The present invention relates to a handling system for fetching a substrate out of a substrate container, a use of such a handling system, a module comprising a substrate container and such a handling system and a method for fetching a substrate out of a substrate container. The handling system comprises a main assembly and a sub assembly. The sub assembly is moveably attached to the main assembly and moveable relative to the main assembly between a fetch position and a rest position. The sub assembly extends in the fetch position over the main assembly to fetch the substrate out of the substrate container and lies on the main assembly in the rest position to provide a contact between the main assembly and the substrate. The main assembly comprises a plurality of suction means to fasten and straighten the substrate.

Described herein is a technique capable of improving the controllability of a thickness of a film formed on a large surface area substrate having a surface area greater than a surface area of a bare substrate and improving the thickness uniformity between films formed on a plurality of large surface area substrates accommodated in a substrate loading region by reducing the influence of the surface area of the large surface area substrate and the number of the large surface area substrates due to a loading effect even when the plurality of large surface area substrates are batch-processed using a batch type processing furnace.

A substrate storage rack for a semiconductor processing system may include a bottom plate, a top plate, and/or at least one column assembly. The top plate may be spaced apart from the bottom plate, and the column assembly may connect the top plate to the bottom plate. The column assembly may have multiple protrusion elements. Each protrusion element may have a top surface opening that supports a ball member. Each ball member in the column assembly may protrude upward from its respective protrusion element toward the top plate and may be configured to support a substrate within the rack. Semiconductor processing systems and methods of making substrate storage racks are also described.

A substrate processing method includes: receiving, by a transfer arm, a substrate from a batch processing section in which a plurality of substrates is collectively processed in a state where each of the plurality of substrates stands upright; disposing the substrate on a disposing unit including a pin, a first liquid film being formed on an upper surface of the substrate from a process in the batch processing section; supplying a pure water toward the upper surface of the substrate, thereby forming a second liquid film of the pure water on the upper surface of the substrate; stop supplying the pure water and maintaining the second liquid film on the upper surface of the substrate for a predetermined time, and transporting the substrate to a single wafer processing section in which the plurality of substrates are processed one by one in a horizontal state.

It is possible to economically and safely operate an apparatus by allowing wafers made of different materials to be accommodated together. There is provided a technique that includes: a mapping apparatus configured to determine a material of a substrate accommodated in a carrier and loaded into the substrate processing apparatus; and a controller configured to be capable of updating and holding first information on the material of the substrate loaded into the substrate processing apparatus, and capable of controlling the substrate processing apparatus to take out the carrier accommodating the substrate when the first information on the material of the substrate does not satisfy a predetermined condition specified for a current operation mode among conditions specified respectively for a plurality of operation modes.

Apparatus and methods for determining wafer characters are disclosed. In one example, an apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus includes: a processing tool configured to process a semiconductor wafer; a device configured to read an optical character disposed on the semiconductor wafer while the semiconductor wafer is located at the apparatus for wafer fabrication; and a controller configured to determine whether the optical character matches a predetermined character corresponding to the semiconductor wafer based on the optical character read in real-time at the apparatus.

A semiconductor wafer mapping apparatus comprising a frame forming a wafer load opening communicating with a load station for a substrate carrier disposed to hold more than one wafers vertically distributed in the substrate carrier for loading through the wafer load opening, a movable arm movably mounted to the frame so as to move relative to the wafer load opening and having at least one end effector movably mounted to the movable arm to load wafers from the substrate carrier through the wafer load opening, an image acquisition system including an array of cameras arranged on a common support and each camera fixed with respect to the common support that is static with respect to each camera of the array of cameras, wherein each respective camera is positioned with a field of view disposed to view through the wafer load opening with the common support positioned by the movable arm.

A transport case is configured to hold a plurality of wafers for transport of the wafers. The transport case includes a sensor system configured to generate sensor data indicative of conditions within the transport case while the transport case is docked at a load/unload system of a semiconductor process tool. The transport case includes a communication system configured to transmit the sensor data from the sensor system to an external control system.

A load port control unit performs an opening operation of a sealable container according to a first operation procedure when a sensor has detected a normal placement of the sealable container, and retries the opening operation according to a second operation procedure for being able to more reliably perform the opening operation of the sealable container, to prevent a transfer device from stopping, when the sensor has detected a placement abnormality of the sealable container.

A conveying device is configured to convey one or more payloads, in particular wafers, using transport bodies. The transport bodies are floatingly moved and positioned over a transport surface of a stator. The moving and positioning are preferably carried out with respect to all six degrees of freedom. The transport body has a movable boom or a movable manipulator or a movable robotic arm. At an end effector thereof, the payload is deposited or fastened. The payload can also be processed and/or checked. The processing and/or checking is carried out by an end effector of an additional transport body of the same conveying device.