JP4059844B2 - Substrate processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

    The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus that performs predetermined processing on a substrate.

  In the processing process of a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate for a photomask, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device, a glass substrate for a plasma display panel, a substrate for an optical disk, etc., a substrate processing apparatus provided with a plurality of processing units for performing a series of processing It is used.

  In this substrate processing apparatus, an unprocessed substrate stored in a substrate storage container is carried from the outside of the substrate processing apparatus. In the substrate processing apparatus, an unprocessed substrate is taken out from the substrate storage container, and a predetermined process is performed by carrying the unprocessed substrate into a plurality of processing units.

  Here, the substrate storage container includes an OC (open cassette) type substrate storage container in which a part of the container is opened to the outside atmosphere, and a FOUP (front opening unified pod) type substrate storage container in which the inside of the container is sealed. There is.

In general, when a substrate is transported using a FOUP type substrate storage container, the substrate is transported in a sealed state even if particles such as dust are present in the surrounding atmosphere. Can be maintained.
JP 2002-231785 A

  However, even if a substrate is transported using the above-mentioned FOUP type substrate storage container, when an unprocessed substrate is subjected to a predetermined process using a conventional substrate processing apparatus, the indexer robot moves from the substrate storage container at the indexer unit. Remove the substrate. The cleanliness of the substrate changes depending on the surrounding atmosphere.

  Subsequently, the indexer robot passes the substrate to a center robot disposed in the center of the substrate processing apparatus. The center robot carries the received substrate into a predetermined processing unit. After predetermined processing is performed on the substrate by the processing unit, the center robot again carries out the substrate and passes it to the indexer robot. Then, the indexer robot stores the processed substrate in a FOUP type substrate storage container.

  In addition, in order to correct the orientation or orientation of the substrate to be loaded into the substrate storage container, the indexer robot may take out the substrate from the substrate storage container, align the direction of the notch (notch), and store it again in the substrate storage container. is there.

  Thus, in the conventional substrate processing apparatus, it is necessary to take out the substrate from the FOUP type substrate storage container and transport the substrate to a predetermined processing unit. Therefore, the distance and time for transporting the substrate taken out from the substrate storage container The increase in the number of times the substrate is transferred between the indexer robot and the center robot increases the chance of contamination of the substrate surface.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus capable of reducing the chance of substrate contamination.

A substrate processing apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention is a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate conveyed by a sealed substrate storage container having an openable / closable lid, and is provided at different heights in the vertical direction. A plurality of substrate processing units that perform predetermined processing, a plurality of mounting units that are arranged in a horizontal direction and on which the substrate storage containers are respectively mounted, a plurality of mounting units, and a plurality of substrate processing units, A transporting means for transporting the substrate storage container, and a lid opening / closing mechanism that is provided for each of the plurality of substrate processing units and opens and closes the lid to take out the substrate stored in the substrate storage container . A plurality of first transfer rails arranged so as to be aligned at a predetermined height corresponding to the plurality of placement units and extending in the horizontal direction, and a plurality of heights corresponding to the plurality of substrate processing units. Arranged to extend horizontally A plurality of second transport rails provided, and movable so as to be selectively connectable to any of the plurality of first transport rails and selectively connectable to any of the plurality of second transport rails A third transport rail provided, a plurality of first transport rails, a third transport rail, and a plurality of second transport rails are provided so as to be movable along any one of the plurality of placement units and the plurality of substrates. And a transfer device that transfers the substrate storage container to or from any of the processing units .

In the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention, the plurality of substrate processing units are provided at different heights in the vertical direction, and the plurality of placement units are provided so as to be arranged in the horizontal direction. The substrate is stored in a sealed substrate storage container having an openable / closable lid. The substrate storage containers are respectively placed on the placement portions. The substrate storage container is transported between the plurality of placement units and the plurality of substrate processing units by the transport means. The lid of the substrate storage container is opened and closed by the lid opening / closing mechanism provided for each of the plurality of substrate processing units, and the substrate stored in the substrate storage container can be taken out. Then, predetermined processing is performed on the substrate by the plurality of substrate processing units.

