Patent ID: 7881819

Claim:
A substrate transfer apparatus for transferring a substrate held within support grooves in inner walls of a first substrate storage case to a substrate storage surface that is parallel to a horizontal plane of a second substrate storage case, the substrate transfer apparatus comprising: a first-substrate-storage-case placement section in which the first substrate storage case is placed with the substrate inclined by a predetermined non-horizontal and non-vertical angle from the horizontal plane; a second-substrate-storage-case placement section in which the second substrate storage case is placed; a substrate transfer mechanism that draws the substrate out from the first substrate storage case and transfers the substrate; a substrate placing mechanism having a substrate placement section that receives the substrate from the substrate transfer mechanism, the substrate placing mechanism having a rotating mechanism that rotates the substrate from the predetermined non-horizontal and non-vertical angle to a substantially horizontal state; a substrate holding mechanism that holds, at a hold position, the substrate placed in the substrate placement section and discharges, at a discharge position, the substrate to dispose the substrate on the substrate storage surface of the second substrate storage case; and a transport mechanism that transports the substrate holding mechanism from the hold position to the discharge position.