Lithography tool having a vacuum reticle library coupled to a vacuum chamber

A method comprising the steps of:

• providing a vacuum section having a robot;
• coupling a vacuum input section to the vacuum section, the vacuum input section receiving reticles before they are brought into the vacuum section by the robot;
• coupling a first vacuum holding section to the vacuum section, the first vacuum holding section receiving one of the reticles at a time from the robot;
• coupling a second vacuum holding section to the vacuum section, the second vacuum holding section simultaneously holding a predetermined amount of the reticles received from the robot;
• and
• coupling an exposure section to the vacuum section, the exposure section receiving the reticles transported from one of the first or second vacuum holding section via the robot.

A system comprising:

• a main vacuum section;
• a robot positioned in said main vacuum section;
• a pressure controlled input section that receives reticles before they are brought into said main vacuum section by said robot;
• a first holding section that holds one of said reticles at a time received from said robot;
• a second holding section coupled to said main vacuum section that simultaneously holds a predetermined amount of said reticles received from said robot;
• and
• an exposure section that receives said reticles from said robot.

A method comprising the steps of:

• processing reticles during transferring the reticles through a vacuum input section;
• processing the reticles in a vacuum processing section that are received from the vacuum input section;
• storing the reticles in a vacuum library;
• indexing said stored reticles based on said processing steps;
• and
• retrieving a requested reticle to be used for exposing a pattern on a wafer from the vacuum library based on said indexing steps.