time - 5 seconds
• Alignment accuracy:
  - Center offset - 0.002"
  - Angular offset - 0.1º
• Maximum velocity of the vertical motion - 20"/s
• Maximum acceleration of   the vertical motion - 40"/s²
• Initial offset allowance - 0.5"
• Wafer Sizes - 100mm, 125mm, 150mm, 200mm and 300-mm
• Weight - 10 lb.