A carrier storage apparatus includes: a transfer mechanism; a first storage shelf group provided closer to a negative side of a first horizontal axis than the transfer mechanism, and including first storage shelves; a second storage shelf group provided closer to a positive side of the first horizontal axis than the transfer mechanism, and including second storage shelves; and a third storage shelf group provided closer to a positive or negative side of a second horizontal axis than the transfer mechanism, and including third storage shelves, wherein the second storage shelves are arranged in two or more columns along the second horizontal axis and in two or more stages along a vertical axis, wherein the third storage shelves are arranged in two or more stages along the vertical axis, and wherein the transfer mechanism is configured to transfer a carrier to the first to third storage shelves.

There is provided a technique that includes: an atmospheric transfer structure configured to transfer a substrate in an atmospheric atmosphere; a plurality of processing structures arranged along the atmospheric transfer structure and configured to be capable of processing the substrate in a vacuum atmosphere; an intermediate structure arranged adjacent to the plurality of processing structures, and configured to receive the substrate from the atmospheric transfer structure and to transfer the substrate to each of the plurality of processing structures in an atmosphere whose pressure is lower than that of the atmospheric atmosphere.

A substrate handling chamber body is formed from a castable aluminum alloy including a manganese (Mn) constituent and an iron (Fe) constituent. The castable aluminum alloy has a manganese (Mn) constituent-to-iron (Fe) constituent ratio that between about 1.125 and about 1.525 to limit microporosity and shrinkage porosity within the castable aluminum alloy forming the substrate handling chamber body. Semiconductor processing systems and methods of making substrate handling chamber bodies for semiconductor processing systems are also described.

A substrate support device relating to technology disclosed in the description of the present application includes: a holding plate for opposing a substrate bowable by being heated by irradiation with flash light; and a plurality of substrate support pins provided on the holding plate and being for supporting the substrate, wherein the plurality of substrate support pins are arranged at locations where a volume of a space between the holding plate and the substrate in an unbowed state and a volume of a space between the holding plate and the substrate in a bowed state are equal to each other. Breakage of the substrate can be suppressed in a case where the substrate is bowed by flash light.

The substrate transfer apparatus according to one or more embodiments may include an end effector that includes a hand that grips a substrate; and a plunger that comes into contact with the substrate and performs alignment of the substrate including: a contact portion that comes into contact with the substrate; a shaft that moves the contact portion to contact the substrate; and an isolation wall that isolates an internal region from an outside, the internal region comprising a driver that drives the shaft, wherein the isolation wall comprises a shaft hole through which the shaft extends into the internal region, and the shaft comprises a cover in which a first end is connected to the shaft and a second end is connected to the isolation wall.

A substrate treatment line is disclosed. The substrate treatment line may include a chamber portion including a plurality of treatment chambers stacked in a vertical direction, and a vertical return robot, including a plurality of gripping portions, to transfer a plurality of substrates in a vertical direction simultaneously and load or unload the substrates to the treatment chambers.

Exemplary substrate processing systems may include a plurality of processing regions. The systems may include a transfer region housing defining a transfer region fluidly coupled with the plurality of processing regions. The systems may include a plurality of substrate supports, and each substrate support of the plurality of substrate supports may be vertically translatable between the transfer region and an associated processing region of the plurality of processing regions. The systems may include a transfer apparatus including a rotatable shaft extending through the transfer region housing. The transfer apparatus may include an end effector coupled with the rotatable shaft. The end effector may include a central hub defining a central aperture fluidly coupled with a purge source. The end effector may also include a plurality of arms having a number of arms equal to a number of substrate supports of the plurality of substrate supports.

There is provided a technique that includes: a plurality of light emitters arranged to be capable of emitting reference light onto each of a plurality of substrates arranged at a predetermined interval; a plurality of light receivers disposed to face the plurality of light emitters, each of the plurality of light receivers being capable of detecting light transmitted through a corresponding substrate among the plurality of substrates; a driver configured to relatively move the plurality of substrates so that the plurality of substrates pass through a plurality of optical axes connecting the plurality of light emitters and the corresponding plurality of light receivers respectively; a determiner configured to perform a predetermined determination based on a light reception intensity of each of the plurality of light receivers; and a discriminator configured to discriminate a material of each of the plurality of substrates based on a determination result from the determiner.

There is a teaching method for a substrate transfer device is disclosed. The method includes moving a transfer arm to multiple set positions along a reference axis selected from multiple axes extending through a center and a periphery of a placing surface, and executing at each set position a cycle comprising: moving the transfer arm holding a substrate at a preset holding position; transferring the substrate from the arm to a placing table via lift pins; receiving the substrate back by the arm via the lift pins; and detecting a new holding position of the substrate. Based on the new holding position, it is determined whether the substrate was mounted on an edge portion. A target position for transfer from the arm to the placing table is determined according to the set positions for the reference axes, and the target position is set as the arm's set position.

System and method for cross-fab wafer transportation are provided. A method includes providing a first FAB building and a second FAB building connected via a bridging area, the second FAB building comprising fabrication tools configured to perform fabrication processes different than fabrication processes performed by fabrication tools in the first FAB building, after performing fabrication processes in the first FAB building, configuring a first vehicle of the first FAB building to travel along a first OHT track and take the wafer to the bridging area, configuring a second vehicle of the second FAB building to travel along a second OHT track and arrive at the bridging area, where a portion of the first OHT track is in parallel with a portion of the second OHT track at the bridging area, when some predetermined conditions are met, configuring the first vehicle to transfer the wafer to the second vehicle.