The plurality of first transport rails of the transport means are arranged so as to line up at a predetermined height corresponding to the plurality of placement units, and are provided so as to extend in the horizontal direction. The plurality of second transport rails are disposed at a plurality of heights corresponding to the plurality of substrate processing units, and are provided so as to extend in the horizontal direction. The third transport rail is movably provided so as to be selectively connectable with any of the plurality of first transport rails and selectively connectable with any of the plurality of second transport rails. The transfer apparatus is provided so as to be movable along the plurality of first transfer rails, the third transfer rails, and the plurality of second transfer rails, and includes any one of the plurality of placement units and any of the plurality of substrate processing units. The substrate storage container is conveyed between the two.
In this case, it is conveyed between the one substrate of a plurality of substrate processing unit and any of a plurality of mounting portion by conveying means in a state of being stored in the substrate storage container sealed with a closable lid closing Therefore, it is possible to prevent the influence of the outside air during the transportation and to reduce the number of times of delivery of the substrate. As a result, the chance of substrate contamination can be reduced.

  A substrate loading / unloading unit is provided for each of the plurality of substrate processing units, takes out the substrate stored in the substrate storage container, loads the substrate into the substrate processing unit, and unloads the substrate from the substrate processing unit and stores it in the substrate storage container. May be.

  In this case, the substrate stored in the substrate storage container by the substrate loading / unloading means is loaded into the substrate processing unit, and the substrate is unloaded from the substrate processing unit by the substrate loading / unloading means and stored in the substrate storage container. As a result, predetermined processing can be performed on the substrate in the substrate processing unit. In addition, since the substrate is directly carried into the substrate processing unit from the substrate storage container by the substrate carry-in / out means, the number of substrate transfers can be reduced, and the number of substrate contaminations can be reduced.

  The plurality of substrate processing units may include a support unit that supports the substrate storage container transported by the transport unit.

  In this case, the substrate storage container transported to the substrate processing unit by the transport unit is supported by the support unit. Thereby, the substrate can be carried into a plurality of substrate processing units in a stable state. Furthermore, since it is not necessary for the transfer means to hold the substrate storage container after transfer to the substrate processing unit, the transfer means can transfer another substrate storage container. As a result, the overall throughput of the substrate processing apparatus can be improved.

A plurality of transfer devices may be provided , and each of the plurality of transfer devices may transfer the substrate storage container between any of the plurality of placement units and any of the plurality of substrate processing units.

In this case, each of the plurality of transfer devices can transfer the substrate storage container between any of the plurality of placement units and any of the plurality of substrate processing units. A plurality of substrate storage containers can be transported. As a result, the overall throughput of the substrate processing apparatus can be improved.

  The plurality of transfer apparatuses may be provided in the same number as the plurality of substrate processing units.

  In this case, since the same number of transfer devices as the plurality of substrate processing units are provided, the plurality of substrate storage containers can be more efficiently transferred by the same number of transfer devices. As a result, the overall throughput of the substrate processing apparatus can be further improved.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the influence of the outside air during the transportation of the substrate and to reduce the number of times of substrate delivery. As a result, the chance of substrate contamination can be reduced.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  In the following description, a substrate means a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device, a glass substrate for a PDP (plasma display panel), a glass substrate for a photomask, a substrate for an optical disk, and the like.

  FIG. 1 is a plan view of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate processing apparatus 100 has processing areas A and B, a transfer area C1 between the processing areas A and B, and a transfer area C2 on one end side of the transfer area C1.

  In the processing region A, a control unit 4, fluid box units 2a and 2b, and cleaning processing units MPC1 and MPC2 are arranged. In the processing area B, fluid box portions 2c and 2d and cleaning processing portions MPC3 and MPC4 are arranged.

In the cleaning processing units MPC <b> 1 to MPC <b> 4, a cleaning process using a chemical solution (hereinafter referred to as a chemical process) and a cleaning process using a rinse solution (hereinafter referred to as a rinse process) are mainly performed. As this chemical solution, hydrofluoric acid, ammonia-hydrogen peroxide mixed solution (APM), hydrochloric acid-hydrogen peroxide solution, or the like is used. In addition, a two-fluid nozzle is provided in the cleaning processing units MPC1 to MPC4. As the rinse liquid, pure water, ozone water obtained by adding ozone (O ₃ ) to pure water, or dilute hydrofluoric acid (DHF) are mainly used. In each of the cleaning units MPC1 to MPC4, the substrate is subjected to a chemical solution treatment, and then the chemical solution remaining on the substrate is washed away with pure water and rinsed. Hereinafter, the cleaning processing units MPC1 to MPC4 are collectively referred to as processing units.

