Electronic device processing systems including an equipment front end module (EFEM) with a side storage pod are described. The EFEM includes an EFEM chamber and a recirculation duct. The side storage pod is fluidly coupled to the recirculation duct. The side storage pod includes an interior chamber and a side storage container disposed within the interior chamber. The side storage container is configured to receive one or more substrates from the EFEM chamber. The electronic device processing system further includes an environmental control system. The environmental control system is configured to circulate a purge gas between the EFEM chamber and the side storage pod via the recirculation duct.

A method of processing a semiconductor wafer is provided. The method includes introducing the wafer to a main chamber via a loading port, using a transfer mechanism to transfer the wafer to a first wafer processing module in a stack so that the wafer is disposed substantially horizontally in the first wafer processing module with a front face facing upwards, and performing a processing step on the front face of the wafer in the first wafer processing module.

A multiple transport carrier docking device may be capable of storing and/or staging a plurality of transport carriers in a chamber of the multiple transport carrier docking device, and may be capable of forming an air-tight seal around a transport carrier in the chamber. Semiconductor wafers in the transport carrier may be accessed by a wafer transport tool while the air-tight seal around the transport carrier prevents and/or reduces the likelihood that contaminants in the semiconductor fabrication facility will reach the semiconductor wafers. The air-tight seal around the transport carrier may reduce defects of the semiconductor wafers that might otherwise be caused by the contaminants, may increase manufacturing yield and quality in the semiconductor fabrication facility, and/or may permit the continued reduction in device and/or feature sizes of integrated circuits and/or semiconductor devices that are to be formed on semiconductor wafers.

A wafer stocker capable of further improving an environment around wafers is provided. The wafer stocker includes a housing, a loading device provided on a front surface of the housing, a wafer cassette shelf arranged in the housing, a wafer transfer robot configured to move the wafers from a transfer container mounted on the loading device to a wafer cassette in the wafer cassette shelf, a wafer cassette delivery device configured to move the wafer cassette in the wafer cassette shelf to a stage having a different height, and a fan filter unit configured to generate a laminar flow in a wafer transfer space and in a wafer cassette transfer space.

Embodiments of equipment front end modules (EFEMs) are provided herein. In some embodiments, an EFEM includes: two or more loadports for receiving two or more types of substrates; an overhead storage unit having a plurality of storage shelves disposed above the two or more loadports and configured to hold two or more types of front opening unified pods (FOUPs) of different sizes that store the two or more types of substrates, respectively, wherein a horizontal alley is disposed between the plurality of storage shelves and the two or more loadports to provide a horizontal passageway for the FOUPs during transport to the two or more loadports; and an overhead transport system having a pair of vertical actuators disposed on opposite sides of the overhead storage unit and configured to transport FOUPs from the overhead storage unit to the two or more loadports.

The present invention provides an apparatus for treating a substrate. The apparatus for treating a substrate comprises: a first module; and a treating module configured to treat the substrate, and the first module includes: a load port on which a container having the substrate accommodated therein is placed; a transfer unit having a hand that transfers the substrate between the load port and the treating module; and an observation unit mounted in the transfer unit and configured to observe a state of the substrate accommodated in the container.

In an embodiment, a system includes: a cassette comprising a slit opening configured to house a wafer; a blade configured to move the wafer to and from the slit opening by extending into the slit opening, wherein a blade thickness of the blade is at most ⅖ of a height of the slit opening and wherein the blade is configured to secure the wafer within a pocket on the blade that is at least ⅔ of a wafer thickness of the wafer.

Provided is an electrostatic capacitance sensor which can remove an influence of a noise occurring from a static eliminator or a driving source and accurately perform measurement even on electrostatic capacitance detected by a thin-type detection unit which can be passed to a finger surface of a wafer transfer robot. The present invention is provided with an AC supply source which supplies an AC voltage to a detection unit, a parasitic capacitance compensation circuit, an operational amplifier, a differential amplifier, a phase detection means, and a low pass filter. An operational amplification output terminal is connected to an inversion input terminal of the differential amplifier through a first band pass filter, the AC supply source is connected to a non-inversion input terminal of the differential amplifier through a second band pass filter, an output terminal of the differential amplifier is connected to an input terminal of the phase detection means, and the phase detection means takes, as a reference signal, an AC signal output from the AC supply source.

A method and apparatus for loading substrates in an inspection station is disclosed herein. In one embodiment a loading module is disclosed that includes a loading station for two or more substrate cassettes, a first lane comprising a first conveyor that is substantially aligned with one of the two or more substrate cassettes and a conveyor system, a second lane comprising a second conveyor that is substantially aligned with another of the two or more substrate cassettes and positioned in a spaced-apart relation relative to the first lane, and a lateral transfer module positioned between the first lane and the second lane that is adapted to move substrates from the second lane to the first lane.

A system includes a plurality of semiconductor processing tools; a carrier purge station; a carrier repair station; and an overhead transport (OHT) loop for transporting one or more substrate carriers among the plurality of semiconductor processing tools, the carrier purge station, and the carrier repair station. The carrier purge station is configured to receive a substrate carrier from one of the plurality of semiconductor processing tools, purge the substrate carrier with an inert gas, and determine if the substrate carrier needs repair. The carrier repair station is configured to receive a substrate carrier to be repaired and replace one or more parts in the substrate carrier.