Patent ID: 8280545

Claim:
A vacuum processing apparatus for performing a vacuum process on a wafer, which is a semiconductor substrate, in a vacuum processing chamber, the apparatus capable of transferring the wafer with respect to a preliminary vacuum chamber by a first transfer arm disposed under a normal pressure atmosphere and also capable of transferring the wafer between the preliminary vacuum chamber and the vacuum processing chamber by a second transfer arm disposed in a vacuum transfer chamber, the preliminary vacuum chamber being switchable between a normal pressure atmosphere and a vacuum atmosphere, wherein the preliminary processing apparatus includes: a temperature control plate for sustaining the wafer thereon while controlling a temperature thereof; and a rotary stage configured to be revolvable about a vertical axis while sustaining the wafer thereon and vertically movable between a raised position where the rotary stage maintains the wafer above the temperature control plate and a lowered position where the rotary stage is sunk inside the temperature control plate while allowing the wafer to be placed on the temperature control plate, the rotary stage allowing the wafer to be transferred with respect to the first and the second transfer arms, and wherein the vacuum processing apparatus comprises: a position data acquiring unit for acquiring position data of a peripheral portion of the wafer placed on the rotary stage; a first operation module for calculating a direction of the wafer based on the position data acquired by the position data acquiring unit; and a control module for controlling a rotation of the rotary stage to adjust the direction of the wafer based on the calculation result and for controlling the second transfer arm such that the second transfer arm conveys the wafer to a wafer mounting member inside the vacuum processing chamber, and wherein the position data acquiring unit comprises: a light emitting part configured to emit light toward a measurement area including the peripheral portion of the wafer placed on the rotary stage, and disposed at one of an upper space of the rotary stage and a lower space of the temperature control plate; and a light receiving part configured to receive the light from the light emitting part, and disposed at the other of the upper space of the rotary stage and the lower space of the temperature control plate, and wherein the temperature control plate comprises: a light transmitting part configured to transmit the light from the light emitting part to the light receiving part.