Patent ID: 9070727
Filing Date: 2015-06-30
Classification: H01L

Abstract:
1. A substrate processing system comprising: a plurality of substrate processing units each including multiple substrate processing modules configured to perform a process on a substrate; a substrate mounting table configured to mount thereon a substrate receptacle accommodating therein substrates; substrate buffers, which respectively correspond to the substrate processing units, each being configured to temporarily accommodate therein substrates; a first substrate transfer device configured to take out substrates from the substrate receptacle on the substrate mounting table and transfer the substrates into at least one substrate buffer; a second substrate transfer device provided in each substrate processing unit and configured to transfer a substrate between the substrate buffer and the substrate processing module; and an inter-buffer delivery device configured to deliver a substrate between the substrate buffers, wherein when one substrate processing unit is incapable of performing a process on a substrate, an unprocessed substrate within the substrate buffer corresponding to the one substrate processing unit is delivered into the substrate buffer corresponding to another substrate processing unit by the inter-buffer delivery device, and when one substrate processing unit is incapable of performing a substrate process, the first substrate transfer device is configured to transfer the substrate completely processed by the one substrate processing unit into the substrate receptacle from the substrate buffer corresponding to the one substrate processing unit, and to return substrates, which are delivered into the substrate buffer corresponding to another substrate processing unit by the inter-buffer delivery device and then completely processed by the another substrate processing unit, back into the substrate receptacle from the substrate buffer corresponding to the another substrate processing unit one by one.