Patent ID: 7806643

Claim:
A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a casing comprising a processing device configured to process substrates; a load port interface configured to load substrates into the processing device; a carrier holding station disposed at the load port interface and configured to hold one or more first substrate transport carriers, so that the one or more first substrate transport carriers configured to be held by the carrier holding station are capable of being coupled to the load port interface without lifting the one or more first substrate transport carriers off the carrier holding station, wherein the carrier holding station is configured to provide a substantially simultaneous swap section for substantially simultaneous replacement of the one or more first substrate transport carriers from the carrier holding station with one or more second substrate transport carriers from a handling system; and the handling system comprising a vertically oriented guideway along which an elevator system travels, the elevator system having a plurality of lifts, with the plurality of lifts disposed perpendicular to the vertically oriented guideway and with the plurality of lifts offset vertically with respect to each other, wherein the vertically oriented guideway and the plurality of lifts are configured to transfer the one or more first substrate transport carriers and the one or more second substrate transport carriers to and from a transport system at a first elevation and the carrier holding station at a second elevation.