摘要 |
The invention relates to a wafer transfer system that achieves high efficiency, as measured by throughput rate. This is accomplished in one instance by the combination of reliable transfer of single wafers between ports while being simultaneously rotated to accomplish notch alignment. Another instance allows for simultaneous tilting of a multitude of wafers, such as changing the entire load of a transfer cassette between horizontal and vertical orientations, rather than operating on individual wafers serially. Furthermore, the design of this system renders it usable in both left-handed and right-handed workflow arrangements, not requiring construction of mirror-image systems and thereby achieving an economy of scale in production and inventory of the wafer transfer system itself.
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