A substrate transport apparatus including a transport chamber, a drive section, a robot arm having an end effector at a distal end configured to support a substrate and being connected to the drive section generating at least arm motion in a radial direction extending and retracting the arm, an imaging system with a camera mounted in a predetermined location to image at least part of the robot arm, and a controller connected to the imaging system to image the arm moving to a predetermined repeatable position, the controller effecting capture of a first image of the robot arm proximate to the repeatable position decoupled from encoder data of the drive axis, wherein the controller calculates a positional variance of the robot arm from comparison of the first image with a calibration image, and from the positional variance determines a motion compensation factor changing the extended position of the robot arm.

Embodiments of apparatus and method for testing metal contamination are disclosed. In an example, an apparatus for testing metal contamination includes a chamber in which a test object is placed, a gas supply configured to supply nitrogen gas into the chamber, a pressure controller configured to apply a pressure of at least about 1 torr in the chamber, and a measurement unit configured to measure a concentration of a metal from the test object.

A substrate processing system includes a substrate processing set and a substrate holding unit. The substrate processing set includes a substrate supporting part for supporting a vertical substrate. The substrate holding unit includes two cantilevers and two substrate holding parts. Each of the substrate holding parts is respectively located on each of the cantilevers. The two substrate holding parts are used for holding the substrate vertically. When the substrate holding unit moves next to the substrate processing set and the two substrate holding parts touch the substrate, the two substrate holding parts hold the substrate.

A substrate processing system comprising: a first chamber comprising loading tables, on which a plurality of substrates are to be loaded; a second chamber comprising loading tables, on which a plurality of substrates are to be loaded; a first transfer device comprising a plurality of blades configured to hold a plurality of substrates in a lengthwise direction thereof, and configured to transfer a plurality of substrates loaded on the loading tables of the first chamber to the loading tables of the second chamber with the substrates held at the same height; a substrate sensor provided on paths, along which the blades enter the second chamber, and configured to detect a substrate held by the blades; and a controller configured to control the first transfer device.

An aligner device includes a robot hand, a lifting mechanism, sensors, a misalignment calculating unit, an x-y misalignment correcting unit, and a θ misalignment correcting unit. The robot hand includes vertically aligned hand members each configured to hold a planar workpiece. The lifting mechanism moves planar workpieces transported by the robot hand up from and down to the hand members, respectively. Each of the sensors, vertically spaced apart from each other, has a downward sensor surface to capture the outline of a planar workpiece brought close to the sensor surface by the workpiece lifting mechanism. The misalignment calculating unit calculates, by using the images of the captured outline shapes of the planar workpieces, an amount of positional misalignment of each planar workpiece with a reference position in X, Y and θ directions. The X-Y misalignment correcting unit corrects the misalignment of each planar workpiece in the X and Y directions based on the amount of X-Y direction misalignment calculated by the misalignment calculating unit. The θ misalignment correcting unit corrects the misalignment of each planar workpiece in the θ direction based on the amount of θ misalignment of the planar workpiece.

The present invention disclosed herein relates to a transfer robot and a substrate processing apparatus having the same, and more particularly, to a transfer robot for transferring a substrate through a transfer module and a substrate processing apparatus having the same. The substrate processing system according to the present invention includes: a transfer module (300) provided with a transfer robot (500) configured to transfer substrates (10); one or more dual process modules (100) each of which is installed at one side of the transfer module (300) so that two substrates (10) are accessible at the same time and on which a pair of substrate support units (13) configured to respectively seat the two substrates (10) thereon are disposed horizontally; and one or more single process modules (200) each of which is installed at one side of the transfer module (300) so that one substrate (10) is accessible and on which one or more substrate support units (13) configured to seat the substrates (10) thereon are provided. The transfer robot (500) includes a first substrate seating unit (510a) and a second substrate seating unit (510b), each of which has a seating surface (11), on which the substrate (10) is seated, and which are disposed on the same first plane, and at least one of the first substrate seating unit (510a) or the second substrate seating unit (510b) is installed to be rotatable about a vertical rotation axis (C1) so as to be disposed in a region in which the at least one of the first substrate seating unit (510a) or the second substrate seating unit (510b) does not interfere with the substrate transfer when the substrates (10) are transferred.

A substrate treating apparatus includes an indexer, a first processing section, a first transport mechanism, a second processing section, a second transport mechanism, a first mount table, a second mount table, and a controller. The first transport mechanism repeatedly performs a first cycle operation composed of three access operations (specifically, a first access operation, a second access operation, and a third access operation). The second transport mechanism repeatedly performs a second cycle operation composed of three access operations (specifically, a fourth access operation, a fifth access operation, and a sixth access operation).

A transfer robot includes a support unit, a rotary base supported by the support unit, a rotation mechanism that rotates the rotary base, a hand unit supported by the rotary base and configured to support a work, and a linear movement mechanism that moves the hand unit in a horizontal direction relative to the rotary base. The rotation mechanism includes a first rotation mechanism that rotates the rotary base relative to the support unit about a first rotation axis extending in a vertical direction, and a second rotation mechanism that rotates the rotary base about a second rotation axis inclined by a predetermined angle with respect to the first rotation axis. The support unit includes a pivotal member that pivots about a pivotal axis perpendicular to the first rotation axis.

A substrate transport apparatus having a drive section and at least one articulated multi-link arm having an upper arm joined at one end to the drive section and a forearm joined to the upper arm. The upper arm being a substantially rigid unarticulated link. Dual end effector links that are separate and distinct from each other are each rotatably and separately joined to a common end of the forearm about a common axis of rotation. Each end effector link has at least one holding station. The holding station of at least one end effector link includes one holding station at opposite ends of the at least one end effector link that is substantially rigid and unarticulated between the opposite ends, and the holding station at one of the opposite ends is substantially coplanar with the holding station of each other end effector link.

Disclosed herein are multi-turn drive assemblies, systems and methods of use thereof. The multi-turn drive assemblies enable a robot link member to have a maximum rotation of at least 360 degrees about an axis. The multi-turn drive assemblies can be incorporated into a robot arm for enabling 360 degrees rotation of one or more link members about an axis. The robot arm may be located in a transfer chamber of an electronic device processing system. Also disclosed are methods of controlling the multi-turn drive assemblies and related robots.