Hitachi-Kokusai Electric Inc.

Tokyo Gas Company Limited

Tetsuya Wada

Eisuke Nishitani

Toshio Saito

Toshimitsu Miyata

Morio Saito

Shinichi Kanomata

Yasushi Kosugi

Keizou Ohkawa

In a semiconductor device manufacturing method for processing a plurality of substrates by alternately repeating a pretreatment stage and a continuous substrate processing stage, the continuous substrate processing stage comprises the steps of: loading a substrate on a heater unit located at a substrate loading/unloading position, the heater unit supporting and heating the substrate; processing the loaded substrate after transferring the heater unit having thereon the loaded substrate to a substrate processing position; unloading the processed substrate; and repeating the loading step, the processing step and the unloading step until a set of substrates are processed, and wherein the pretreatment stage is carried out by maintaining the heater unit between the substrate loading/unloading position and the substrate processing position.

Method for use in manufacturing a semiconductor device

A coupling for a corrugated pipe having ridges and grooves arranged alternately is disclosed. A body of this coupling has a through-hole whose one end is served as an inlet port. An annular accommodation recess and an annular retainer portion are formed on an inner periphery of the through-hole in this order toward the inlet port. A cylindrical support member is accommodated within the body. The support member is urged toward the inlet port by a spring. One end portion of the support member on the inlet port side is served as a receiving portion. An annular engagement member is mounted on an outer periphery of this receiving portion in such a manner as to be elastically enlarged in diameter. When the support member is pushed in a direction away from the inlet port against the spring by a distal end of the corrugated pipe inserted from the inlet port, the engagement member is disengaged from the receiving portion of the support member and reduced in diameter so as to be brought into engagement with an outer periphery of one of the grooves of the corrugated pipe. That part of the corrugated pipe, which projects from outer peripheries of the ridges of the corrugated pipe is retained by the retainer portion of the body while the engagement member is in engagement with the outer peripheries of the grooves.

Coupling for corrugated pipe

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Tetsuya Wada