  The fluid box portions 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d in FIG. 1 are pipes, joints, valves, flow meters, regulators, pumps, and temperature regulators for supplying chemical liquid or pure water to the processing unit and draining liquid from the processing unit, respectively. Contains fluid-related equipment such as storage tanks and treatment liquid storage tanks.

  On the other hand, a plurality of transport rails R1 to R3, R11 to R14, R21 to R23, RM1 and RM2 are provided in the transport areas C1 and C2. Here, the longitudinal direction of the transport area C1 is referred to as the X direction, the direction perpendicular to the X direction in the horizontal plane is referred to as the Y direction, and the vertical direction is referred to as the Z direction.

  In the transfer areas C1 and C2, four substrate transfer robots HCR1, HCR2, HCR3 and HCR4 which are movable while being suspended by the transfer rails R1 to R3, R11 to R14, R21 to R23, RM1 and RM2 are provided. Provided. Details of the substrate transfer robots HCR1 to HCR4 will be described later.

  A substrate carry-in / out robot MR1 is provided between the cleaning processing unit MPC1 in the transfer area A and the transfer area C1. A partition wall WL1 is provided between the substrate carry-in / out robot MR1 and the cleaning processing unit MPC1, and a partition wall WL2 is provided between the substrate carry-in / out robot MR1 and the transfer region C1. Similarly, substrate loading / unloading robots MR2, MR3, MR4 are respectively provided between the cleaning processing units MPC2, MPC3, MPC4 and the transfer area C1, and the cleaning processing units MPC2-MPC4 and the substrate loading / unloading robots MR2-MR4 A partition wall WL1 is provided between the substrate loading / unloading robots MR2 to MR4 and the transfer region C1. Details of the partition walls WL1 and WL2 will be described later. Further, a support base 30 is provided in the transfer region C1 at a position facing each processing unit and facing the partition wall WL2.

  A load port LP for loading and unloading the substrate W is disposed on one side of the transfer area C2. In the load port LP, the substrate storage container 1 for storing the substrate W is mounted on the mounting table 40. Here, the substrate storage container 1 used in the present embodiment is a FOUP (Front Opening Unified Pod) type substrate storage container that can store the substrate W in a sealed state.

  The control unit 4 includes a computer including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and controls operations of the processing units in the processing areas A and B and operations of the substrate transfer robots HCR1 to HCR4 in the transfer areas C1 and C2.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a part of the transfer areas C1 and C2 of the substrate processing apparatus 100 of FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the transport rails R12 (shown by dotted lines) and R13 are provided in the lower stage, the transport rails R1 to R3, R21, R22, and R23 (shown by dotted lines) are provided in the middle stage, and the transport rail R11 (shown by dotted lines). R14 is provided in the upper stage. Further, the transport rails RM1 (indicated by dotted lines) and RM2 can rotate in the direction of arrow β while moving between the lower stage and the upper stage in the direction of arrow α.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the transport rails R <b> 1, R <b> 2, R <b> 3 are guided along the X direction from the transport region C <b> 2 above the mounting table 40 of the load port LP.

  In the transport region C2, transport rails R21 to R23, RM1, and RM2 are provided so as to be connectable to one end of the transport rails R1 to R3 along the Y direction.

  On the other hand, in the transport area C1 facing the processing area B, transport rails R13 and R14 are provided along the X direction. The transport rail R13 extends to the vicinity of the cleaning processing unit MPC3, and the transport rail R14 extends to the vicinity of the cleaning processing unit MPC4.

  The transport rail R13 is provided at a position where it is connected to the transport rail RM2 when the transport rail RM2 moves downward in the direction of the arrow β and descends, and the transport rail R14 has the transport rail RM2 in the direction of the arrow β. It is provided at a position where it is connected to the transport rail RM2 when it is raised while rotating.

  Further, in the transport area C1 facing the processing area A, transport rails R11 and R12 are provided along the X direction. The transport rail R11 extends to the vicinity of the cleaning processing unit MPC1, and the transport rail R12 extends to the vicinity of the cleaning processing unit MPC2.

