Patent ID: 8128768

Claim:
A method for operating a bonded substrate manufacturing apparatus for bonding a first substrate and a second substrate together, the apparatus including a pre-alignment device including an image pickup device, a pressing device that aligns and bonds the first and second substrates in an evacuated treatment chamber, and a transport device that transports the first and second substrates in a transport direction to the pressing device, the method comprising: returning, by the transport device, another first and second substrates, which have been aligned by the pressing device in a previous operation cycle, from the pressing device to the pre-alignment device in a direction opposite to the transport direction; acquiring, by the image pickup device of the pre-alignment device, an image of each of said another first and second substrates returned to the pre-alignment device and storing the image as a reference image by the pre-alignment device; acquiring, by the image pickup device of the pre-alignment device, an image of each of the first and second substrates to be bonded together in the current operation cycle; comparing, by the pre-alignment device, the acquired image of each of the first and second substrates with the respective reference image to measure a misalignment amount for each of the first and second substrates; and correcting position of each of the first and second substrates in accordance with the measured misalignment amount for each of the first and second substrates before transporting the first and second substrates from the pre-alignment device into the treatment chamber of the pressing device.