Method and apparatus for semiconductor processing

1 . A method of transporting a wafer within a cluster tool, comprising:

placing the wafer into a first segment of a vacuum enclosure, the vacuum enclosure being attached to a processing chamber and a factory interface;

transporting the wafer to a second segment of the vacuum enclosure using a vertical transport mechanism, wherein the second segment is above or below the first segment.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

moving the wafer into and out of the vacuum enclosure using a linear wafer drive, wherein the linear wafer drive is external to the vacuum enclosure.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

controlling the linear wafer drive and the vertical transport mechanism with a computer executing processing control software.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein moving the wafer includes moving the wafer through a gate valve.

5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein moving the wafer includes moving the wafer between the vacuum enclosure and the processing chamber.

6 . The method of claim 3 , wherein moving the wafer includes moving the wafer between the vacuum enclosure and a second vacuum enclosure.

7 . A method of transporting a wafer within a cluster tool, comprising:

moving the wafer between a vacuum enclosure and a processing chamber using a linear wafer drive, wherein the linear wafer drive is external to the vacuum enclosure and the processing chamber.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

controlling the linear wafer drive with a computer executing processing control software.

9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein moving the wafer includes moving the wafer through a gate valve.

10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein moving the wafer includes moving the wafer between the vacuum enclosure and the processing chamber.

11 . The method of claim 7 , wherein moving the wafer includes moving the wafer between the vacuum enclosure and a second vacuum enclosure.

12 . The method claim 7 , wherein the linear drive is disposed between the vacuum enclosure and the processing chamber.

13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising simultaneously transporting a fresh wafer from the vacuum enclosure and a processed wafer from the processing chamber into the linear wafer drive.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising rotating the fresh wafer and the processed wafer within the linear wafer drive.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising simultaneously transporting the fresh wafer into the processing chamber and the processed wafer into the vacuum enclosure.

16 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising transporting the wafer from the vacuum enclosure into the linear wafer drive.

17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising rotating the wafer within the linear wafer drive.

18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising transporting the wafer from the linear wafer drive into the processing chamber.

19 . A cluster tool, comprising:

a vacuum enclosure;

a linear drive attached to the vacuum enclosure; and

a processing chamber, wherein the vacuum enclosure includes a vertical transport mechanism that carries a wafer from a lower segment of the vacuum enclosure to an upper segment of a vacuum enclosure.

20 . A vacuum processing system comprising:

at least one wafer transport operating vertically through an assembly of end-to-end flanged chamber sections;

a load-lock system between two of the end-to-end flanged chamber sections acting to bring wafers from outside the system into the vacuum processing system; and

a processing module between two of the end-to-end flanged chamber sections including at least one horizontal linear transport mechanisms for trading wafers horizontally between the vertical wafer transport and a processing chamber, through isolation valves.