Patent ID: 6852644

Claim:
A semiconductor-manufacturing system for processing semiconductor wafers, said system comprising a semiconductor-manufacturing tool and associated atmospheric robot handling equipment, wherein: said semiconductor-manufacturing tool has a vacuum central handler, a first load lock, a second load lock, and a wafer-handling robot; said vacuum central handler giving access to one or more process chambers for processing said semiconductor wafers; said first and second load locks providing access between said vacuum central handler and outside said semiconductor-manufacturing tool for said semiconductor wafers; said wafer-handling robot being within said vacuum central handler and removing wafers to be processed from either of said first and second load locks and placing processed wafers into either of said first and second load locks; and said associated atmospheric robot handling equipment has a first, a second and a third atmospheric wafer-handling robot and a wafer pre-aligner; said first atmospheric wafer-handling robot transferring wafers to be processed one-by-one from a supply thereof to said wafer pre-aligner; said wafer pre-aligner providing said wafers with a desired orientation; said second atmospheric wafer-handling robot transferring wafers to be processed from said wafer pre-aligner to said first load lock; and said third atmospheric wafer-handling robot transferring processed wafers from said second load lock back to said supply.