Tokyo Electron Limited

Yoshitaka Hara

Yasushi Hayashida

Shinichi Hayashi

Akira Miyata

Kouji Fujimura

Tomohiro Kaneko

Nobuaki Matsuoka

Naofumi Kishita

Shingo Katsuki

Issei Ueda

Kunie Ogata

Takuya Mori

Izumi Hasegawa

Tadayuki Yamaguchi

Makio Higashi

Shin Inoue

Tomohiro Nakashima

A device to form a coating film which can quickly coat a substrate of a follow-up lot after coating a preceding lot. The device is configured such that nozzles for a preceding lot and a following lot are integrated into a common movement mechanism and moved between an upper side of a liquid processing unit and a standby area. A coating method includes sucking air into the nozzle for the preceding lot to form an upper gas layer, sucking a solvent for the preceding lot in the standby area to form a thinner layer, and sucking air into the nozzle for the preceding lot to form a lower gas layer within the nozzle, and thus forming a state that a solvent layer is interposed between the upper gas layer and the lower gas layer.

Coating method, coating device, and storage medium

The present invention is a substrate treatment apparatus for performing solution treatment on a substrate, performing post-treatment in a treatment module subsequent to the solution treatment, including: a solution treatment section including a plurality of nozzles prepared for respective kinds of treatment solutions corresponding to lots of substrates; a transfer mechanism for transferring the substrate; a monitoring section monitoring whether there is a failure in discharge of the treatment solution in the nozzle; and a control unit outputting a control signal to prohibit the solution treatment in the solution treatment section for a substrate scheduled to be treated using a nozzle determined to have a failure by the monitoring section and to perform the solution treatment in the solution treatment section for a substrate scheduled to be treated using a nozzle other than the nozzle determined to have a failure.

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

An application and development apparatus has a plurality of vertically stacked blocks directed to coating film formation on a substrate. This plurality of blocks includes first processing units, a first substrate transportation region, and a first transportation unit for transporting substrates between the first processing units within the first transportation region. A development process block also is vertically stacked with the blocks directed to coating film formation to constitute a layered block as the process block. The development process block also includes second processing units and a second transportation unit for transporting substrates between the second processing units within the second transportation region. The application and development apparatus further has a shelf-type delivery stage group, a vertical transportation unit and a substrate inspection unit such that a substrate input into the inspection unit passes through the delivery stage group from the vertical transportation unit.

Apparatus and method of application and development

A wet processing apparatus for wet-processing substrates can suppress the reduction of throughput when some component part thereof becomes unserviceable. The wet processing apparatus includes a first nozzle unit and a second nozzle unit. When the wet processing apparatus operates in a normal mode, a substrate carrying mechanism is controlled so as to deliver substrates alternately to processing units of a first group and those of a second group so that the substrates are processed sequentially in order. When the processing units of the first group (the second group) are unserviceable due to the inoperativeness of the substrate holders, a processing liquid supply system or a nozzle support mechanism, the nozzle unit for the processing units of the second group (the first group) is moved to process substrates by the serviceable ones of the first group (the second group).

Wet processing apparatus, wet processing method and storage medium

A plurality of process modules for conducting processes on a wafer; conveying modules for conveying the wafer, a turnout module for transferring the wafer to/from the conveying module, and a CPU for detecting a trouble occurring in the process module and centrally controlling each of the modules based on a detection signal. When the controller detects the trouble occurring in any one of the process modules, the wafer to be conveyed to the process module where the trouble occurs is conveyed to the turnout module, and conveyance of the wafer before the process module where the trouble occurs is temporarily stopped, and conveyance and processing of the other wafer are continued, and thereafter, conveyance and processing of the wafer before the process module where the trouble occurs are conducted.

Substrate convey processing device, trouble countermeasure method in substrate convey processing device, and trouble countermeasures program in substrate convey processing device

A coating and developing system and control method is provided. The system and control method curtails the amount of time for which a substrate is held with no purpose while improving the throughput of the coating and developing system. An inspection station through which a substrate processed in a processing station is transferred to a carrier station includes a plurality of different inspection modules respectively taking different inspection times, a buffer unit for temporarily holding a substrate and a substrate carrying means controlled by a controller. When the inspection module is engaged in inspecting a substrate, the substrate carrying means carries another substrate to be inspected by the same inspection module to the buffer unit and the substrate is held in the buffer unit. Thus, the holding of wafers in the inspection modules can be suppressed and the throughput can be improved.

Coating and developing system control method of controlling coating and developing system

A wet-processing apparatus includes module groups each including plural processing modules and a shared nozzle device to be used in common by the processing module of the module group. The wet-processing apparatus includes plural processing modules not less than four processing modules, for example, six processing modules. The six processing modules are divided into two module groups, namely, first and second module groups each of the three processing modules. Each of the first and the second module group is provided with a nozzle device for pouring a processing solution onto a wafer. The first wafer is delivered to the first processing module, the second wafer is delivered to the processing module of the second module group, the third wafer is delivered to the processing module of the first module group. Thus the successive wafers are delivered alternately to the first and the second module groups.