  The transport rail R11 is provided at a position where the transport rail RM1 is rotated and moved in the direction of the arrow β and is connected to the transport rail RM1 when the transport rail RRM is lifted, and the transport rail R12 is configured so that the transport rail RM1 is in the direction of the arrow β. It is provided at a position to be connected to the transport rail RM1 when it is lowered while rotating.

  The substrate transfer robot HCR3 of FIG. 2 holds the suspension drive unit CR that is movable while being suspended by transfer rails R1 to R3, R11 to R14, R21 to R23, RM1 and RM2, and the upper end portion of the substrate storage container 1. It has a pair of clamping parts HAND. The configurations of the other substrate transfer robots HCR1, HCR2, and HCR4 are the same as the configurations of the substrate transfer robot HCR3.

  Therefore, the four substrate transfer robots HCR1 to HCR4 each hold the upper end portion of the substrate storage container 1 and move while being suspended by the transfer rails R1 to R3, R11 to R14, R21 to R23, RM1 and RM2. Is possible.

  Here, a case will be described in which the substrate transport robot HCR3 transports the substrate storage container 1 to the cleaning processing unit MPC3 and at the same time the substrate transport robot HCR4 transports the substrate storage container 1 to the cleaning processing unit MPC4.

  First, as shown in FIG. 2, the substrate transfer robot HCR3 is suspended from the transfer rail R3. The substrate transfer robot HCR3 moves above the substrate storage container 1 placed on the placement table 40 of the load port LP, and the upper end portion of the substrate storage container 1 placed on the placement table 40 is moved by a pair of clamping parts HAND. Hold it. The substrate transfer robot HCR3 pulls up the entire substrate storage container 1 while holding the upper end portion of the substrate storage container 1.

  Subsequently, the substrate transfer robot HCR3 moves along the transfer rails R3 and R22 and stops on the transfer rail RM2.

  The transport rail RM2 descends to a position where it is connected to the transport rail R13 while rotating in the direction of arrow β with the substrate transport robot HCR3 suspended.

  When the transport rail RM2 is lowered to a position where the transport rail RM2 is connected to the transport rail R13, the substrate transport robot HCR3 moves above the support table 30 in front of the cleaning processing unit MPC3 while holding the upper end portion of the substrate storage container 1. The substrate transfer robot HCR 3 lowers the entire substrate storage container 1 while holding the upper end of the substrate storage container 1, and places the substrate storage container 1 on the support table 30. Then, the substrate transfer robot HCR3 opens the pair of holding portions HAND and releases the upper end portion of the substrate storage container 1.

  On the other hand, the substrate transfer robot HCR4 moves while holding the upper end of another substrate storage container 1 in the same manner as the substrate transfer robot HCR3. The substrate transfer robot HCR4 moves along the transfer rails R2 and R21 and stops on the transfer rail RM2.

  The transport rail RM2 rises to a position where it is connected to the transport rail R14 while rotating in the direction of arrow β with the substrate transport robot HCR4 suspended.

  When the transport rail RM2 rises to a position where the transport rail RM2 is connected to the transport rail R14, the substrate transport robot HCR4 moves to above the support 30 in front of the cleaning processing unit MPC4 while holding the upper end of the substrate storage container 1. The substrate transfer robot HCR 4 lowers the entire substrate storage container 1 while holding the upper end of the substrate storage container 1 and places the substrate storage container 1 on the support table 30. Then, the substrate transfer robot HCR4 opens the pair of holding portions HAND and releases the upper end portion of the substrate storage container 1.

  3 is a diagram showing a DD section of the substrate processing apparatus 100 of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a section EE of the substrate processing apparatus 100 of FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the substrate transfer robot HCR1 that sandwiches the upper end portion of the substrate storage container 1 is positioned in front of the cleaning processing unit MPC1, and the substrate that sandwiches the upper end portion of the substrate storage container 1 in front of the cleaning processing unit MPC3. The transfer robot HCR3 is located.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the substrate transfer robot HCR2 that holds the upper end portion of the substrate storage container 1 is positioned in front of the cleaning processing unit MPC2, and the upper end portion of the substrate storage container 1 is held in front of the cleaning processing unit MPC4. The substrate transfer robot HCR4 is positioned.

