Tokyo Electron Limited

Takayuki Katano

Junichi Kitano

Hidetami Yaegashi

Takayuki Toshima

Hidefumi Matsui

Yasunori Kawakami

Keiko Kanzawa

Masami Akimoto

Masami Yamashita

Satoru Shimura

Norio Semba

Hiroyuki Iwaki

Yuji Kakazu

Jae Hoon Park

Yo Suzuki

Toru Aoyama

Naruaki Iida

Hiroshi Shinya

Kousuke Yoshihara

Takahiro Kitano

Yuji Matsuyama

Masatoshi Deguchi

Yuko Ono

Keiko Hada

Eiji Yamaguchi

Fumihiko Kawano

On top of respective areas divided by partition plates, that is, a cassette station, a processing station, and an interface section in a coating and developing processing system, gas supply sections for supplying an inert gas into the respective areas are provided. Exhaust pipes for exhausting atmospheres in the respective areas are provided at the bottom of the respective areas. The atmospheres in the respective areas are maintained in a clean condition by supplying the inert gas not containing impurities such as oxygen and fine particles from the respective gas supply sections into the respective areas and exhausting the atmospheres in the respective areas from the exhaust pipes.

Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method

A HMDS gas is supplied to a surface of a wafer W to perform a hydrophobic process, thereafter the wafer W is contained in an airtight container on a cassette stage, and is transferred to an analyzer provided at an external portion of a resist pattern forming apparatus. The analyzer performs mass spectrometry of the quantity of an ionic species such as CH Si , C H Si , C H Osi and the like on the surface of the wafer W using an analyzing section, for example, TOF-SIMS, whereby measuring a HMDS quantity (hexamethyldisilazane) on the surface of the wafer W. This method makes it possible to measure the HMDS quantity on the surface of the wafer W and to evaluate a hydrophobic process state with high reliability.

Evaluating method of hydrophobic process, forming method of resist pattern, and forming system of resist pattern

A developing unit, a coating unit and a plurality of cooling plates are arranged in a process station which performs a resist coating and so on and a wafer is transferred among them by a substrate transfer device. The temperature of an area to where the wafer is transferred is detected by a temperature/humidity detector and the temperature of the wafer which is cooled by the cooling plates is adjusted accordingly based on a detected value so that the temperature of the wafer when transferred to the coating unit becomes a coating temperature of a processing solution. Thereby, the wafer is transferred to the coating unit while maintaining its temperature with high accuracy to be coated with a resist solution, so that a formation of an uneven processing due to the temperature change can be prevented and a uniform processing can be performed.

Substrate processing method and substrate processing apparatus

A treatment apparatus for treating a substrate in an isolated treatment space in an air-conditioned clean room, comprising a removing unit including a plurality of removing sections for recovering at least some of air in the treatment space and removing impurities from the recovered air, the removing sections being arranged in series and each including a supply mechanism for supplying an impurity remover capable of removing the impurities by touching the recovered air, a temperature adjustment unit for adjusting the temperature of the air cleared of the impurities by the removing unit, and a return circuit for returning the air, adjusted in temperature by the temperature adjustment unit, to the treatment space.

Treatment apparatus, treatment method, and impurity removing apparatus

A method of forming a resist on a substrate and processing the resist in a resist processing system having a processing region and a non-processing region which are air-conditioned, the method comprising the steps of, transferring the substrate into the non-processing region, coating the resist on the substrate, exposing the coated resist, developing the exposed resist, subjecting the coated resist at least once, to heat treatment in a period from the transferring step to the developing step, detecting at least once, the concentration of an alkaline component which causes defective resolution of the resist in a processing atmosphere in a period from the transferring step to the developing step, setting a threshold value for the concentration of the alkaline component in the processing atmosphere which causes the defective resolution of the resist, and controlling and changing at least one processing atmosphere in the steps in accordance with a detected concentration of the alkaline component and the threshold value.

Method of processing resist onto substrate and resist processing

A processing apparatus using solution comprises a rotary table which rotates while holding a substrate thereon, in the processing chamber provided in the casing, a supply mechanism for supplying a processing solution to a surface of the substrate held on the rotary table, and an impurity remover unit, provided outside the casing, wherein the impurity remover unit includes a cleaning unit for cleaning an object gas introduced from the inlet opening by brining it into contact with an impurity remover solution, and the gas-liquid separation mechanism for separating liquid from gas in an exhaust is provided in the exhaust system for exhausting the casing.

Processing apparatus and method using solution

Method of processing resist utilizing alkaline component monitoring

A substrate treatment system comprises process sections provided with at least either of liquid treatment group units and heat treatment group units, an upper space formed above the process sections in order to supply air to the process sections, a purification section for removing alkaline components from the air to be supplied to the upper spaces to purify the air, temperature/humidity controller communicating with the urification section and the upper spaces to control the temperature and humidity of the air passing through the purification sections, and fans for supplying air to the top spaces from the temperature/humidity controller, lowering the air from the upper spaces into the process sections, and supplying at least some of the air lowering through the process sections to the temperature/humidity controller.

Substrate treatment system

A processing apparatus comprises a plurality of process unit groups each including a plurality of process units for subjecting an object to a series of processes, the process units being arranged vertically in multiple stages, an object transfer space being defined among the process unit groups, and a transfer mechanism for transferring the object, the transfer mechanism having a transfer member vertically movable in the object transfer space, the transfer member being capable of transferring the object to each of the process units. The processing apparatus further comprises a mechanism for forming a downward air flow in the object transfer space, a mechanism for controlling the quantity of the downward air flow, and a mechanism for controlling the pressure in the object transfer space. Thus, a variation in condition of the object transfer space is reduced.

Vertical processing apparatus

The present invention provides a substrate treating system for successively treating a plurality of substrates W under an air-conditioned environment. The system comprises an outer casing provided with a cassette transfer port through which a cassette is transferred, a cassette section having a cassette table arranged within an inner space surrounded by the outer casing for supporting the cassette transferred through the cassette transfer port, a sub-arm mechanism for taking the substrates one by one from the cassette section, a process section positioned adjacent to the cassette section and having a plurality of treating units for treating the substrates arranged therein, a main arm mechanism arranged within the process section for receiving the substrates from the sub-arm mechanism arranged in the cassette section and, then, transferring the received substrates to each of the treating units while transferring the treated substrates out of the treating units, an air supply mechanism for supplying a clean air to form a down-stream within the space surrounded by the outer casing, and a partition plate for partitioning the inner space surrounded by the outer casing not to interfere the down-flow of the air formed by the air supply mechanism, the partition plate having a substrate transfer port through which the substrate is transferred from one of the partitioned spaces to the other partitioned space.

Substrate treating system and substrate treating method

Growing community of inventors

Nirasaki, Japan

Takayuki Katano