PURPOSE: To contrive to transfer wafers without generating a crack, a break and so on therein by a method wherein male screw parts of two or more, which are formed on the same shaft and respectively have a different pitch, are continued and the interval between the wafers are modified conforming to the wafer receiving groove pitch of a supporting tool while the wafers are supported and made to move by this shaft.

CONSTITUTION: The pitch of the male screw part 6b of a wafer supporting shaft 6 is equal with the wafer receiving groove pitch of a supporting tool 1 on one side and the pitch of the male screw part 6a of the shaft 6 is equal with the wafer receiving groove pitch of the other supporting tool 8 for transferring wafers 2. The wafers 2 housed in the wafer supporting tool 1 are dropped on the male screw part 6b of the shaft 6 and each wafer 2 is held between the neighboring screw threads of the male screw part 6b and supported lying over between two parallel shafts 6 and 6. The wafers 2 are transferred along the screw threads of the male screw part 6b in the left direction by a rotation driving part 7 and the interval between wafers 2 becomes equal with the wafer receiving groove pitch of the other wafer supporting tool 8. Thereby, the heights of the wafers 2 are made uniform after the interval is modified, the transfer distances to the supporting tool 8 become equal one another and the wafers can be smoothly transffered without generating a crack and a break in the wafers 2.