A wafer pod transfer assembly includes a wafer pod port to receive a wafer pod, a transfer axle coupled to the wafer pod port, a shaft receiver, a shaft coupled to the transfer axle and to the shaft receiver, a pin through the shaft receiver and through the shaft, wherein the pin comprises a first end and a second end, opposite the first end, and a pin buckle including a first loop and a second loop. The pin buckle is coupled to the pin, the first loop encircles the first end of the pin, and the second loop encircles the second end of the pin.

A substrate storage container includes: an opening on a front surface side; and a gas supply mechanism on a bottom surface. The gas supply mechanism has: an introduction path configured to receive a gas from a bottom surface side; a check valve disposed at a position that does not overlap with the introduction path in a horizontal plane along the bottom surface; and a flow path configured to supply the gas from the introduction path to the check valve.

A load port adapter is a load port adapter fixable on a mounting table of a load port. The load port adapter includes a holder capable of holding a cassette capable of accommodating a plurality of circuit boards. The holder is fixable on the mounting table of the load port. The holder includes a position adjustment mechanism configured to position the cassette at a reference position. In the cassette clamped on the load port adapter, the reference position is a reference position on a load port adapter side when the circuit board is taken out from the cassette.

A plating chuck for holding a substrate during plating processes, wherein the substrate has a notch area (3031) and a patterned region (3032) adjacent to the notch area (3031). The plating chuck comprises a cover plate (3033) configured to cover the notch area (3031) of the substrate to shield the electric field at the notch area (3031) when the substrate is being plated.

Provided is a maintenance method of a heat treatment apparatus including a chamber having a box shape and provided with a heater and a receiving member that supports a cassette having a box shape including a space in which a workpiece is supported. The maintenance method includes: attaching a loading/unloading jig including a roller on an upper portion and capable of moving the roller upward and downward, to the receiving member; transmitting the cassette supported by the receiving member onto the roller by raising the loading/unloading jig; unloading the cassette to an outside of the chamber by moving the cassette on the roller; loading the cassette into the chamber by moving the cassette on the roller; transmitting the cassette to the receiving member by lowering the loading/unloading jig; and detaching the loading/unloading jig from the receiving member.

A substrate storage container comprises a container body capable of containing a plurality of substrates, and an air supply member capable of supplying gas from outside of the container body to an internal space, wherein for the substrate storage container the container body is formed in a front open box and the air supply member is attached to the bottom surface, and wherein a functional unit that changes the environment of the internal space to different states are connected with the air supply member so as to be able to be exchanged.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to forming multi-depth films for the fabrication of optical devices. One embodiment includes disposing a base layer of a device material on a surface of a substrate. One or more mandrels of the device material are disposed on the base layer. The disposing the one or more mandrels includes positioning a mask over of the base layer. The device material is deposited with the mask positioned over the base layer to form an optical device having the base layer with a base layer depth and the one or more mandrels having a first mandrel depth and a second mandrel depth.

A wafer pod transfer assembly includes a wafer pod port to receive a wafer pod, a transfer axle coupled to the wafer pod port, a shaft receiver, a shaft coupled to the transfer axle and to the shaft receiver, a pin through the shaft receiver and through the shaft, wherein the pin comprises a first end and a second end, opposite the first end, and a pin buckle including a first loop and a second loop. The pin buckle is coupled to the pin, the first loop encircles the first end of the pin, and the second loop encircles the second end of the pin.

Provided is a high pressure heat treatment apparatus including: an internal chamber accommodating an object to be heat-treated; an external chamber including a high-temperature zone accommodating the internal chamber and a low-temperature zone having a lower temperature than the high-temperature zone; a gas supply module including a process gas line for supplying a process gas for the heat treatment to the internal chamber at a first pressure higher than that of the atmosphere and a protective gas line for supplying a protective gas to the external chamber at a second pressure set in relation to the first pressure; a switch module configured to switch the high-temperature zone and the low-temperature zone into a communication state; and a purge module configured to purge the protective gas in the high-temperature zone to the low-temperature zone in the communication state.

A self-contained metrology wafer carrier systems and methods of measuring one or more characteristics of semiconductor wafers are provided. A wafer carrier system includes, for instance, a housing configured for transport within the automated material handling system, the housing having a support configured to support a semiconductor wafer in the housing, and a metrology system disposed within the housing, the metrology system operable to measure at least one characteristic of the wafer, the metrology system comprising a sensing unit and a computing unit operably connected to the sensing unit. Also provided are methods of measuring one or more characteristics of a semiconductor wafer within the wafer carrier systems of the present disclosure.