Patent ID: 7959400

Claim:
An aligner, comprising: a grip mechanism provided with a plurality of clamp arms for holding an external periphery of a wafer, each of the plurality of clamp arms being provided with a restriction member at a lower portion of said clamp arm; a rotary mechanism for rotating said grip mechanism to rotate said wafer in a prescribed rotational direction; and a lifter mechanism provided with a plurality of lift arms for lifting said wafer above said grip mechanism, wherein the aligner is configured to align the wafer by a grip operation of the grip mechanism and a rotary operation of the rotary mechanism, wherein said rotary mechanism rotates said grip mechanism relative to said lifter mechanism such that said aligner is in either an interfering state, in which at least one of said clamp arms is positioned in an upward movement path of at least one of said lift arms, or a non-interfering state, in which none of said clamp arms are disposed in said upward movement path of said lift arms, and wherein, in said interfering state, at least one of said lift arms engages with said restriction member provided on said lower portion of at least one of said clamp arms of said grip mechanism, in order to restrict an upward movement of at least one of said lift arms.