  An opening is provided in the partition wall WL1 between the cleaning processing unit MPC1 and the substrate carry-in / out robot MR1 in FIG. 3, and a shutter SH is provided in the opening so as to be freely opened and closed. An opening is provided in the partition wall WL2 between the substrate loading / unloading robot MR1 and the transfer area C1, and a lid opening / closing mechanism (opener) OP that can open and close the lid of the substrate storage container 1 is provided below the opening. .

  Similarly, each partition wall WL1 between the cleaning processing units MPC2 to MPC4 and the substrate carry-in / out robots MR2 to MR4 in FIGS. 3 and 4 is provided with an opening and a shutter SH. Each partition WL2 between the substrate loading / unloading robots MR2 to MR4 and the transfer area C1 is provided with an opening, and a lid opening / closing mechanism (opener) OP is provided below the opening.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the intervals between the transfer rails R <b> 11 to R <b> 14 do not collide (interfer) with each other even when the substrate transfer robots HCR <b> 1 to HCR <b> 4 hold and transfer the upper end portion of the substrate storage container 1. Are arranged as follows.

  The cleaning processing apparatus MPC1 is provided relatively above the substrate processing apparatus 100, the cleaning processing apparatus MPC2 is provided relatively below the substrate processing apparatus 100, and the cleaning processing apparatus MPC3 is the substrate processing apparatus. The cleaning processing apparatus MPC4 is provided relatively below the apparatus 100, and the cleaning processing apparatus MPC4 is provided relatively above the substrate processing apparatus 100.

  As described above, the substrate transport robots HCR1 to HCR4 can transport the substrate storage container 1 without colliding (interfering) with other substrate transport robots.

  Next, a case where an unprocessed substrate W is taken out from the substrate storage container 1 transported to the support table 30 by the substrate transport robot HCR3 and loaded into the cleaning processing unit MPC3 will be described.

  FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state in which an unprocessed substrate W is taken out from the substrate storage container 1 and carried into the cleaning processing unit MPC3.

  A substrate carry-in / out robot MR3 shown in FIG. 5 is an articulated robot composed of a plurality of arms. Further, the substrate carry-in / out robot MR3 can move up and down in the range from the upper stage to the lower stage in the substrate storage container 1. Further, the partition wall WL2 facing the transfer area C1 facing the cleaning processing unit MPC3 is provided with a lid opening / closing device OP for opening and closing the lid of the substrate storage container 1.

  First, the substrate storage container 1 is placed on the support base 30 of the partition wall WL2 in front of the cleaning processing unit MPC3 by the substrate transfer robot HCR3. Then, the lid of the substrate storage container 1 is opened by the lid opening / closing device OP.

  Next, the substrate loading / unloading robot MR3, which is an articulated robot, receives an unprocessed substrate W stored in the substrate storage container 1 with the lid open. At substantially the same time, the shutter SH of the partition wall WL1 moves downward. Accordingly, the substrate carry-in / out robot MR3 carries the unprocessed substrate W taken out from the substrate storage container 1 into the cleaning processing unit MPC3. After the unprocessed substrate W is carried into the cleaning processing unit MPC3, the substrate carry-in / out robot MR3 leaves the cleaning processing unit MPC3. Subsequently, the shutter SH of the partition wall WL1 moves upward, and the inside of the cleaning processing unit MPC3 is sealed. The cleaning processing unit MPC3 performs a predetermined process on the substrate W. Thereafter, the shutter SH of the partition wall WL1 moves downward. Accordingly, the substrate carry-in / out robot MR3 can receive the processed substrate W and store it in the substrate storage container 1. The substrate carry-in / out robot MR3 repeats the same operation for the unprocessed substrates W stored in the substrate storage container 1, and processes all the substrates W in the substrate storage container 1.

  As described above, the substrate processing apparatus according to the present embodiment is configured such that the substrate W and the predetermined cleaning processing units MPC1 to MPC1 are stored in the sealed substrate storage container 1 having the lid that can be freely opened and closed. Since it is transported to and from the MPC 4, it is possible to prevent the influence of the outside air and to reduce the number of times the substrate W is delivered. As a result, the chance of contamination of the substrate W can be reduced.

