Embodiments herein generally relate to inspection systems for substrates or wafers for solar cell applications. The inspection system is configured to analyze substrates or wafers for chips, cracks, and other defects. The system includes conveyor apparatuses, and the conveyor apparatuses include one or more conveyor elements. The conveyor elements are configured to transport rectangular wafers having a width between about 175 mm to about 250 mm. The conveyor elements include a first conveyor belt and second conveyor belt to transport the substrates. The spacing of the belts reduces vibrations of the substrate edge.

A vacuum substrate transport apparatus including a frame, a drive section having a drive axis, at least one arm, having an end effector for holding a substrate, having at least one degree of freedom axis effecting extension and retraction, and a bearing defining a guideway that defines the axis, the bearing including at least one rolling load bearing element disposed in a bearing case, interfacing between a bearing raceway and bearing rail to support arm loads, and effecting sliding of the case along the rail, and at least one rolling, substantially non-load bearing, spacer element disposed in the case, intervening between each of the load bearing elements, wherein the spacer element is a sacrificial buffer material compatible with sustained substantially unrestricted service commensurate with a predetermined service duty of the apparatus in a vacuum environment at temperatures over 260° C. for a specified predetermined service period.

A patterned backside stress compensation film having different stress in different sectors is formed on a backside of a substrate to reduce combination warpage of the substrate. The film can be formed by employing a radio frequency electrode assembly including plurality of conductive plates that are biased with different RF power and cause local variations in the plasma employed to deposit the backside film. Alternatively, the film may be deposited with uniform stress, and some of its sectors are irradiated with ultraviolet radiation to change the stress of these irradiated sectors. Yet alternatively, multiple backside deposition processes may be sequentially employed to deposit different backside films to provide a composite backside film having different stresses in different sectors.

A rotational indexer is provided that may be rotated to move semiconductor wafers or other items between various stations arranged in a circular array; the items being moved may be supported by arms of the indexer during such movement. The rotational indexer may be further configured to also cause the items being moved to rotate about other rotational axes to cause rotation of the items relative to the arms supporting them.

This application provides a conveyor device and semiconductor production equipment, and relates to the technical field of semiconductor production equipment. The conveyor device is installed on a machine platform of semiconductor production equipment, the machine platform is provided with a guide structure, and the guide structure is provided with multiple oil injection ports arranged along an extension direction of the guide structure. The conveyor device includes a conveyor platform and a driving mechanism, where the conveyor platform is slidably installed on the guide structure to carry and convey wafers, the conveyor platform covers at least one of the multiple oil injection ports, and the driving mechanism is connected to the conveyor platform.

The present disclosure relates to methods of processing a semiconductor substrate in a processing chamber, such as a chemical vapor deposition chamber. The chemical vapor deposition chamber includes a spindle mechanism that cooperates with one or more carrier ring forks to move the semiconductor substrate from one station to another station. The methods include monitoring one or more spindle operation parameters and carrying out one or more maintenance steps on the spindle mechanism based on the results of monitoring the one or more spindle operation parameters. The monitored spindle operation parameters provide an indication of undesirable vibration of the semiconductor substrates in the processing chamber. The vibration of the semiconductor substrates in the processing chamber is undesirable because it promotes generation of unwanted particles that deposit onto a surface of the semiconductor substrate.

A substrate processing apparatus capable of minimizing process defects by controlling mist in a processing bath is provided. The substrate treating apparatus comprises a first processing bath and a second processing bath disposed adjacent to each other in a first direction, a first partition wall disposed between the first processing bath and the second processing bath and having an entrance, through which a substrate passes, a transfer unit installed in the first processing bath and the second processing bath and for moving the substrate, a chemical solution supply unit installed in the first processing bath and for providing a chemical solution to the substrate, and a first exhaust unit disposed between the first processing bath and the second processing bath, connected to the first partition wall, comprising a plurality of exhaust holes disposed along a second direction different from the first direction, and for exhausting mist in the first processing bath.

In an embodiment, a robotic arm includes: a base; at least one link secured to the base; a gripper secured to the at least one link, wherein: the gripper comprises a finger, the gripper is configured to secure a wafer while the at least one link is in motion, and the gripper is configured to release the wafer while the at least one link is stopped, a sensor disposed on the finger, the sensor configured to collect sensor data characterizing the robotic arm's interaction with a semiconductor processing chamber while the wafer is secured using the finger.

A device for linearly moving bases with respect to an object, includes first and second bases, a linear scale provided with graduations at pitches in the moving direction, first and second encoder heads attached to the first and second bases, and a control unit. The control unit maintains an interval between the first and second encoder heads to be constant, and moves the first and second bases while sequentially detects a first and second graduation numbers, and calculates a distance on the scale between the first and second encoder heads by multiplying a difference between the first and second graduation numbers by the pitch, and calculates a position correction coefficient of the scale as a ratio of the interval with respect to the calculated distance, and controls the movement amount of the first movable body and the second movable body based on the position correction coefficient.

Some implementations described herein provide a method that includes loading, from a load port and into a first buffer of a multiple-buffer overhead hoist transport (OHT) vehicle, a first transport carrier storing one or more processed wafers. The method includes unloading to the load port, while the first buffer retains the first transport carrier, and from a second buffer of the multiple-buffer OHT vehicle, a second transport carrier storing one or more wafers for processing. In other implementations, the method includes loading, into a first buffer of the multiple-buffer OHT vehicle, a first transport carrier storing one or more wafers for processing, while a semiconductor processing tool, associated with a load port, is processing one or more wafers associated with a second transport carrier. The method includes positioning the multiple-buffer OHT vehicle above the load port while the multiple-buffer OHT vehicle retains the first transport carrier in the first buffer.