Substrate transport apparatus

A substrate transport apparatus comprising:

• a frame;
• an upper arm rotatably mounted to the frame about a shoulder axis;
• a forearm rotatably mounted to the upper arm about an elbow axis where the forearm includes stacked forearm sections dependent from the upper arm through a common joint;
• and
• independent end effectors rotatably mounted to the forearm at different elevations, the forearm being common to the independent end effectors, wherein at least one end effector is mounted to the stacked forearm sections at a wrist axis, each end effector having a wafer hold location so that the independent end effectors form different elevated wafer hold locations;
• wherein the forearm is configured so that wafer hold location elevations are independent of elevation of other end effectors that accommodate pass through instrumentation.

A substrate transport apparatus comprising:

• a frame;
• an upper arm rotatably mounted to the frame about a shoulder axis;
• a forearm rotatably mounted to the upper arm about an elbow axis where the forearm includes stacked forearm sections dependent from the upper arm through a common joint;
• independent end effectors rotatably mounted to the forearm, the forearm being common to the independent end effectors, wherein at least one end effector is mounted to the stacked forearm sections at a wrist axis, each end effector having a wafer hold location so that the independent end effectors form different elevated wafer hold locations, where the forearm is configured so that wafer hold location elevations are independent of an elevation of other end effectors that accommodate pass through instrumentation;
• and
• a drive section configured to provide Z motion travel to the independent end effectors and effect swapping between the independent end effectors, wherein the substrate transport apparatus is configured to position the independent end effectors at a predetermined location, wherein Z motion height effecting swapping between the independent end effectors is decoupled from the elevation of the other end effectors that accommodate pass through instrumentation.