An adjustable joint for insertion into a linkage of a substrate handler utilized for substrate processing. The adjustable joint allows for adjusting the pitch and roll of an attached link. Such adjustment may permit aligning a pickup surface of an end effector to a desired plane. Once adjusted, the joint may be fixed to maintain the desired orientation of the attached link. The adjustable joint allows for correcting deflection of a pickup surface of an end effector relative to a desired pickup plane due to, for example, drooping caused by high temperature usage, mechanical tolerances and/or installation errors.

Proposed are a transfer module that can exhaust air without scattering particles, and a transfer chamber and a substrate processing apparatus including the transfer module. The transfer module that transfers a substrate in the substrate processing apparatus includes a vertical gantry member configured to extend in a vertical direction, a horizontal gantry member coupled to the vertical gantry member to move in the vertical direction and configured to extend along a first horizontal direction perpendicular to the vertical direction, a horizontal driving member coupled to the horizontal gantry member and configured to move along the first horizontal direction, and a substrate transfer robot coupled to the horizontal driving member and driven in a second horizontal direction perpendicular to the first horizontal direction and a rotation direction.

A jig includes a disc body, a fixation pin, and a verification pin. The disc body has a first surface, an opposite a second surface, and a thickness separating the first surface from the second surface. A fixation aperture and a verification aperture extend through the thickness of the disc body and couple the first surface to the second surface of the disc body, the fixation aperture located radially outward of the verification aperture. The fixation pin is arranged to be slidably received within the fixation aperture to fix the disc body to an end effector within the semiconductor processing system. The verification pin is arranged to be slidably received within the verification aperture and supported by the disc body to indicate misregistration between the disc body and a load lock in the semiconductor processing system.

An information storage stores operation information regarding operations of an operating part group including a load port group, a processing unit group, and a transport mechanism. The operation information includes processing result information indicating a result of substrate processing performed by a substrate processing apparatus, and operational status information indicating temporal breakdowns of operational statuses of the substrate processing apparatus and operating parts included in the operating part group. The display controller displays the processing result information while arranging it according to an arrangement item selected from a predetermined arrangement item including an arbitrary operating period of the substrate processing apparatus. The display controller classifies the operational status information into broadly classified operational statuses and into specifically classified operational statuses and displays the classified operational status information. This enables an operator to easily recognize detailed operational statuses of the operating parts in association with the result of substrate processing.

A semiconductor process transport apparatus including a drive section with at least one motor, an articulated arm coupled to the drive section for driving articulation motion, a machine controller coupled to the drive section to control the at least one motor moving the articulated arm from one location to a different location, and an adapter pendant having a machine controller interface coupling the adapter pendant for input/output with the machine controller, the adapter pendant having another interface, configured for connecting a fungible smart mobile device having predetermined resident user operable device functionality characteristics, wherein the other interface has a connectivity configuration so mating of the fungible smart mobile device with the other interface automatically enables configuration of at least one of the resident user operable device functionality characteristics to define an input/output to the machine controller effecting input commands and output signals for motion control of the articulated arm.

Exemplary integrated cluster tools may include a factory interface including a first transfer robot. The tools may include a wet clean system coupled with the factory interface at a first side of the wet clean system. The tools may include a load lock chamber coupled with the wet clean system at a second side of the wet clean system opposite the first side of the wet clean system. The tools may include a first transfer chamber coupled with the load lock chamber. The first transfer chamber may include a second transfer robot. The tools may include a thermal treatment chamber coupled with the first transfer chamber. The tools may include a second transfer chamber coupled with the first transfer chamber. The second transfer chamber may include a third transfer robot. The tools may include a metal deposition chamber coupled with the second transfer chamber.

A method for securing a support ball in a substrate support, a tool for forming a capture lip in a substrate support, and a substrate support having a substrate support ball captured in an opening of the substrate support are provided. In one example, a method for securing a support ball in a substrate support includes pressing a support ball into an opening formed in a first surface of the substrate support which is configured to support a substrate in a vacuum processing chamber, forming a capture lip in the opening which protrudes into the opening a distance sufficient to retain the support ball in the opening support ball, and setting an exposure height that the support ball projects above the first surface the substrate support.

A method includes establishing, by a diagnostic disc, a secure wireless connection with a computing system using a wireless communication circuit of the diagnostic disc before or after the diagnostic disc is placed into a processing chamber. The method further includes generating, by at least one non-contact sensor of the diagnostic disc, sensor data of a component disposed within the processing chamber. The method further includes storing the sensor data in a memory of the diagnostic disc. The method further includes wirelessly transmitting the sensor data to the computing system, using the wireless communication circuit. The method further includes terminating the secure wireless connection with the computing system and clearing the sensor data from the memory of the diagnostic disc.

A substrate treating apparatus includes a batch-type processing unit configured to perform treatment on a plurality of substrates, a single-wafer-type processing unit configured to perform treatment on one substrate of the substrates at a time, a posture turning unit configured to turn and change the orientation of the substrates to be processed by the batch-type processing unit, while the substrates are wetted with deionized water, a first transport unit that transports the substrates, processed by the batch-type processing unit, to the posture turning unit, a second transport unit that transports the substrates turned horizontally by the posture turning unit to enable them to be subjected to treatment with the hand unit and a cleaning and drying unit configured to perform cleaning and drying treatment at the hand unit.

A method of moving a susceptor in a processing system, suitable for use in semiconductor processing, is provided. The method includes: moving a first susceptor from an interior volume of a first enclosure to an interior volume of a process chamber during a first time period; and positioning, during a second time period, a first substrate on the first susceptor when the first susceptor is in the process chamber, wherein the interior volume of the first enclosure and interior volume of the process chamber are maintained at a non-atmospheric pressure from the beginning of the first time period until the end of the second time period.