A semiconductor-manufacturing tool has two load locks, one for
semiconductor wafers entering the tool for processing and the other for
wafers leaving the tool after being processed. The load locks are of a
new generation capable of being evacuated or vented in shorter times than
load locks of the prior art, and permit high throughput. The tool is
associated with three atmospheric wafer-handling robots to obtain the
high throughput permitted by the load locks. One robot transfers wafers
to be processed from a supply to a wafer pre-aligner, another robot
transfers wafers from the wafer pre-aligner to the load lock for wafers
entering the tool, and the third transfers processed wafers from the load
lock for wafers leaving the tool back to the supply.
