Patent ID: 11876008
Assignee: ASM IP HOLDING B.V.
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. A vertical batch furnace assembly for processing wafers comprising:
a cassette handling space;
a wafer handling space;
a first wall separating the cassette handling space from the wafer handling space and having at least one wafer transfer opening in front of which, at a side of the first wall which is directed to the cassette handling space, a wafer transfer position for a wafer cassette is provided;
wherein the cassette handling space comprises:
a cassette storage having a plurality of cassette storage positions and configured to store a plurality of wafer cassettes provided with a plurality of wafers; and
a cassette handling mechanism comprising a first cassette handler configured to transfer wafer cassettes between a first set of the cassette storage positions and the wafer transfer position, wherein the cassette handling mechanism is provided with a second cassette handler configured to transfer wafer cassettes between a second set of the cassette storage positions and the wafer transfer position,
wherein the first cassette handler and the second cassette handler operate independently, and
wherein the cassette handling space is accessible via a closeable maintenance opening via which at least one storage rack is removable from the cassette handling space.