Patent ID: 7201551
Filing Date: 2007-04-10
Classification: H01L,Y10S,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A semiconductor manufacturing line comprising a cassette supplying area which has a plurality of cassettes, each cassette with a plurality of samples of 300 mm in diameter or greater and a processing area containing a plurality of processing apparatuses; wherein a cassette is transferred by an automatic transfer machine between said cassette supplying area and a processing apparatus in said processing area, wherein at least one of the processing apparatus in said processing area comprises a cassette block which comprises a cassette table on which a sample cassette is placed and an atmospheric transfer means which transfers samples to and from said cassette, and a vacuum processing block which comprises a load lock chamber, a vacuum transfer means, and a vacuum processing chamber to vacuum-process said samples, wherein said vacuum processing blocks are connected to said cassette block in a L- or T-shaped manner, and an atmospheric transfer means placed between said cassette block and said vacuum processing block, wherein said atmospheric transfer means moves horizontally in a direction that said cassettes are aligned, said cassette table is placed in a front portion of said vacuum processing apparatus, said atmospheric transfer means takes out a sample to be processed from in any location of a plurality of cassettes, transfer it to said vacuum processing block and transfers the processed sample to said cassette, said atmospheric transfer means being capable of moving in a horizontal direction over a longer distance than a width of said vacuum processing block.