An apparatus including a first device configured to support a substrate thereon; a first transport having the first device connected thereto, where the first transport includes: rails or maglev guides; a magnetic system configured to vertically space the first device over the rails or maglev guides with a gap between the first device and the rails or maglev guides, where the magnetic system comprises a first electromagnetic actuator at a first corner of a first side of the first device, a second electromagnetic actuator at a second corner of the first side of the first device, and a third electromagnetic actuator at a second opposite side of the first device, where the third electromagnetic actuator is not located proximate a corner of three sides of the first device; and a linear actuator configured to move the first device along the rails or maglev guides.

An apparatus including a first base plate, where the first base plate is configured to have at least one linear drive component and/or at least one power coupling component connected to a top side of the first base plate, where the first base plate is configured to be located inside a vacuum chamber; and a plurality of rails or transport guides on the top side of the first base plate. An end of the first base plate includes at least one alignment feature configured to align an end of the first base plate to an end of a second base plate. The first base plate is configured to provide, in combination with the second base plate, a structural platform inside the vacuum chamber for a robot drive to move in the vacuum chamber along the plurality of transport guides.

The invention relates to a magnetic bearing assembly for contactless linear displacement of a rigid body relative to another rigid body along a linear displacement path.

The invention also relates to a linear guideway assembly implementing one or more such magnetic bearing assemblies.

The invention aims to provide a solution for the above identified problems, allowing linear displacement of a rigid body relative to another rigid body along a linear displacement path and in particular allowing control of a translational degree of freedom of a rigid body relative to another rigid body, said magnetic bearing assembly comprising: at least one magnetic bearing module being mounted to one of said rigid bodies and consisting of at least: a ferromagnetic core; a first magnetic element positioned on a first side of said ferromagnetic core; a coil being wound around said ferromagnetic core; at least a first static back iron being mounted to the other one of said rigid bodies and positioned, during use, at some gap distance from said one bearing module.

A system for processing a substrate is provided including a first planar motor, a substrate carrier, a first processing chamber, and a first lift. The first planar motor includes a first arrangement of coils disposed along a first horizontal direction, a top surface parallel to the first horizontal direction, a first side, a second side. The substrate carrier has a substrate supporting surface parallel to the first horizontal direction. The first processing chamber has an opening to receive a substrate disposed on the substrate carrier. The first lift includes a second planar motor having a second arrangement of coils disposed along the first horizontal direction. A top surface top surface of the second planar motor is parallel to the first horizontal direction. The first lift is configured to move the top surface of the second planar motor between a first vertical location and a second vertical location.

An apparatus for holding, positioning and/or moving an object is described. The apparatus includes a base, and a carrier which is movable relative to the base. The apparatus further includes at least three magnetic bearings, by means of which the carrier is supported on the base in a contactless manner such that the carrier can be displaced with respect to at least one predefined direction, wherein at least two of the magnetic bearings are configured as actively controllable magnetic bearings. The apparatus has at least one damping unit, which is fixed to the carrier or to the base.

A transport carrier includes a carrier body being able to hold a substrate that is a deposition target, by which the substrate is transported in a deposition apparatus while being held, wherein the carrier body includes magnetic chucking means which magnetically chucks a mask which shields a non-deposition region of the substrate through the substrate and holds the mask in a state in which the mask has come into contact with a film formation surface of the substrate.

A deposition apparatus includes a transport mechanism including a transport carrier which holds and transports a substrate and transport modules which constitute a transport path through which the transport carrier moves, an alignment chamber in which the substrate held by the transport carrier is loaded and a mask is positioned and fixed to the loaded substrate, a deposition chamber in which the substrate held by the transport carrier is loaded from the alignment chamber and deposition materials are deposited on the loaded substrate, and control means which controls a magnetic force generated between a plurality of magnets arranged in the transport carrier in a transport direction of the substrate and a plurality of coils arranged to face the plurality of magnets in each transport module by applying a current or a voltage to the plurality of coils.

An alignment apparatus includes: a transport mechanism including a transport carrier which holds and transports a substrate and transport modules which constitute a transport path through which the transport carrier moves; an alignment chamber in which a mask is positioned and fixed to the substrate held by the transport carrier and loaded by the transport mechanism; and control means which applies a current or a voltage to a plurality of coils disposed in one of the transport carrier and each transport module to control a magnetic force generated between the plurality of coils and a plurality of magnets disposed in the other one of the transport carrier and the transport module, wherein the control means adjusts the position of the transport carrier in a state in which the transport carrier holding the substrate has been levitated by controlling the magnetic force to perform positioning.

A transfer method including following steps is provided. A pick-up device having a plurality of caves is provided. A first magnetic force capable of attracting a plurality of micro-devices to move toward the caves of the pick-up device is provided. Given that the first magnetic force is provided, the pick-up device is in contact with the micro-devices, so that the micro-devices are snapped by the caves of the pick-up device. The micro-devices are transferred from the caves of the pick-up device to a receiving device. Besides, a transfer apparatus is also provided.

An apparatus for transportation of a substrate carrier in a vacuum chamber is provided. The apparatus includes a first track providing a first transportation path for the substrate carrier, and a transfer device configured for contactlessly moving the substrate carrier from a first position on the first track to one or more second positions away from the first track. The one or more second positions include at least one of a position on a second track and a process position for processing of a substrate. The transfer device includes at least one first magnet device configured to provide a magnetic force acting on the substrate carrier to contactlessly move the substrate carrier from the first position to the one or more second positions.