  In addition, the substrate W stored in the substrate storage container 1 by the substrate loading / unloading robots MR1 to MR4 is loaded into the cleaning processing units MPC1 to MPC4, and the substrate W is unloaded from the cleaning processing units MPC1 to MPC4 by the substrate loading / unloading robots MR1 to MR4. And stored in the substrate storage container 1. As a result, predetermined processing can be performed on the substrate W in the cleaning processing units MPC1 to MPC4. Moreover, since the substrate W is directly carried into the cleaning processing units MPC1 to MPC4 from the substrate storage container 1 by the substrate carry-in / out robots MR1 to MR4, the number of times of delivery of the substrate W can be reduced and the number of times of contamination of the substrate W is reduced. be able to.

  Further, since the substrate storage container 1 transported to the cleaning processing units MPC1 to MPC4 by the substrate transport robots HCR1 to HCR4 is supported by the respective support bases 30, the substrate W is transferred to the plurality of cleaning processing units MPC1 to MPC4 in a stable state. Can be brought in.

  In this case, since the substrate transfer robots HCR1 to HCR4 do not need to hold the substrate storage container 1 after transfer to the cleaning processing units MPC1 to MPC4, the substrate transfer robots HCR1 to HCR4 transfer other substrate storage containers 1. Can do.

  Further, the plurality of substrate storage containers 1 can be efficiently transferred by the plurality of substrate transfer robots HCR1 to HCR4. As a result, the overall throughput of the substrate processing apparatus 100 can be further improved.

  In the present embodiment, the substrate transfer robots HCR1 to HCR4 correspond to transfer means, the support base 30 corresponds to a support portion, and the substrate carry-in / out devices MR1 to MR4 correspond to substrate carry-in / out means.

  In the present embodiment, cleaning processing units MPC1 to MPC4 are provided, but an arbitrary number of cleaning processing units may be provided. In addition, although the cleaning processing units MPC1 to MPC4 perform the same processing on the substrate, different processing may be performed. Further, although the substrate transfer robots HCR1 to HCR4 are provided, one or more substrate transfer robots may be provided.

  The present invention can be used for processing various substrates such as semiconductor wafers, glass substrates for photomasks, glass substrates for liquid crystal display devices, glass substrates for plasma display panels, and substrates for optical disks.

It is a top view of the substrate processing apparatus concerning an embodiment of the invention. It is a one part perspective view of the conveyance area | region of the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the DD cross section of the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the EE cross section of the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the state which takes out the unprocessed board | substrate W from FOUP and carries in to a washing | cleaning process part.

Explanation of symbols

1 FOUP
30 Support base HCR1 to HCR4 Substrate transfer robot MR1 to MR4 Substrate carry-in / out device

Claims (5)

A substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate conveyed by a sealed substrate storage container having an openable / closable lid,
A plurality of substrate processing units that are provided at different heights in the vertical direction and perform predetermined processing on the substrate;
A plurality of placement units provided to be arranged in a horizontal direction, each of which is mounted with the substrate storage container;
Conveying means for conveying the substrate storage container between the plurality of placement units and the plurality of substrate processing units;
A lid opening / closing mechanism that is provided for each of the plurality of substrate processing units and opens and closes the lid to take out the substrate stored in the substrate storage container ;
The conveying means is
A plurality of first transport rails arranged so as to line up at a predetermined height corresponding to the plurality of placement portions, and extending in the horizontal direction, respectively.
A plurality of second transport rails disposed at a plurality of heights corresponding to the plurality of substrate processing units and extending in the horizontal direction, respectively.
A third transport rail that is movably provided so as to be selectively connectable with any of the plurality of first transport rails and selectively connectable with any of the plurality of second transport rails;
The plurality of first transport rails, the third transport rails, and the plurality of second transport rails are provided so as to be movable along any one of the plurality of placement units and the plurality of substrate processing units. A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a transfer device that transfers the substrate storage container between the heels . A substrate that is provided for each of the plurality of substrate processing units, takes out a substrate stored in the substrate storage container, loads the substrate into the substrate processing unit, unloads the substrate from the substrate processing unit, and stores the substrate in the substrate storage container 2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising carry-in / out means. The plurality of substrate processing units include:
The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a support portion that supports the substrate storage container transported by the transport unit. A plurality of the conveying devices are provided ,
Each of the plurality of transport devices, any of the preceding claims, characterized in that for transporting the substrate storage container with one of said plurality of substrate processing unit and the one of the plurality of mounting portion A substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of transfer apparatuses are provided in the same number as the plurality of substrate processing units.

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