Patent ID: 11869789
Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  G | IPC G  H

Claim 0:
1. A substrate processing apparatus, comprising:
a carrier block on which a carrier configured to store a substrate is placed;
a first processing block including a first lower processing block and a first upper processing block and configured to deliver the substrate to and from the carrier block, the first lower processing block and the first upper processing block being stacked one above another, wherein the first processing block includes a plurality of layers, which are stacked one above another, and a first main transfer mechanism shared by each of the plurality of layers of the first processing block to transfer the substrate, and wherein each of the plurality of layers of the first processing block is provided with a processing module configured to process the substrate;
a second processing block including a second lower processing block and a second upper processing block, which are adjacent, in a left-right direction, to the first lower processing block and the first upper processing block, respectively, and are stacked one above another, wherein the second processing block includes a plurality of layers, which are stacked one above another, and a second main transfer mechanism, which is different from the first main transfer mechanism, shared by each of the plurality of layers of the second processing block to transfer the substrate;
a relay block including a lifting and transferring mechanism configured to deliver the substrate between the second lower processing block and the second upper processing block, wherein the relay block is located adjacent to the second processing block at a side opposite to a side at which the first processing block is located adjacent to the second processing block in the left-right direction;
a controller configured to control an operation of each of the first main transfer mechanism and the second main transfer mechanism such that one of an upper processing block configured with the first upper processing block and the second upper processing block and a lower processing block configured with the first lower processing block and the second lower processing block forms an outward path through which the substrate is transferred from the carrier block to the relay block and the other one of the upper processing block and the lower processing block forms a return path through which the substrate is transferred from the relay block to the carrier block;
a first shuttle that is provided for the first processing block in a bypass transfer path forming block, which is one of the upper processing block and the lower processing block, and is configured to operate to form the outward path or the return path together with the second main transfer mechanism, and wherein the first shuttle is different from the first main transfer mechanism and the second main transfer mechanism; and
a second shuttle that is provided for the second processing block in the bypass transfer path forming block and is configured to operate to form the outward path or the return path together with the first main transfer mechanism, and wherein the second shuttle is different from the first main transfer mechanism, the second main transfer mechanism, and the first shuttle,
wherein, with respect to the bypass transfer path forming block, the first shuttle is further configured to cause the substrate to be transferred to a downstream-side block by the second main transfer mechanism of the second processing block,
wherein, with respect to the bypass transfer path forming block, the second shuttle is further configured to cause the substrate to be transferred to a downstream-side block by the first main transfer mechanism of the first processing block, and
wherein the bypass transfer path forming block includes a plurality of layers, which are stacked one above another, and each of the plurality of layers of the bypass transfer path forming block is provided with a processing module configured to process the substrate.