Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd.

Sokudo Co., Ltd.

Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Screen Holdings Co., Ltd.

Joichi Nishimura

Masami Ohtani

Akihiko Morita

Yasuhiko Hashimoto

Masaki Iwami

Masao Tsuji

Yasuo Imanishi

Koji Nishiyama

Kenji Hashinoki

Tadashi Sasaki

Hiroshi Yoshii

Masayoshi Shiga

Takanori Kawamoto

Koji Hashimoto

Tetsuya Hamada

Kenya Morinishi

Kenji Kamei

Nobuaki Okita

Satoshi Yamamoto

Mitsuhiro Fujita

Kazuhiro Nishimura

Masahide Ikeda

Masami Otani

A substrate processing device includes: a chamber; a substrate processing mechanism that has a holding member, and discharges a processing fluid onto a substrate held by the holding member; a joint pipe that has a lower opening provided below the holding member, and an upper opening provided above the holding member, and is disposed such that at least part of the joint pipe from the lower opening to the upper opening passes through the outside of the chamber; and an air flow generator that is provided in the joint pipe. The air flow generator circulates an atmosphere in the chamber by discharging the atmosphere in the chamber from the lower opening to the joint pipe to allow the atmosphere to pass through the joint pipe, thereby introducing the atmosphere again into the chamber via the upper opening so that a downflow of the atmosphere occurs in the chamber.

Substrate processing device

A substrate treating system includes a coating apparatus having a resist coating unit, an exposing apparatus having an exposing machine and a heat-treating unit, and a controller for controlling the resist coating unit, exposing machine and heat-treating unit. The controller coordinates schedules of treatment in the coating apparatus and exposing apparatus, such that the coating apparatus can operate efficiently despite an increase in the processing time of the exposing machine.

Substrate treating system

A cleaning processing unit includes a spin chuck for horizontally holding a substrate and rotating the substrate around the vertical axis passing through the center of the substrate. A bevel cleaner is disposed outside the spin chuck. The bevel cleaner includes a cleaning brush. The cleaning brush has a shape that is symmetric about its vertical axis, and has an upper bevel cleaning surface, an end surface cleaning surface, and a lower bevel cleaning surface. The end surface cleaning surface is a cylindrical surface having its axis in the vertical direction. The upper bevel cleaning surface extends out from and is inclined upward from the upper end of the end surface cleaning surface, and the lower bevel cleaning surface extends out from and is inclined downward from the lower end of the end surface cleaning surface.

Substrate cleaning device and substrate processing apparatus including the same

A substrate processing apparatus includes an indexer block, an anti-reflection film processing block, a resist film processing block, a development processing block, a resist cover film processing block, a resist cover film removal block, and an interface block. The interface block includes a bevel portion inspection unit. The bevel portion inspection unit inspects a bevel portion of a substrate to determine whether or not the bevel portion of the substrate is contaminated. The substrate whose bevel portion is determined to be contaminated and the substrate whose bevel portion is determined that it is not contaminated are respectively subjected to different types of processing.

Bevel inspection apparatus for substrate processing

A camera is fixed to a camera fixture extending forward and upward from a rear end of an arm mechanism. The camera picks up the direction of extension of the arm mechanism when the substrate is carried in and out. If a normal still image in a hot plate unit previously recorded and a still image picked up by the camera coincide with each other, a substrate transport robot TR carries in and out the substrate.

Substrate processing apparatus and method including obstacle detection

A substrate processing apparatus includes a transport robot (TR) formed with a telescopic vertical movement mechanism of a so-called telescopially nestable multi-tier construction. A drive mechanism (D) is initially driven to move a support member () upwardly to simultaneously elevate a vertical movement member (). As the vertical movement member () rises, a pulley () simultaneously moves upwardly. As the pulley () moves upwardly, a vertical movement member () is lifted upwardly by a belt (L). Similar actions elevate a pair of transport arms () provided on the top of a vertical movement member (). The increase in the number of tiers of the nestable multi-tier structure precludes the increase in height of the transport robot (TR) in its retracted position. The substrate processing apparatus, if having an increased height, is capable of transporting a substrate to and from processing portions and eliminates the need to reassemble and adjust the transport robot (TR) for transportation of the apparatus.

Substrate processing apparatus

Substrate processing parts are stacked and arranged in a multistage manner around a transport robot arranged at the center of a processing area. Rotary application units are arranged on a second layer through an indexer and the transport robot. Rotary developing units are stacked above the rotary application units respectively on a fourth layer located above the second layer. Multistage thermal processing units and an edge exposure unit are horizontally arranged in line above the indexer. In place of the processing units, inspection units performing a macro defect inspection and pattern line width measurement may be arranged in the upside region of the indexer space.

