Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11538700-B2
Application number	US-202016878040-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 19, 2020
Priority date	May 21, 2019
Publication date	Dec 27, 2022
Grant date	Dec 27, 2022

Abstract

There is provided a substrate processing apparatus, including: a mounting part on which a carrier having a plurality of slots capable of accommodating a plurality of substrates is mounted; a transfer part configured to load and unload the substrates to and from the plurality of slots based on a reference accommodation position set in the mounting part; a detection part configured to detect a position of each of the plurality of substrates accommodated in the plurality of slots; and a correction part configured to correct the reference accommodation position based on port accumulation information in which detection results obtained by the detection part from a plurality of carriers which has been mounted on the mounting part in the past are accumulated.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A substrate processing apparatus, comprising:
a mounting part on which a carrier having a plurality of slots capable of accommodating a plurality of substrates is mounted;
a transfer part configured to load and unload the substrates to and from the plurality of slots based on a reference accommodation position set in the mounting part;
a detection part configured to detect a height position of a substrate of the plurality of substrates accommodated in the plurality of slots;
a correction part configured to correct the reference accommodation position based on port accumulation information in which height positions of substrates previously detected by the detection part from a plurality of carriers which has been mounted on the mounting part in the past are accumulated, by incorporating a discrepancy between the reference accommodation position before correction and the height positions of the port accumulation information into the reference accommodation position for the correction;
a deterioration prediction part configured to, for each carrier, predict deterioration of the carrier based on carrier substrate position accumulation information in which the height positions of the substrates previously detected by the detection part are accumulated; and
a notification part configured to notify deterioration of the carrier before the carrier predicted to be deteriorated by the deterioration prediction part is mounted on the mounting part again.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the correction part calculates, based on the port accumulation information, a predicted value of a height position of a substrate predicted to be detected by the detection part when the carrier is mounted on the mounting part, and corrects the reference accommodation position based on the predicted value.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the correction part corrects the reference accommodation position using a value obtained by adding a predetermined correction value to the predicted value.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , further comprising:
a lid opening/closing mechanism configured to open and close a lid of the carrier mounted on the mounting part;
an abnormality determination part configured to determine an abnormality of the carrier based on a comparison of the height position of the substrate of the plurality of substrates detected by the detection part with the reference accommodation position; and
an opening/closing control part configured to, for each carrier, based on carrier abnormality accumulation information in which determination results obtained by the abnormality determination part are accumulated, control the lid opening/closing mechanism to perform an operation of opening and closing the lid, after the carrier is mounted on the mounting part and before a detection process is performed by the detection part.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the deterioration prediction part configured to, based on the carrier substrate position accumulation information, calculate another predicted value of the height position of the substrate predicted to be detected by the detection part when the carrier is mounted on the mounting part, and predict deterioration of the carrier when the another predicted value is less than a deterioration determination threshold value.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a lid opening/closing mechanism configured to open and close a lid of the carrier mounted on the mounting part;
an abnormality determination part configured to determine an abnormality of the carrier based on a comparison of the height position of the substrate of the plurality of substrates detected by the detection part with the reference accommodation position; and
an opening/closing control part configured to, for each carrier, based on carrier abnormality accumulation information in which determination results obtained by the abnormality determination part are accumulated, control the lid opening/closing mechanism to perform an operation of opening and closing the lid, after the carrier is mounted on the mounting part and before a detection process is performed by the detection part.

7. A substrate processing method, comprising:
mounting, on a mounting part, a carrier having a plurality of slots capable of accommodating a plurality of substrates;
loading and unloading the substrates to and from the plurality of slots based on a reference accommodation position set in the mounting part;
detecting a height position of a substrate of the plurality of substrates accommodated in the plurality of slots using a detection part;
correcting the reference accommodation position based on port accumulation information in which height positions of substrates previously detected by the detection part from a plurality of carriers which has been mounted on the mounting part in the past are accumulated, by incorporating a discrepancy between the reference accommodation position before correction and the height positions of the port accumulation information into the reference accommodation position for the correction;
predicting, for each carrier, by a deterioration prediction part, deterioration of the carrier based on carrier substrate position accumulation information in which the height positions of the substrates previously detected in the detection step are accumulated; and
notifying, by a notification part, deterioration of the carrier before the carrier predicted to be deteriorated by the deterioration prediction part is mounted on the mounting part again.

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Ayabe Go

Classifications

• H10P72/7618

  characterised by a movable susceptor, stage or support, others than those only rotating on their own vertical axis, e.g. susceptors on a rotating carrousel · CPC title

• H10P72/3411

  involving loading and unloading of wafers · CPC title

• H10P72/3406 Primary

  involving removal of lid, door or cover · CPC title

• H10P72/0414

  using mainly spraying means, e.g. nozzles · CPC title

• H10P72/0608 Primary

  of substrates stored in a container, a magazine, a carrier, a boat or the like · CPC title