ALIGNER, COAT DEVELOPING DEVICE, METHOD OF TRANSPORTING SUBSTRATE, METHOD OF MANUFACTURING DEVICE, SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING PLANT, AND METHOD OF MAINTAINING ALIGNER

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the throughput of an aligner and reduce the operating cost of the system by suppressing the flowing-in and flowing-out quantities of an atmospheric gas when substrates are carried in and out between devices.;SOLUTION: The aligner has an enclosure for managing the internal atmosphere, a gate valve which is used for carrying substrates in and out of the enclosure, and a gas blowing-out means which is positioned adjacently to the gate valve and blows out a gas perpendicularly to the moving direction of the substrates. The gas blown out from the gas blowing-out means forms an air curtain so as to block the opening of the gate valve.;COPYRIGHT: (C)2001,JPO