Seiko Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha

Kiyoshi Uchiyama

Ikuo Nanno

Zinichiro Oshima

A transferring apparatus comprises a vacuum chamber, a carrier member disposed inside a pipe which communicates with the vacuum chamber, magnetic means installed in a support structure which is moved by a driving means. The carrier member is floated and pulled in its axial direction by magnetic force produced by the magnetic means, whereby an object placed on the tip of a manipulator arm which is connected to the carrier member is transferred in the vacuum chamber. Since the carrier member is floated inside the pipe and moved in its axial direction without contact to the pipe or any other parts, there are no portions inside the pipe which relatively move in contact with each other, and thus fine particles are not generated inside the pipe. This effectively eliminates adhesion of fine particles to objects such as semiconductor devices being transferred in a vacuum chamber.

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Narashino, Japan

Kiyoshi Uchiyama