Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd.

Takaharu Yamada

Yasufumi Koyama

Kenji Hashinoki

A cell controller controls the operation of a transport robot to keep a substrate belonging to a succeeding lot carried into a heating part in the fourth transport cycle from being transported out of the heating part in the next or fifth transport cycle, thereby preventing interference between the transport of substrates belonging to the succeeding lot and the transport of substrates belonging to a preceding lot. If interference is likely to occur between the transport of the substrates belonging to the succeeding lot and the transport of the substrates belonging to the preceding lot, the cell controller causes the substrates belonging to the succeeding lot not to be transported but to remain in processing units. This allows the transport of the substrates belonging to the succeeding lot in consideration of only the next transport cycle.

Substrate processing apparatus

A substrate processing apparatus includes a plurality of cells each including a predetermined processing unit, a transport mechanism, and a cell controller. The cell controller independently controls operations in each cell in accordance with transport setting and processing condition setting for each cell described in recipe data determined for each substrate unit to be processed. Because the processing and transport are performed independently of the operations of adjacent cells, substrates belonging to different substrate units are received through a feed inlet or the sane substrate inlet, are processed while being present in the same cell, and are transported to a feed outlet and a return outlet which are different substrate outlets. This allows the presence of different process flows in parallel.

Substrate processing apparatus and method of transporting substrates and method of processing substrates in substrate processing apparatus

When the processing temperature in a heater should be changed between lots, for example, a foremost substrate in a subsequent lot is transported to a position close to the heater such as a substrate holding part, and is held in standby thereat until adjustment of a processing environment (namely, change of the processing temperature) is completed. The substrate held in standby is thereafter transported to the heater. As compared with the case in which substrates are placed in standby in an indexer, substrates can be fed faster to the heater after change of the processing temperature, thereby suppressing throughput reduction.

Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method

A substrate processing apparatus includes a plurality of cells each including a predetermined processing unit, a transport mechanism, and a cell controller. The cell controller independently controls operations in each cell in accordance with transport setting and processing condition setting for each cell described in recipe data determined for each substrate unit to be processed. Because the processing and transport are performed independently of the operations of adjacent cells, substrates belonging to different substrate units are received through a feed inlet or the same substrate inlet, are processed while being present in the same cell, and are transported to a feed outlet and a return outlet which are different substrate outlets. This allows the presence of different process flows in parallel.

Growing community of inventors

Kyoto, Japan

Takaharu Yamada