Patent ID: 8851817

Claim:
A system for transporting a wafer, comprising: a wafer transport enclosure, the wafer transport enclosure defined by a tube having a substantially rectangular cross section, the tube having a top side, a bottom side, and side walls, each side wall having at least two openings for connecting to at least two processing chambers, the wafer transport enclosure defining a linear path for wafer transport, the linear path facilitating transport of a wafer between the processing chambers; at least one end effector disposed within the wafer transport enclosure and configured for linear travel along the linear path defined by the wafer transport enclosure, the end effector configured to deliver wafers to and from the processing chambers; wherein the end effector delivers wafers to and from the processing chambers by using a combination of linear and rotational motion so as to effect movement of the wafers to and from the processing chambers; wherein the movement of the wafers to and from the processing chambers is linear, defining secondary linear paths between each of the processing chambers and the linear path defined by the wafer transport enclosure.