Tokyo Electron Limited

Shunichi Matsumoto

Yasushi Takeuchi

Hisashi Inoue

A substrate holder has two holder constituting bodies, each having a plurality of columns arranged on an imaginary circle, and substrate holding sections that hold circumferential portions of respective substrates. The holder constituting bodies hold the substrates so that either their front surfaces or their back surfaces face upward with a substrate having an upward facing front and a substrate having an upward facing rear being alternately arranged in a vertical direction. At least one of the holder constituting bodies moves in the vertical direction to change the positions of the holder constituting bodies relative to each other. A distance between a first pair of vertically adjacent substrates with their respective front surfaces facing each other is set to ensure treatment uniformity, and to be larger than a distance between a second pair of vertically adjacent substrates with their respective back surfaces facing each other.

Heat treatment method and heat treatment apparatus

A heat treatment apparatus has a substrate holder with two holder constituting bodies that each have a plurality of columns and substrate holding sections. One of the holder constituting bodies holds substrates so that their front surfaces face upward, while the other holds the substrates so that their back surfaces face upward. At least one of the holder constituting bodies moves vertically to change the positions of the holder constituting bodies relative to each other. A distance between one of a first pair of vertically-adjacent substrates with respective front surfaces facing each other and the other of the first pair of substrates is set to ensure treatment uniformity and to be larger than a distance between one of a second pair of vertically-adjacent substrates with their respective back surfaces facing each other and the other of the second pair of substrates.

Heat treatment method and heat treatment apparatus wherein the substrate holder is composed of two holder constituting bodies that move relative to each other

A heat treatment method includes a substrate holder that holds a plurality of substrates at predetermined vertical intervals and is carried into a heat treating furnace for performing a predetermined heat treatment on the substrates. The substrate holder has two holder constituting bodies each having a plurality of columns and substrate holding sections. One of the holder constituting bodies holds the substrates at a first, vertically adjacent distance so that their front surfaces face each other, while the other of the holder constituting bodies holds the substrates at a second, vertically adjacent distance so that their back surfaces face each other wherein the second distance is smaller than the first distance to ensure uniformity of the heat treatment. At least one of the holder constituting bodies moves in the vertical direction to change the positions of the holder constituting bodies relative to each other.

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Oshu, Japan

Shunichi Matsumoto