Patent ID: 7597109

Claim:
A spin scrubber apparatus comprising: an index unit having at least one loading/unloading station configured to support a cassette in which a plurality of substrates to be cleaned are stored; a processing unit having at least one cleaning station at which a substrate is cleaned, the processing unit and the index unit facing each other across a transfer space, and at least one of the index unit and the processing unit having a plurality of the unloading/loading and cleaning stations, respectively; a substrate transfer device disposed in the transfer space, the substrate transfer device including a transfer block, and an index arm and a transfer arm unit disposed on the transfer block, the transfer block being supported so as to be linearly movable in the transfer space in the direction of a first axis such that the transfer block can be positioned in front of each said at least one loading/unloading station of the index unit and each said at least one cleaning station of the processing unit, the index arm being supported by the transfer block so as to be movable between a transfer location in the transfer space and the index unit such that the index arm has a working envelope that encompasses the transfer location and the index unit, whereby the index arm loads/unload substrates into/from cassettes mounted to the index unit, the transfer arm unit being supported by the transfer block so as to be movable between the transfer location in the transfer space and the processing unit such that the index arm has a working envelope that encompasses the transfer location and the processing unit, whereby the transfer arm unit loads/unloads substrates into/from the processing unit, and wherein the working envelopes of the index arm and the transfer arm unit overlap at said transfer location in the transfer space, and the index arm and the transfer unit being vertically moveable relative to each other, and the index arm and the transfer unit being configured to be moveable vertically past each other when both the transfer arm unit and the index arm are positioned at said transfer location in the transfer space, such that substrates are transferable between the index arm and the transfer arm unit at the transfer location in the transfer space.