Substrate coating apparatus

Abstract

An apparatus is provided for coating a surface of a plate-like material, or substrate, specifically a semiconductor wafer, with a coating material. The apparatus includes a plurality of self-controlled removable modules including a coating assembly, at least one thermal conditioning module, and a substrate handling device, and a host controller. The coating assembly is used to dispense coating material from a coating source onto the surface of the substrate material positioned in the coating assembly. The material handling device is positioned to access and move substrates between the coating assembly, the at least one thermal conditioning module and other modules included in the apparatus. The host controller provides substrate thermal conditioning, coating and handling information to the corresponding modules and tracks the location of each substrate in the apparatus. In a preferred embodiment, each module has an individual controller that receives and executes treatment and handling instructions from the host controller. Preferably, the coating assembly and the at least one thermal conditioning module are arranged in opposing assemblies that define a middle portion therebetween in which the handling device is positioned. The opposing assemblies having outwardly opposing front and back faces which allows full access to the modules, from one or the other faces, and facilitates side-by-side arrangement of the apparatuses in a clean room.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.