Patent ID: 8794427

Claim:
A method of operating an apparatus, said method comprising: providing an apparatus comprising a processing apparatus, a carrier platform, and a frame assembly, wherein said carrier platform comprises a vertical stack of a proximal carrier platform compartment and a distal carrier platform compartment that are structurally stationary relative to each other, wherein said proximal carrier platform is configured to mount N carrier adaptors thereupon, wherein each of said N carrier adaptors is configured to hold a substrate carrier for mounting a single substrate thereupon, and N is an integer greater than 2; mounting at least one substrate on a set of at least one substrate carrier on a subset of said N carrier adaptors while said carrier platform is located in a region that does not underlie, or overlie, said processing apparatus; sliding said carrier platform, employing a set of transport actuation structures attached to said distal carrier platform compartment and configured to move with said distal carrier platform compartment, on said horizontal track through a linear lateral motion on said horizontal track to a position that underlies, or overlies, said processing apparatus; moving at least one of said processing apparatus and said carrier platform relative to each other, while said carrier platform underlies or overlies said processing apparatus and is located at a portion of said horizontal track overlying or underlying said processing apparatus, along a vertical direction that is perpendicular to a direction of said linear lateral motion; and processing said at least one substrate employing said process apparatus.