Patent ID: 7270510

Claim:
Apparatus ( 1 ) for treating wafer-shaped articles, comprising: a linear arranged process unit array of at least two process units ( 31 , 33 ), wherein in each said process unit only and exactly one single wafer-shaped article (Wm) can be treated at one time; at least one cassette-holding unit ( 15 ), each cassette-holding unit for holding at least one cassette storing at least one wafer-shaped article therein; a transport system for picking a held wafer-shaped article from the one cassette and placing the thus picked-up wafer-shaped article into one of the process units, the transport system comprising i) at least one linear track ( 26 ) arranged parallel to the process unit array ( 31 , 33 ), the track for moving the picked-up single wafer-shaped article along a linear path parallel to the process unit array, and ii) a transport unit ( 46 ) movably mounted on each of said at least one linear track ( 26 ), said transport unit comprising at least one holding means ( 46 a ) for holding the picked-up wafer-shaped article in a substantially vertical plane parallel to the linear track and moving the picked-up wafer-shaped article along a transport path defined by the linear track, wherein the transport unit ( 46 ) has a pivoting ( 66 ) mechanism for pivoting (P) the picked-up wafer-shaped article from a substantially vertical state to a substantially horizontal state to place the picked up wafer-shaped article in one of the process units; a front unit comprising i) an array of at least two of the cassette-holding units ( 15 ) for holding cassettes storing a plurality of the wafer-shaped articles, and ii) a transfer unit ( 84 , 86 ) for transferring the wafer-shaped articles between the cassettes and the transport unit ( 46 ); and at least one transfer station ( 22 ) for temporarily storing the picked up wafer-shaped article (Wt), the transfer station being accessible by the transfer unit ( 84 , 86 ) and by the transport unit ( 46 ) movably mounted on the linear track, wherein said transfer station further comprises a holding unit ( 42 ) with two holding devices ( 42 a , 42 b ) arranged in a back-to-back configuration.