Patent ID: 8562272

Claim:
A substrate carrier system, to provide a high substrate throughput, the system comprising: a plurality of carrier arms each having a midpoint between opposing ends and arranged to rotate about the midpoint in planes parallel to one another, the plurality of carrier arms each further having at least one rotary-mounted substrate carrier mounted on each of the opposing ends; a hub including a plurality of concentrically-mounted drives, each of the plurality of drives being coupled near the midpoint of a respective one of the plurality of carrier arms, each of the plurality of concentrically-mounted drives being configured to move respective ones of the plurality of carrier arms in at least a full 360° arc in either direction simultaneously, at least a portion of the plurality of carrier arms configured to be driven independently of a remaining portion of the plurality of carrier arms; a drive motor coupled respectively to each of the concentrically-mounted drives and configured to move a coupled one of the plurality of carrier arms in a rotary manner; a linear traverser mechanism coupled in proximity to the plurality of carrier arms, the linear traverser mechanism having a plurality of linear substrate carriers mounted thereon, each of the plurality of linear substrate carriers being configured to transport substrates independently of the plurality of carrier arms and in a plane substantially parallel to the planes of the plurality of carrier arms with each of the plurality of linear substrate carriers being in a different plane from one another; and an inner track section and an outer track section each mounted concentrically with the hub and arranged to support, respectively, an inner periphery and an outer periphery of each of the rotary-mounted substrate carriers.