Patent ID: 8282698

Claim:
A system to reduce particle contamination on substrates, the system comprising: a substrate traverser mechanism having one or more tracks to transport substrate carriers; one or more traverser ducts arranged to at least partially surround the one or more tracks, the one or more ducts having slits along at least a substantial portion of a length of the one or more tracks, the slits arranged above and below the one or more tracks; and a traverser exhaust fan coupled to one end of each of the one or more traverser ducts, the traverser exhaust fan to provide sufficient volumetric airflow to provide a velocity of the volumetric airflow in a direction away from the substrate carriers on the one or more tracks through the slits greater than a terminal settling velocity of a predetermined particle size, the traverser exhaust fan further to draw particles less than about the predetermined particle size generated by the substrate traverser mechanism into the one or more traverser ducts.