Wet-processing apparatus, wet-processing method and storage medium

Wafers Ato Aof a first lot A and wafers Bto Bof a second lot B are processed by a second heating unit at different temperatures, respectively. A wafer W is carried in a processing block included in coating and developing system along a route passing a temperature control unit CPL, a coating unit BCT, a heating unit LHP, a temperature control unit CPL, a coating unit COT, a heating unit LHP, and a cooling unit COL in that order. The process temperature of the heating unit LHPis changed after the last wafer Aof the first lot A has been processed by the heating unit LHP. The wafers of the second lot B are carried according to a carrying schedule such that carrying cycles succeeding a carrying cycle in which the first substrate Bof the second lot B is carried to the second temperature conditioning unit CPLcarry the substrates B of the second lot B succeeding the first substrate Band processed by a heating process by the heating unit LHPin due order to a buffer unit BF, and the wafers B held in the buffer unit BFare carried in due order to the downstream modules after the process temperature of the heating unit LHPhas been changed.

Coating and developing system, coating and developing method and storage medium

Disclosed herein is a coating and developing apparatuswhose decreases in substrate-conveying accuracy can be suppressed. A processing block Sof the coating and developing apparatusincludes multiple resist-film forming blocks G, G, and a developing block G. A conveyance elementfor substrate loading into the processing block Sis provided to convey substrates W from a carrier C to the resist-film forming blocks G, G. Also, a conveyance element I for substrate loading into an exposure apparatus Sis provided in an interface block Sto load the substrates W into the exposure apparatus Sand after unloading the substrates W from the exposure apparatus S, convey the substrates W to the developing block G. The processing block loading conveyance elementconveys the substrates W, one at a time, from the carrier C to each resist-film forming block G, G, sequentially and periodically, and the exposure apparatus loading conveyance element I loads the substrates W from each resist-film forming block G, Ginto the exposure apparatus Sin the sequence that each has been conveyed to the resist-film forming block G, Gby the processing block loading conveyance element

Coating and developing apparatus, coating and developing method, and storage medium

A substrate processing system processes a plurality of substrates in a single-substrate processing mode by a plurality of processes and provided with a plurality of modules respectively for carrying out processes. When a defect is found in a substrate, a defective processing unit that caused the defect can be easily found out. The substrate processing system and a substrate processing method to be carried out by the substrate processing system can suppress the reduction of throughput when a large number of substrates are to be processed. The substrate processing system is provided with a plurality of modules for processing a plurality of substrates (W) in a single-substrate processing mode by a plurality of processes and includes a substrate carrying means (A) for carrying a substrate (W) from a sending module to a receiving module, and a control means () for controlling the substrate carrying means (A) on the basis of one of at least two carrying modes each assigning receiving modules to sending modules. The control means () changes the carrying mode in effect for the other carrying mode upon the reception of a carrying mode change command while substrates are being processed and makes the substrate carrying means (A) carry substrates in the carrying mode newly brought into effect.

Substrate processing system and substrate processing method

Disclosed herein is a development apparatus having a plurality of coating units and a development process unit stacked on each other in a layered direction in a process block which is connected at the rear side of the carrier block. A first transportation unit, which ascends and descends in the layered direction, is provided in the carrier block. Also, in the carrier block, the bottom of a substrate inspection unit is located above a highest position to which the first transportation unit is able to ascend in the layered direction.

When a trouble occurs in a substrate treatment apparatus, the substrate existing in the substrate treatment apparatus is quickly collected without exerting adverse effects on the subsequent substrate treatment to resume the substrate treatment early. At the time of occurrence of trouble in a coating and developing treatment apparatus, all of the substrates in the coating and developing treatment apparatus are collected to a transfer-in/out section using a transfer unit in the apparatus. In this event, each transfer unit transfers the substrate from each position at the time of occurrence of trouble in a direction toward the transfer-in/out section for collection. Further, the substrate under treatment in the treatment unit at the time of occurrence of trouble is collected after the treatment is finished.

Substrate collection method and substrate treatment apparatus

A transfer schedule SA and a transfer schedule SB for an A lot and a B lot different from each other are generated on a transfer control table, the succeeding transfer schedule SB is moved ahead in the direction of a time axis within a range over which it does not interfere with the transfer schedule SA for the preceding A lot to make the start timing for the succeeding transfer schedule SB become earlier than the end timing for the transfer schedule for the preceding A lot, so that the transfer schedule SA and the transfer schedule SB are executed in parallel, thereby improving the throughput a wafer transfer process.

Substrate processing system, and method of control therefor, control program, and storage medium

A coating apparatus has a stage module, a temperature regulating module which adjusts a temperature of a substrate to a set temperature, a coating module which applies a coating liquid to the temperature-regulated substrate, and a heating module which heats the coating-liquid applied substrate, arranged in a process section in order from an upstream end of transfer along a transfer path of the substrate, and has a dummy stage placed between the coating module and the heating module so that when by means of a substrate transfer mechanism which has an upper arm and a lower arm, provided one on the other and advanceable and retreatable independently of each other, substrates are transferred one by one from an upstream module to a downstream module in order by alternately operating the upper arm and the lower arm, that arm which performs transfer from the temperature regulating module to the coating module differ from that arm which receives a substrate from the heating module, that numbers are sequentially assigned to downstream modules with the stage module at the upstream end taken as a first module, that substrate which is located on the first stage module is received with the upper arm when the temperature regulating module is an even-numbered module, and the substrate located on the first stage module is received with the lower arm when the temperature regulating module is an odd-numbered module.

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Koshi, Japan

Yoshitaka Hara