Tokyo Electron Limited

Tokyo Electron Limi Ted

Tokutarou Hayashi

Yuichi Douki

Akihiro Teramoto

Yuichi Doki

Naruaki Iida

Suguru Enokida

Hiroki Harada

Hiromitsu Maejima

Hirotoshi Mori

Tatsuhiko Tsujihashi

Koji Mahara

Kazutoshi Ishimaru

Kiminari Sakaguchi

Masahiro Abe

Yuji Kawaguchi

Tooru Tokimatu

Tsuyoshi Otsuka

A substrate processing apparatus according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes a substrate processing unit, a substrate transfer unit, a first detection unit, a second detection unit, and a third detection unit. The substrate processing unit holds and processes a substrate. The substrate transfer unit has a rotational axis and carries the substrate in the substrate processing unit. The first detection unit detects a position of the substrate transfer unit relative to the substrate processing unit in a direction of travel thereof when the substrate is carried in the substrate processing unit in the direction of travel. The second detection unit detects a position of the substrate transfer unit relative to the substrate processing unit in a direction that is perpendicular to the direction of travel. The third detection unit detects an inclination of the rotational axis of the substrate transfer unit relative to the substrate processing unit.

Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method

A device includes a substrate holding unitconfigured to hold a substrate and be movable in a transversal direction to transfer the substrate from one module to another module; a first detecting unitconfigured to detect a position of the substrate on the substrate holding unitbefore the substrate holding unittransfers the substrate into the another module after receiving the substrate from the one module; second detecting unitsandconfigured to detect a position deviation between a position of the substrate holding unit, which is located at a temporary position set to transfer the substrate into the another module, and the temporary position; and a position determining unitconfigured to determine a transfer position where the substrate is transferred into the another module based on the position of the substrate on the substrate holding unitand the position deviation.

Substrate transfer device, substrate transfer method and recording medium

A substrate transfer apparatus to transfer a circular substrate provided with a cutout at an edge portion thereof, includes: a sensor part including three light source parts applying light to positions different from one another at the edge portion, and three light receiving parts paired with the light source parts; and a drive part for moving the substrate holding part, wherein the three light source parts apply light to the light receiving parts so that whether or not a detection range of the sensor part overlaps with the cutout of the substrate is determined on the basis of an amount of received light by each light receiving part, and when it is determined that there is an overlap at any position, positions of the edge portion of the substrate are further detected with the position of the substrate displaced with respect to the sensor part.

Substrate transfer apparatus, substrate transfer method, and non-transitory storage medium

A substrate holder positioning method, capable of positioning a substrate holder without using any positioning jig, includes: measuring a first position of a substrate held on a substrate holder included in a substrate carrying mechanism; carrying the substrate held on the substrate holder to a substrate rotating unit for holding and rotating the substrate; turning the substrate held by the substrate rotating unit through a predetermined angle by the substrate rotating unit; transferring the substrate turned by the substrate rotating unit from the substrate rotating unit to the substrate holder; measuring a second position of the substrate transferred from the substrate rotating unit to the substrate holder; determining the position of the center of rotation of the substrate rotating unit on the basis of the first and the second position; and positioning the substrate holder on the basis of the position of the center of rotation.

Thermal processing apparatus for thermal processing substrate and positioning method of positioning substrate transfer position

A technique which, when transporting a substrate from one module to another, detects a displacement of the substrate on a holding member and transfers the substrate to another module with the displacement within an acceptable range. Displacement of a wafer on a fork of a transport arm from a reference position is determined when the fork has received the wafer from one module and, when the displacement is within an acceptable range, the wafer is transported by the transport arm to another module. When the displacement is out of the acceptable range, the wafer is transported by the transport arm to a wafer stage module, and then the transport arm receives the wafer from the wafer stage module so that the displacement comes to fall within the acceptable range. The wafer can therefore be transferred to another module with the displacement within the acceptable range.

