Vertical furnace having lot-unit transfer function and related transfer control method

A semiconductor fabrication system comprising:

• an operator interface server facilitating user designation of a batch comprising a plurality of lots, configuring related batch information, and generating control commands associated with the batch information;
• a host computer responsive to the control commands received from the operator interface, defining a recipe controlling a fabrication process, and generating commands controlling a track-in operation transferring wafers to/from a vertical furnace on a lot by lot basis;
• wherein the vertical furnace comprises:
• an I/O port receiving a plurality of carriers associated with the plurality of lots;
• a wafer carrier conveyor sequentially transferring the plurality of carriers from the I/O port to a stock carrier;
• a wafer transfer stage receiving the plurality of carriers from the stock carrier;
• and
• a wafer conveyor transferring wafers from the plurality of carriers positioned in the wafer transfer stage to a wafer boat,
• wherein transfer of the plurality of carriers from the stock carrier to the wafer transfer stage and transfer of the wafers from the carriers positioned in the wafer transfer stage to the wafer boat concurrently occur during transfer of the plurality of carriers from the I/O port to the stock carrier.