The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 22, 2002
Filed:
Aug. 03, 2000
Masahito Sugiura, Yamanashi, JP;
Hiroshi Shinriki, Chiba, JP;
Hideki Kiryu, Yamanashi, JP;
Shintaro Aoyama, Yamanashi, JP;
Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A pretreatment chamber is disposed within a vacuum transfer chamber of a processing apparatus The pretreatment chamber is equipped with an orienting mechanism and a UV lamp The orienting mechanism orients a wafer W through rotation of a table , on which the wafer W is placed, and by use of an optical sensor . Synchronously with the orientation, the UV lamp emits UV through a UV transmission window fitted to a ceiling portion of the pretreatment chamber , to thereby irradiate the surface of the wafer W with UV. Thus adhering to the wafer W is removed. A processing gas supplied into the pretreatment chamber is also irradiated with UV. Active atoms generated from the processing gas also contribute to removal of carbon. Since the pretreatment chamber is formed within the vacuum transfer chamber , the footprint of the processing apparatus can be reduced. Since orientation of the wafer W and removal of contaminants are performed concurrently, throughput is improved.