A wafer is transported on a blade of a robot along a path through a port
into a module of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The port has a
transverse axis intersecting the path. Dynamic alignment uses two
through-beam sensors positioned along the transverse axis to determine the
position of the center of the wafer with respect to the center of the
blade as the wafer is transported. Positioning of the sensors according to
latency characteristics of the sensors assures that the moving wafer will
break or make a beam of a first of the sensors and that the first sensor
will generate a first transition signal before the moving wafer will break
or make a beam of a second of the sensors and before the second sensor
generates a second transition signal. The dynamic alignment may be
performed with respect to wafers having different sizes.