Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd.

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Izuru Iseki

Tsutomu Ueyama

Katsuyuki Machida

Norio Sato

Hakaru Kyuragi

Yusuke Muraoka

Tetsuro Yamashita

Seiichiro Sato

Akihiro Higashi

Seihiro Sasaki

Prior to the start of transfer of an insulation film to a substrate, the degree of opening of a butterfly valve is set small so that evaporation of a solvent component contained in the insulation film is suppressed and the fluidity of the insulation film is ensured at the start of the transfer. On the other hand, the butterfly valve is totally opened at the start of the transfer, so that the pressure inside a thin film forming chamber rapidly decreases and transfer of the insulation film to the substrate is performed always in a low-pressure state (high-degree of vacuum).

Thin film forming apparatus and thin film forming method

Apparatus for forming a thin film pattern on the surface of a substrate. This apparatus is provided with: a transfer member having a thin film carrying surface which carries a thin film pattern; and a thin film transfer mechanism for joining the transfer member to a substrate for transferring, to the substrate, the thin film pattern on the thin film carrying surface. The thin film pattern may be a wiring film pattern. A gelatinous film may previously be formed on the substrate, and the thin film pattern may be transferred as embedded in the gelatinous film.

With a thin film bearing surface of a substrate directed toward an insulation film which is formed on a surface of a quartz plate, the substrate and the quartz plate are moved closer to each other and the insulation film is tightly adhered to the thin film bearing surface (adhering process). The quartz plate alone is then selectively peeled off, thereby completing transfer of the insulation film onto the substrate (peeling process). In this manner, the insulation film is disposed on the thin film bearing surface of the substrate, and a transportation mechanism then houses the substrate in a substrate cassette. Meanwhile, after the quartz plate is transported by the transportation mechanism to a cleaning unit and cleaned by the cleaning unit (cleaning process), the quartz plate is returned to a plate-like member cassette and waits in this cassette until reused next time.

A substrate processing apparatus provided with: a coating processing section for supplying a coating solution to a substrate; a pressure processing section for pressurizing a coating film formed on the substrate; and a developing processing section for supplying a developing solution to the substrate having the coating film selectively exposed to light with the use of an exposure mask. The pressure processing section may be arranged such that a pressing plate having a flat face is brought into pressure contact with the coating film.

Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method

A substrate treating method and apparatus are disclosed which are capable of heating a substrate in a stable atmosphere including the vapor of a treating liquid, without permitting the vapor of the treating liquid to condense on the substrate. The vapor of the treating liquid is mixed with a diluting gas to form a treating vapor mixture. At this time, the flow rate of the diluting gas is adjusted so that the partial pressure ratio of the vapor of the treating liquid in the treating vapor mixture increases with the passage of time. This treating vapor mixture is transmitted to a treating chamber. The treating chamber includes a substrate support table heated to a predetermined temperature. When the substrate is lowered from a separate position away from the support table to a position resting on the support table, downward displacements of the substrate are controlled so that the vapor of the treating liquid in the treating vapor mixture present adjacent the substrate surface under treatment is maintained substantially at a saturation pressure. In another method disclosed, the partial pressure ratio of the vapor of the treating liquid in the treating vapor mixture is adjusted according to the downward displacements of the substrate.

Substrate treating method and apparatus

In a substrate processing apparatus receiving substrates held in a common carrier in a horizontal attitude, the substrates are transferred in the horizontal attitude from the common carrier to an exclusive carrier. The exclusive carrier is rotatable on a horizontal axis. By rotating the exclusive carrier, the substrates are turned from the horizontal attitude to a vertical attitude. Then, the substrates held in the vertical attitude are taken out of the exclusive carrier and transferred to a processing part for processing in the vertical attitude. This allows a simple and speedy turn of the plurality of substrates. Further, even the apparatus for processing the substrates in a vertical attitude can transfer the substrates into and out of the apparatus in the horizontal attitude by using the common carrier.

Apparatus for processing substrates

An apparatus for heat treating and quickly cooling substrates. The apparatus includes a cylindrical furnace core tube for containing substrates, a heater enclosing the furnace core tube, and outer cylinder enclosing and containing the furnace core tube and the heater, a blower for drafting cooling air to the space between the furnace core tube and the outer cylinder along the longitudinal direction of the furnace core tube, and a switching valve connected between the blower and both ends of the outer cylinder for switching the direction in which the cooling air travels. Since the direction of the cooling air is changed, the entire furnace core tube is uniformly cooled.

Growing community of inventors

Kyoto, Japan

Izuru Iseki