Abstract: A wafer support featuring a polymer rack formed of parallel, spaced apart comb structures with spaced apart teeth into which wafers can loosely fit and a shank immediately below the teeth which is connected to lifter shafts. A conductive polymer bus bar runs along the shank less than a millimeter below the base of the teeth. The polymer rack will fit through a standard size wafer cassette for wafer transfer. The bus bar is connected to electrical ground, found at metal lifter shafts, by means of conductive polymer cross bars. The bus bar is close enough to one or more wafers to allow arcing from the wafer to the bus bar and then to ground when a wafer becomes highly charged with electrostatic charge, thereby discharging the wafer.

Abstract: A system includes an interface for receiving a pod having a carrier that receives wafers, and that is initially enclosed within a base and a pod cover. The system also includes a mechanism that transfers an exposed carrier between the interface and a platform of a mass-transfer machine included in the system. The machine includes a gantry arm for transferring the carrier between the platform and a transfer station. A retainer assembly is positionable over the carrier at the transfer station, and over a process carrier that is used in a processing tool. Moveable retainers of the assembly receive and hold wafers. The machine includes an elevator that moves between the transfer station and the process carrier. The elevator extends and retracts for transferring wafers between the retainers and either the carrier or the process carrier. A turntable, that receives the process carrier, permits automatically reorienting wafers.