HORIZONTAL FURNACE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HANDLING WAFER BOATS, AND WAFER BOAT

摘要

The horizontal furnace system comprises a furnace station comprising a plurality of processing tubes arranged above each other and a load station for loading wafer boats into and unloading wafer boats from said processing tubes. Wafer boat loaders are configured for receiving wafer boats in a loading position and for transporting said wafer boats between the loading position and a processing tube. The load station comprises a loading space configured for loading and unloading wafer boats. The load station further comprises at least one conditioning chamber configured for conditioning a wafer boat subsequent to transportation of said wafer boat out of a processing tube, which chamber comprises a door giving access to the conditioning chamber from the loading space. Furthermore, heat removal means are present that are configured for removal of heat from the at least one conditioning chamber out of the load station.