Moving substrates in vacuum without a robot

Without exaggeration, our M-Drive can be described as a revolution in vacuum handling. It transports wafers and other materials contact-free and without friction in small and large vacuum chambers. Neither feedthroughs nor bearings, greases or classic drive elements are used. You will have no particles or leaks inside your chamber. The M-Drive shows its special strengths especially in vacuum, where no airflow can ensure cleanliness.

The basis of the system is a planar motor, which lifts and moves the carriages in vacuum by magnetism. Compared to a Scara robot, the system has an enormous flexibility. Where a robot only has a very limited working area, the M-Drive impresses with its arbitrary travel paths. Our M-Drive is the 2-dimensional extension of linear systems for vacuum transfer and thus sets standards in vacuum automation.

With our vacuum SCARA robot you can move even heavy substrates and unusual shapes safely in high vacuum into your process or metrology application. The contamination of the vacuum is hereby reduced to a minimum. Numerous interfaces and a standardized interface make integration easy. You can program the robot individually as well as teach and operate it in pick and place mode.

Vacuum load lock for individual substrates and cassettes enable flexible material infeed. The height of the substrate is only limited by the gate valve height. The load locks can be equipped with presence sensors, position sensors and material ID recognition.

Hot process applications in vacuum often require active substrate cooling. By integrating a Cooling Station into a cluster or inline system, substrate handling times can be significantly reduced. Tailored to your process and optimum cycle time, we design the cooling system to deliver maximum cooling performance and low energy consumption — not as competing priorities, but as the best possible balance for your application.

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