The present invention comprises a fully automated, fabrication compliant
furnace with the advantages of the horizontal and most of the advantages
of the vertical furnace. One embodiment of the present invention is that
it implements a multi-degree motion robot arm to move wafers from a
loading area to a WIP station where the wafers are then loaded into wafer
boats on a rotating cantilever system or directly onto a specialized and
reconfigurable paddle designed to hold wafers. The wafers may be loaded
in the horizontal processing position as well as the vertical processing
position. Multiple levels of the semi-toroidal horizontal processors
allow for multiple batches of wafers to be loaded, processed, cooled and
unloaded by the robot arm.The present invention reduces the footprint of
the traditional horizontal or vertical furnaces, increases capacity and
throughput, and allows for direct tube transfer.