A substrate transporting method includes: after a holding unit of a substrate holding apparatus receives a substrate from one placement location for a substrate and holds it, detecting a first positional deviation of the substrate from a reference position of the substrate on the holding unit; transporting the substrate held by the holding unit to a position facing another placement location; detecting a second positional deviation of the substrate from the reference position of the substrate on the holding unit, when the substrate is located at the position facing the another placement location; calculating, based on the first and second positional deviations, a positional displacement of the substrate relative to the holding unit that occurred during the transporting of the substrate to the position facing the another placement location; and determining whether or not the positional displacement thus calculated falls within a predetermined range.

Substrate transport method, substrate transport apparatus, and coating and developing system

There is provided a technique which can prevent poor processing of successive substrates in the event of a failure of a module or a transport mechanism for transporting a substrate between modules. A substrate processing apparatus includes: a plurality of modules from which a substrate holder of a substrate transport mechanism receives a substrate; a sensor section for detecting a displacement of the holding position of a substrate, held by the substrate holder, from a reference position preset in the substrate holder; and a storage section for storing the displacement, detected when the substrate holder receives a substrate from each of the modules, in a chronological manner for each module. A failure of one of the modules or the substrate transport mechanism is estimated based on the chronological data on the displacement for each module, stored in the storage section. This enables an early detection of a failure or abnormality.

Substrate processing apparatus, substrate processing method and non-transitory storage medium

A substrate carrying mechanism includes: a base; a substrate holding member placed on the base and capable of holding a substrate and of being advanced and retracted relative to the base; four or more detecting units respectively for detecting different parts of the edge of a substrate held by the substrate holding member when the substrate holding member holding a substrate is retracted; and a controller that determines whether or not a notch formed in the edge of the substrate has been detected by one of the detecting units, on the basis of measurements measured by the four or more detecting units and corrects an error in a transfer position where the substrate is to be transferred to the succeeding processing unit on the basis of measurements measured by the detecting units excluding the one detecting unit that has detected the notch of the substrate.

Substrate carrying mechanism, substrate carrying method and recording medium storing program including set of instructions to be executed to accomplish the substrate carrying method

Substrate holder positioning method and substrate processing system

A substrate placing position adjusting method which acquires data on a substrate placing position where a substrate carrying unit is required to place a substrate on a substrate holding device capable of rotating about a vertical axis and included in a processing unit for processing a substrate substantially horizontally held by the substrate holding device, said substrate placing position adjusting method comprising the steps of: transferring a jig from the substrate carrying unit to the substrate holding device; measuring centrifugal acceleration imparted to a measuring position in the jig when the substrate holding device holding the jig is rotated at a fixed angular velocity; and calculating an eccentricity of the measuring position from a rotation center of the substrate holding device on the basis of a centrifugal acceleration.

Substrate processing system, substrate placing position adjusting method and storage medium

In a substrate processing system for processing a substrate, such as a wafer W, held by a substrate holding device rotatable about a vertical axis, such as a spin chuck, a jig is placed on the substrate holding device, and centrifugal acceleration imparted to a predetermined measuring position on the jig and an eccentricity of the measuring position from the rotation center of the spin chuck are determined. The position of the rotation center is determined on the basis of centrifugal accelerations imparted to the measuring position when the jig is placed at three different positions and eccentricities of the measuring position from the rotation center when the jig is placed at the three different positions. Data on a substrate placing position, the center of the substrate placed at which coincides with the rotation center, is stored as data of a substrate placing position at which a substrate is to be placed.

In the present invention, a position detecting substrate having a capacitive sensor is supported on a transfer arm and transferred by the transfer arm and mounted on a mounting part. The capacitive sensor on the position detecting substrate then detects a position of a target object on the mounting part to detect a mounting position of the position detecting substrate on the mounting part. Based on the mounting position of the position detecting substrate, the moving position of the transfer arm when transferring a substrate is then adjusted.

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Koshi, Japan

Tokutarou Hayashi