Tokyo Electron Limited

Hirofumi Yamaguchi

Yoshiaki Sasaki

Naoki Shindo

Teruo Asakawa

Toshihiko Iijima

Hiromitsu Sakaue

Atsushi Tanaka

Ryo Kuwajima

Susumu Kato

Hirohito Kikushima

Masato Kubodera

Yuichi Nishimori

Bae Junghwan

Koichi Sekido

Meng Yiau Yu

Kou Fujimura

Hirokazu Narisawa

Supika Mashiro

A substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate includes: a processing container in which the substrate is accommodated; a stage provided in an interior of the processing container and configured to place the substrate thereon; a partition wall provided in the interior of the processing container and surrounding an outer circumference of the stage; an inner gas supplier configured to supply a first gas to an inner side of the partition wall; and an outer gas supplier configured to supply a second gas to an outer side of the partition wall in the interior of the processing container.

Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method

A substrate processing apparatus includes: a chamber having a container including at least one substrate-heating region and at least one substrate-cooling region; a heating mechanism configured to heat a first substrate in the at least one substrate-heating region; a cooling mechanism configured to cool a second substrate in the at least one substrate-cooling region while the first substrate is being heated; and a partition provided in the container and configured to separate the at least one substrate-heating region and the at least one substrate-cooling region from each other in terms of heat and pressure.

A processing indicating device to improve the efficiency of processing on an object. The device includes a first communication unit which communicates information with a plurality of processing devices for processing the object and a second communication unit which communicates information with a conveyance controlling device controlling conveying of the object to the plurality of processing devices. An arrival time predicting unit predicts on the basis of information received by the second communication unit, the time when the conveying device arrives at one of the processing devices. In addition, a finish time predicting unit receives information and predicts the time when the processing on the object in the one processing device finishes. A processing indicating unit causes processing control information that orders the execution of device state improvement treatment to be transmitted to the one processing device on the basis of the predicted respective times.

Processing instructing device, processing instructing method, computer program and processing device

In a method for positioning a transfer unit including, support pins for supporting object, and a pick having at a leading end thereof a detection unit for detecting presence or absence of the object, a height reference position of the pick is determined by detecting an upper edge of one of the support pins by the detection unit. A forward moving angle of the pick is corrected by obtaining a deviation angle between a radial direction of the mounting table passing through the corresponding support pin and a forward moving direction of the pick. A forward movement starting point of the pick is corrected by obtaining a horizontal deviation distance between the radial direction of the mounting table and the forward moving direction of the pick. A forward moving reference amount of the pick is obtained from coordinates of the corresponding support pin.

Method for positioning a transfer unit, method for calculating positional deviation amount of an object to be processed, and method for correcting teaching data of the transfer unit

A substrate transfer apparatus that transfers a substrate with respect to a processing apparatus includes a substrate accommodation unit for accommodating a plurality of substrates to be loaded into the processing apparatus in a vertical direction in a multi-stage; a substrate accommodation unit for accommodating a plurality of substrates unloaded from the processing apparatus in a vertical direction in a multi-stage; a substrate holder for transferring the substrates from the substrate accommodation unit to the processing apparatus; a substrate holder for transferring the substrates from the processing apparatus to the substrate accommodation unit. The substrate accommodation unit has an elevating mechanism for moving at least one of the substrate and the substrate holder in a vertical direction relative to each other and the substrate accommodation unit has an elevating mechanism for moving at least one of the substrate and the substrate holder in a vertical direction relative to each other.

Substrate transfer apparatus and substrate transfer method

An operating method is disclosed for a processing system that comprises multiple process modules each adapted to perform substantially the same process upon a substrate. During process module conditioning as a preparatory step for executing a required process recipe, each time one process module completes conditioning, successive transfer of unprocessed substrates from a cassette to the process module is started on an associated substrate transfer route, and successive processes that use the process module are started for the unprocessed substrates. The processing system can be operated efficiently, even if the nonuniformity of the conditioning time required exists between process modules of the same specifications.

Processing system and method for operating the same

A substrate processing system includes a processing chamber, and an orientercentering a wafer W. The orienteris provided with an orienter sensormeasuring a central position discrepancy of the wafer W, and an image sensormeasuring a width of a non-film forming portion at circumferential portions of the wafer W. After a film deposition processing in the processing chamber, the wafer W is loaded into the orienterwhere a central position discrepancy of the wafer W is measured, and the wafer W is then centered. Further, the width of the non-film forming portion of the wafer W is measured, and a film position discrepancy is calculated based on the width of the non-film forming portion. To correct the calculated film position discrepancy, a target transfer position of the wafer W on a mounting tablein the processing chamberis adjusted.

Film position adjusting method, memory medium and substrate processing system

A cooling table for cooling a processed object of process in a vacuum reserve chamber is provided with support members, which support the object with predetermined gaps between the object and the table, so that the processed object can be cooled without directly touching the cooling table. Accordingly, no chemical reactions attributable to the plane contact between the object of process and the cooling table can be caused, so that the object cannot be contaminated. Even if the object is somewhat warped and subjected to fine vibrations by rapid cooling, moreover, it never rubs against the cooling table, so that no particles can be produced. Further, a preheating device for preheating the unprocessed object is provided overlying the cooling table. Thus, the vacuum reserve chamber can be used for preheating the unprocessed object as well as for cooling the processed object, so that the throughput can be improved.

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Nirasaki, Japan

Hirofumi Yamaguchi