A method and device for producing contact metallizations on terminal faces of wafers by a manipulator unit for handling the wafers and a plurality of work stations each having a processing space for receiving the wafers, the plurality of work stations including a depositing station, which has a processing space for receiving a solution of contact metal dissolved in a carrier liquid for deposition on the terminal faces of the wafers, detecting a measured value of an object property of a wafer or of a work station by a sensor, and determining a prioritization of equipping the processing spaces or a dwell time of the wafers in a processing space by querying the measured value in a databank or by means of inference using a statistic model while entering the measured value, generating a control dataset for the manipulator unit; and handling the wafers according to the control dataset.

A traveling vehicle system includes a traveling path including a branching portion, a traveling vehicle to travel on the traveling path, and a controller. A specific area through which the traveling vehicle is allowed to pass on one of the traveling paths from an upstream side to a downstream side of the branching portion is in a portion within a blocking area including the branching portion. The controller is configured or programmed to transmit a passage permission for the blocking area to the traveling vehicle that issued the passage request for the blocking area if no other traveling vehicle is present in the blocking area, and to transmit a passage permission for the specific area to the traveling vehicle that issued the passage request for the specific area if no other traveling vehicle is present in the specific area. The traveling vehicle enters the blocking area or the specific area for which a passage permission has been acquired.

A linearly moving mechanism includes an internal moving body provided within a case body and configured to be moved in a linear direction, the internal moving body being configured to move an external moving body connected to a connection member protruded from the case body through an opening formed at the case body; a seal belt extending in the linear direction and provided within the case body to close the opening, a first surface side of both end portions of the seal belt in a widthwise direction thereof facing an edge portion of the opening while being spaced apart therefrom; and a deformation suppressing member provided to face a second surface side of the both end portions to suppress deformation of the seal belt, the seal belt being connected to the internal moving body to be moved along with a movement of the internal moving body.

Disclosed is a substrate transfer apparatus including a moving plate including an upper magnetic levitation rail and a lower magnetic levitation rail, a processing chamber disposed adjacent to the moving plate and that processes a substrate, and a shuttle disposed between the upper magnetic levitation rail and the lower magnetic levitation rail, being moved on the moving plate, and that accommodates the substrate.

A path setting system is used for setting paths of a plurality of transfer bodies in a substrate transfer device, the substrate transfer device including a substrate transfer area and the plurality of transfer bodies, each having a support configured to support a substrate and configured to float and move by a magnetic force from a floor forming the substrate transfer area. The path setting system includes a virtual area setting part configured to set a virtual area corresponding to the substrate transfer area, a path generating part configured to generate, in the virtual area, moving paths of the transfer bodies from a movement start position to a movement end position, and an interference determining part configured to determine interference between the moving paths.

The overhead traveling vehicle system includes a track having a plurality of first rails extending in an X direction and a plurality of second rails extending in a Y direction arranged in a grid, and a traveling vehicle traveling on a pair of the first rails adjacent to each other in the Y direction and traveling on a pair of the second rails adjacent to each other in the X direction, in which each of the first rail and the second rail has a first surface on which a cell recognition mark is disposed and a second surface on which a position recognition mark is disposed, the second surface, when viewed from a center of a cell in plan view, being disposed outside the first surface and being inclined toward the traveling vehicle side with respect to the first surface.