A die sorter tool may include a first conveyor, and a first lane to receive, from one or more load ports and via the first conveyor, a carrier with a set of dies. The die sorter tool may include a die flip module to receive the carrier from the first lane, manipulate one or more dies of the set of dies by changing orientations of the one or more dies, and return the one or more dies to the carrier after manipulating the one or more dies and without changing positions of the one or more dies within the carrier. The die sorter tool may include a second conveyor, and a second lane to receive, via the second conveyor, the carrier from the die flip module, and provide, via the first conveyor, the carrier to the one or more load ports.

Methods and apparatuses for performing cycles of aspect ratio dependent deposition and aspect ratio independent etching on lithographically patterned substrates are described herein. Methods are suitable for reducing variation of feature depths and/or aspect ratios between features formed and partially formed by lithography, some partially formed features being partially formed due to stochastic effects. Methods and apparatuses are suitable for processing a substrate having a photoresist after extreme ultraviolet lithography. Some methods involve cycles of deposition by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and directional etching by atomic layer etching.

An apparatus for processing semiconductor wafers includes at least a wet bench and an automatic handling system of a wafer carrier removably connected thereto. The wet bench includes a first processing tank, a second processing tank and a third processing tank, separated from one another, each processing tank being dedicated to a different chemical, as well as a special cleaning and drying tank for processing the automatic handling system when the wafer carrier has been removed.

Provided is a substrate transfer method for sequentially transferring a substrate between a heat treatment chamber and another chamber different from the heat treatment chamber using a transfer unit having a first pick and a second pick. An unprocessed substrate is held by the first pick, and the substrate is transferred to the heat treatment chamber. A processed substrate, heat-treated in the heat treatment chamber, is held by the second pick, and the unprocessed substrate held by the first pick is loaded into the heat treatment chamber. The processed substrate held by the second pick is transferred to the other chamber. An unprocessed substrate in the other chamber is held by the first pick, the processed substrate held by the second pick is loaded into the other chamber, and then both the first pick and the second pick are put into a state of not holding a substrate.

A vacuum chamber having a vacuum chamber; at least one processing region arranged in the vacuum chamber; and a substrate holding arrangement for transporting and/or positioning a substrate or multiple substrates in the processing region, wherein the substrate holding arrangement has: a first drive train with a first substrate holder, the first substrate holder being configured to rotatably hold one or more substrates, a second drive train with a first support arm, wherein the first substrate holder is held rotatably by the first support arm, a third drive train with a second substrate holder, the second substrate holder being configured for rotatably holding one or more substrates, and a fourth drive train with a second support arm, wherein the second substrate holder is held rotatably by the second support arm, and wherein the first, second, third and fourth drive trains are each configured to be controllable independently of one another.

Motor modules for multi-arm robot apparatus are described. The motor modules can be used individually or stacked and assembled to make up one-axis, 2-axis, 3-axis, 4-axis, 5-axis, 6-axis motor assemblies, or more. One or more of the motor modules have a stator assembly including a stator received in the stator housing, and a rotor assembly abutting the stator assembly, the rotor assembly including a rotor housing, a drive shaft, a bearing assembly supporting the drive shaft, and a rotor coupled to the drive shaft. A vacuum barrier member is positioned between the rotor and the stator. Multi-axis motor drive assemblies, multi-axis robot apparatus, electronic device manufacturing systems, and methods of assembling drive assemblies are described, as are numerous other aspects.

A control system for a wafer transport vehicle is provided. The control system includes a control apparatus, a database, an onboard interface of the wafer transport vehicle and an operation control center. The control apparatus is arranged in a container of the wafer transport vehicle and configured to detect a environmental parameters in a container of the wafer transport vehicle and regulate the internal environment of a container of the wafer transport vehicle. The database is in communication with the control apparatus and configured store the environmental parameters detected by the control apparatus. The onboard interface is in communication with the control apparatus and configured to remotely control the control apparatus. The operation control center is in communication with the control apparatus and the onboard interface of the wafer transport vehicle and configured to receive the environmental parameters detected by the control apparatus.

There is provided a technique that includes: receiving type information corresponding to substrate processing; reading the type information and processing time information corresponding to the type information from a memory; calculating a ratio of a processing time of a predetermined process to a total time of the processing time information; selecting one or more reactors according to the ratio; setting the one or more reactors to be capable of performing the predetermined process; transferring a substrate corresponding to the type information to the one or more reactors; and performing the predetermined process corresponding to the type information in the one or more reactors.

A multiple stage processing device having a plurality of radial stages, each individual radial stage is positioned between adjacent dividing walls and indexable though a plurality of processing stations. A plurality of fixture mount assemblies are positioned on an actuation surface of the rotatable indexing assembly, each individual fixture mount assembly is associated with and mechanically coupled to an individual radial stage. One or more slotted drive hubs communicatively coupled to independently operable drive motors are positioned adjacent to the actuation surface of the rotatable indexing assembly and are engageable with the plurality of fixture mount assemblies. When an individual fixture mount assembly is engaged with an individual slotted drive hub, an individual independently operable drive motor can independently control the individual fixture mount assembly such that the individual radial stage mechanically coupled to the individual fixture mount assembly is moveably coupled to the independently operable drive motor.

A method for forming a fully self-aligned via is provided. A workpiece having a pattern of features in a dielectric layer is received into a common manufacturing platform. Metal caps are deposited on the metal features, and a barrier layer is deposited on the metal caps. A first dielectric layer is added to exposed dielectric material. The barrier layer is removed and an etch stop layer is added on the exposed surfaces of the first dielectric layer and the metal caps. Additional dielectric material is added on top of the etch stop layer, then both the additional dielectric material and a portion of the etch stop layer are etched to form a feature to be filled with metal material. An integrated sequence of processing steps is executed within one or more common manufacturing platforms to provide controlled environments. Transfer modules transfer the workpiece between processing modules within and between controlled environments.