Tokyo Electron Limited

Keiji Osada

Daisuke Morisawa

Naohide Ito

Hiroyuki Takahashi

Masahiro Numakura

Gaku Ikeda

Youichi Nakayama

Kozo Kai

Takamasa Chikuma

Junichi Ogawa

Chunmui Li

Yasuhiko Nishinakayama

Hiroaki Dewa

Yohei Kawamura

In a transfer method used in a substrate processing apparatus including a vacuum transfer chamber and a first and a second processing chamber and a preliminary chamber connected to the vacuum transfer chamber, a first and a second processing chamber are heated such that a temperature of the first processing chamber becomes lower than a temperature of the second processing chamber. A processed substrate is transferred from the first processing chamber to the second processing chamber and an unprocessed substrate is transferred from the preliminary chamber to the first processing chamber using a substrate transfer device disposed in the vacuum transfer chamber. Further, the transfer of the processed substrate and the transfer of the unprocessed substrate are repeatedly executed for each of substrates, and the transfer of the unprocessed substrate is executed when no substrate is mounted in the first processing chamber.

Transfer method

A substrate processing apparatus is provided with a process module including a processing container, a rotary table installed within the processing container, the rotary table having a plurality of placing regions to receive substrates, and a process gas supply unit supplying a process gas to the placing regions, a load port in which a transfer container is placed, a dummy substrate receiving unit, a transfer chamber including a transfer mechanism delivering the product substrates or the dummy substrates between the transfer container or the dummy substrate receiving unit and the rotary table, a setting unit setting a placing region to which one of the product substrates is to be transferred, and a control unit outputting a control signal such that the dummy substrates are carried into the remaining placing regions.

Substrate processing apparatus

Disclosed is a processing apparatus. The processing apparatus includes: a load port in which a conveyance container accommodating a plurality of semiconductor wafers is placed; a dummy wafer storage area in which a conveyance container accommodating a plurality of dummy wafers is placed; a normal-pressure conveyance room in which a first conveyance arm is installed; an equipment that processes the plurality of semiconductor wafers in a state where the semiconductor wafers and the dummy wafers which are conveyed are placed in slots, respectively; and a controller that controls each component of the processing apparatus. The controller classifies the dummy wafers accommodated in the conveyance container into a plurality of groups, and controls the first conveyance arm to preferentially convey the dummy wafers within one of the classified groups to the equipment and, in replacing the dummy wafers, to perform replacement of the dummy wafers group to group as classified.

Processing apparatus and processing method

The substrate processing apparatus includes: a plurality of processing modules; a transfer mechanism; a controller; and a setting unit. The processing module processes with respect to the substrate. The transfer mechanism transfers the substrate ejected from the transfer container. The controller outputs control signals for transferring the substrate to the plurality of processing modules along a previously set transfer path through the transfer mechanism sequentially, and for processing with respect to the substrate in the processing module of a transfer destination based on a processing recipe in which a processing order and a processing condition are set. The setting unit sets a content of a non-recipe operation except for operations set in the processing recipe and a performing timing for performing the non-recipe operation by a control operation of the controller every processing module. The non-recipe operation is performed with respect to the processing modules.

In STEP, a mapping operation is carried out by a mapping device. In STEP, based on position information for the wafer (W) detected by the mapping operation, it is determined whether or not a wafer (W) position is in an abnormal state or not. When the wafer position is determined to be in the abnormal state (Yes), a closing/opening operation, in which a FOUP door () is temporarily closed and then opened, is carried out in STEP. In STEP, the number of times the FOUP door () is closed/opened (in other words, the number of times a port door () is closed/opened) is counted, and in STEP, it is determined whether or not this count value is less than a preset value. If the count value is less than the preset value (Yes), the processing in STEP-STEPis repeated once again.

Substrate processing system and substrate position correction method

A processing system includes process modules, load lock modules, an equipment controller, and a machine controller. The equipment controller controls transfer and processing of wafers in the processing system. A transfer destination determining portion determines the transfer destination of each wafer such that each wafer is sequentially transferred to a normally operating process module. When an abnormality occurs in a process module, an evacuation portion temporarily evacuates to a cassette stage the wafer determined to be transferred to the abnormal process module and that has not yet been transferred to the abnormal process module. When an error of the abnormal process module is dealt with, a transfer destination change portion changes the transfer destination of a wafer scheduled to be first transferred from the cassette case, to the transfer inhibition-released process module. When the error of the transfer-inhibited processing chamber is released, the transfer route is optimized.

System, method and storage medium for controlling a processing system

Noise reduction processing for detecting the circumferential edge of a wafer W placed on a rotary stage with a light-transmitting sensor, obtaining detection values provided by the light-transmitting sensor as substrate edge shape data, detecting sudden abnormal data in the substrate edge shape data, eliminating the detected sudden abnormal data and interpolating the substrate edge shape data with estimated data generated based upon surrounding data in place of the abnormal data, notch mark judgment processing for detecting a notch mark candidate in the substrate edge shape data having undergone the noise reduction processing and making a decision as to whether or not the sets of data corresponding to the notch mark candidate area satisfies a predetermined judgment condition, and substrate positioning processing for positioning the substrate based upon a notch mark that satisfies the predetermined judgment conditions are executed.

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Nirasaki, Japan

Keiji Osada