Patent ID: 7033126

Claim:
A system for transferring a plurality of semiconductor wafers, comprising: a vertical wafer boat; a plurality of wafer holders in the wafer boat, wherein the wafer holders are vertically spaced apart and wherein each wafer holder is configured to extend continuously around a perimeter of one of the plurality of wafers when the wafer is seated upon the wafer holder; a wafer handler provided with an end effector; a receiver frame independent of the wafer handler, wherein the receiver frame comprises a plurality of vertically spaced supporting arms, wherein each of the supporting arms comprises an upwardly projecting wafer support structure, the wafer support structure immobile relative to the supporting arm from which the wafer support structure projects, wherein the wafer support structure is configured to support one of the plurality of wafers while vertically spacing the wafer from one of the plurality of wafer holders directly below the wafer, wherein a height and spatial arrangement of the wafer support structure is sufficient to allow the end effector to contact a bottom surface of the wafer without the end effector contacting the wafer holder or the wafer support structure; and a transfer mechanism, the transfer mechanism capable of moving the wafer boat and the receiver frame relative to each other from a spaced-apart position to a wafer transfer position, wherein each supporting arm, including its wafer support structure, is sized and vertically spaced from other supporting arms such that the plurality of supporting arms can be accommodated between the plurality of wafer holders, each supporting arm accommodated directly below a wafer holder.