Multiple levels of interlocks are provided relative to gas flow for a chemical vapor deposition chamber. When a chamber lid used for normal processing is in place, no interlock is in effect. When a lid used during maintenance operations is in place, flow of toxic gas to the chamber is interlocked, but flow of purge gas is permitted. When no lid is in place, all gas flow to the chamber is interlocked. The interlock arrangement may be implemented with two switches, both of which are actuated when the lid for normal processing is in place, and only one of which is actuated by the lid for the maintenance process.

The semiconductor manufacturing system includes semiconductor production equipment as the passive equipment and an AMHS as the active equipment. The semiconductor production equipment control panel includes a circuit which turns off an ES signal being applied via an optical I/O to the AMHS in response to an input from an ES button, without stopping the operation of the semiconductor production equipment. The AMHS includes a circuit which brings a vehicle and a hand of the AMHS to an emergency stop when the ES signal received via the optical I/O turns off.

In a semiconductor exposure apparatus, when a trouble such as a wafer chuck error which requires operator's action in the chamber occurs, execution or interruption of the exposure sequence is determined on the basis of the situation of the exposure sequence, and unlock of the door of the chamber is controlled on the basis of the determination result. After the error is eliminated, lock of the door is controlled, and the exposure sequence is resumed. By eliminating human factors in operation and making the time required for restoration as short as possible, the interruption time of the semiconductor exposure apparatus is minimized to improve the operation efficiency of the manufacturing line.

A system for transporting substrates into a clean room is provided. The system has an isolation chamber located between the clean room and a staging area. A first movable closure is coupled to the staging area side of the isolation chamber and is adapted to open a substrate shipping container. A second movable closure is coupled to the clean room side of the isolation chamber and is adapted to open a substrate interprocess container. A substrate transfer robot is located within the isolation chamber and is adapted to transfer substrates from the substrate shipping container, opened by the first movable closure, to the substrate interprocess container opened by the second movable closure.

A method and apparatus are provided for substrate handling. In a first aspect, a temperature adjustment plate is located below a substrate carriage and is configured such that a substrate may be transferred between the temperature adjustment plate and the substrate carriage by lifting and lowering the substrate carriage above and below the top surface of the temperature adjustment plate. The temperature adjustment plate may be configured to heat and/or cool a substrate positioned thereon. In a second aspect, the substrate carriage is magnetically coupled so as to rotate and/or lift and lower magnetically, thereby reducing particle generation via contact between moving parts (and potential chamber contamination therefrom). In a third aspect, a substrate handler positioned below the substrate carriage is both magnetically coupled and magnetically levitated, providing further particle reduction. The magnetic levitation is preferably achieved via four radially disposed and vertically arranged magnet pairs having distance sensors for maintaining desired spacing therebetween. In a most preferred embodiment, one substrate is heated/degassed on a first portion of a temperature adjustment plate in preparation for processing while a second substrate is processed, and a third processed substrate is cooled on a second portion of the temperature adjustment plate.