The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 04, 2000
Filed:
Jan. 15, 1998
Satoshi Kaneko, Chikushino, JP;
Yuji Kamikawa, Koshi-machi, JP;
Akira Koguchi, Maebaru, JP;
Osamu Kuroda, Tosu, JP;
Shigenori Kitahara, Chikugo, JP;
Tatsuya Nishida, Kurume, JP;
Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo-to, JP;
Abstract
A substrate transporting and processing system generally comprises: a supply section of a carrier 1 for housing therein wafers W to be processed, in a horizontal state; a discharge section of the carrier 1; a wafer unloading arm 14 for unloading the wafers W from said carrier 1; a wafer loading arm 16 for loading the wafers W into the carrier 1; an attitude changing unit 40 for changing the attitude of the wafers W between a horizontal state and a vertical state; a processing section 3 for suitably processing the wafers W; and a wafer transport arm 56 for delivering the wafers W between the attitude changing unit 40 and the processing section 3 and for transporting the wafers W into and from the processing section. Thus, after the wafers W housed in the carrier 1 in the horizontal state are unloaded and the attitude of the wafers W is changed into the vertical state, suitable processes are carried out, and the attitude of the wafers W is changed in the horizontal state after processing, so that the wafers W can be housed in the carrier 1. Thus, it is possible to decrease the size of the whole system to improve the throughput and to improve the yield of products.