An inspection unit is provided in a substrate processing apparatus performing resist coating processing and development processing on a substrate. In the inspection unit, a film thickness measuring device, a line width measuring device, an overlay measuring device and a macro defect inspection device are successively stacked and arranged from below. The inspection unit is provided on an intermediate portion of a substrate transport path formed in the substrate processing apparatus. The substrate processed in the substrate processing apparatus is selectively introduced into each inspection part. Therefore, the apparatus can properly inspect the substrate at need while suppressing reduction of the throughput. Thus provided are a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate inspection method capable of properly inspecting a substrate while suppressing reduction of the throughput.

Substrate processing apparatus, substrate inspection method and substrate processing system

Provided is a robot comprising a telescopic-drive mechanism which does not contaminate works in a purified environment such as a clean room, is easy to handle, and requires no cover for covering the telescopic-drive mechanism. A robot comprises: an up-down axis in which a plurality of hollow axis sectional elements telescopically continue; and a telescopic-drive mechanism for driving the up-down axis to be vertically extended or retracted between an extended state in which a tip end of the up-down axis extends with respect to a base end thereof and a retracted state in which the tip end is moved close to the base end, wherein the telescopic-drive mechanism is integrated on one side of the up-down axis without being exposed from the up-down axis.

Robot

A substrate processing apparatus includes a transport robot (TR ) formed with a telescopic vertical movement mechanism of a so-called telescopically nestable multi-tier construction. A drive mechanism (D ) is initially driven to move a support member ( ) upwardly to simultaneously elevate a vertical movement member ( ). As the vertical movement member ( ) rises, a pulley ( ) simultaneously moves upwardly. As the pulley ( ) moves upwardly, a vertical movement member ( ) is lifted upwardly by a belt (L ). Similar actions elevate a pair of transport arms ( ) provided on the top of a vertical movement member ( ). The increase in the number of tiers of the nestable multi-tier structure precludes the increase in height of the transport robot (TR ) in its retracted position. The substrate processing apparatus, if having an increased height, is capable of transporting a substrate to and from processing portions and eliminates the need to reassemble and adjust the transport robot (TR ) for transportation of the apparatus.

A plurality of cleaning devices of the same type are attached to one support arm. The cleaning devices are simultaneously moved over a surface to be cleaned of a substrate supported and spun by a substrate supporting and spinning mechanism. Thus, the same type of cleaning devices share the task of cleaning the entire surface of the substrate, thereby to improve cleaning efficiency and shorten cleaning time. Different types of cleaning devices may be attached to the support arm for simultaneous cleaning of the entire surface of the substrate. Where different types of cleaning brushes are attached to the support arm, a cleaning operation may be carried out by simultaneously using cleaning brushes of optimal hardness for different regions on the substrate surface.

Substrate cleaning apparatus and method

A substrate cleaning apparatus includes a spin support for supporting and spinning a substrate, a nozzle for discharging a cleaning liquid with a given cleaning condition from a discharge opening, a moving mechanism for moving the nozzle at least between center and edge of the substrate, a cleaning condition adjuster for adjusting the cleaning condition, and a controller for controlling the cleaning condition adjuster to vary the cleaning condition according to a cleaning liquid supply position movable over the substrate surface.

A substrate treating apparatus for treating a substrate in a predetermined substrate treating region. Each holder arm is supported in a proximal end portion thereof by an arm support to be swingable about a pivotal axis. In time of substrate treatment, the arm support is raised by an air cylinder. With the ascent of the arm support, a cam follower attached to a proximal end of the holder arm is guided by a cam groove. The holder arm, while being raised, turns from a vertical standby posture to a horizontal posture for treating the substrate. As a result, a treating device attached to a distal end of the holder arm moves to a treating position. In the treating position, the treating device treats the substrate. The holder arms are maintained in the vertical standby posture when out of use in substrate treatment. Thus, the holder arms require a reduced standby space.

Substrate treating apparatus

A method of and apparatus for cleaning a substrate which require shorter processing time with high processing efficiency are disclosed. A cleaning brush pivots about a pivot axis between two positions. An ultrasonic cleaning nozzle pivots about a pivot axis between two positions. To perform a cleaning process, the cleaning brush and the ultrasonic cleaning nozzle are driven in accordance with a processing pattern previously produced by an operator. The processing pattern is produced so that the movement of the cleaning brush between two positions and the movement of the ultrasonic cleaning nozzle between two positions are not caused simultaneously. Any processing pattern desired by the operator may be produced if this requirement is satisfied. Execution of the cleaning process in accordance with the processing pattern allows cleaning of a substrate using the cleaning brush and the ultrasonic cleaning nozzle at the same time.

Method of and apparatus for cleaning substrate

A substrate heat-treating apparatus includes a heat-treating plate, and support pins extending through the heat-treating plate to be vertically movable relative thereto. The support pins support each substrate at a lower surface thereof such that edges of the substrate are at a higher level than a central region of the substrate. This construction facilitates air flows into and out of a space between the lower surface of the substrate and the upper surface of the heat-treating plate when the substrate is vertically moved.

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Kyoto, Japan

Joichi Nishimura