Substrate processing apparatus and control method of substrate processing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12377384-B2
Application number	US-202217806150-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 9, 2022
Priority date	Jun 10, 2021
Publication date	Aug 5, 2025
Grant date	Aug 5, 2025

Abstract

A substrate processing apparatus includes processing units, an exhaust path, a gas processing apparatus and a controller. Each processing unit is configured to process a substrate by using a chemical. A gas exhausted from the processing units flows through the exhaust path. The gas processing apparatus is provided in the exhaust path to remove a target component contained in the gas. The gas processing apparatus includes a duct, a partition plate and a liquid supply. The duct has therein a flow path. The partition plate divides the flow path into spaces, and is formed of a porous material, through which the gas passes, configured to retain a liquid. The liquid supply is configured to supply a dissolving liquid configured to dissolve the target component to the partition plate. The controller adjusts a flow rate of the dissolving liquid according to operation information indicating an operational status of the processing units.

First claim

We claim:

1. A substrate processing apparatus, comprising:
multiple processing units each configured to process a substrate by using a chemical;
an exhaust path through which a gas exhausted from the multiple processing units flows;
a gas processing apparatus provided in the exhaust path to remove a target component contained in the gas flowing through the exhaust path from the gas; and
a controller configured to control the multiple processing units and the gas processing apparatus,
wherein the gas processing apparatus comprises:
a duct having therein a flow path through which the gas passes;
at least one partition plate configured to divide the flow path into multiple spaces, and formed of a porous material, through which the gas passes, configured to retain a liquid; and
at least one liquid supply configured to supply a dissolving liquid configured to dissolve the target component contained in the gas to each of the at least one partition plate, and
wherein the controller adjusts a flow rate of the dissolving liquid supplied to the at least one partition plate from the at least one liquid supply according to operation information indicating an operational status of the multiple processing units, and
the operation information is recipe information including a number of the processing units to be operated for a time period.

2. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the controller starts a supply of the dissolving liquid from the liquid supply at a time point when the controller transmits a signal of starting a supply of the chemical to a processing unit supposed to be operated first among the multiple processing units.

3. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 2 ,
wherein the controller stops the supply of the dissolving liquid from the at least one liquid supply at a time point when the controller receives, from all of the multiple processing units, a signal indicating that a processing of each respective substrate is finished.

4. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the duct of the gas processing apparatus includes multiple ducts,
wherein the multiple ducts include:
a first duct having therein a first flow path through which the gas passes from an upper side toward a lower side thereof; and
a second duct having therein a second flow path through which the gas passes from a lower side toward an upper side thereof,
wherein the at least one partition plate is disposed in each of the first flow path and the second flow path to partition each of the first flow path and the second flow path into multiple spaces, and
the gas processing apparatus further comprises a storage tank configured to connect a downstream side of the first flow path to an upstream side of the second flow path, and configured to store therein dissolving liquid failing from the at least one partition plate.

5. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 4 ,
wherein the liquid supply comprises:
a first liquid supply configured to supply the dissolving liquid supplied from a dissolving liquid source to the at least one partition plate; and
a second liquid supply configured to supply a circulating liquid obtained by circulating the dissolving liquid stored in the storage tank through a circulation path to the at least one partition plate, and
wherein the controller adjusts the flow rate of the dissolving liquid supplied from the first liquid supply to the at least one partition plate and a flow rate of the circulating liquid supplied from the second liquid supply to the at least one partition plate according to the operation information.

6. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 5 ,
wherein
the controller adjusts the flow rate of the dissolving liquid supplied from the first liquid supply to the at least one partition plate and the flow rate of the circulating liquid supplied from the second liquid supply to the at least one partition plate based on the number of the processing units included in the recipe information.

7. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 5 ,
wherein the gas processing apparatus further comprises:
a concentration detector configured to detect a concentration of the target component contained in the gas, and
wherein the controller monitors a detection result of the concentration detector as the operation information, and adjusts the flow rate of the dissolving liquid supplied from the first liquid supply to the at least one partition plate and the flow rate of the circulating liquid supplied from the second liquid supply to the at least one partition plate based on the detection result of the concentration detector.

8. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 7 ,
wherein the controller determines whether the concentration detected by the concentration detector exceeds a threshold value which is larger than a predetermined upper limit, and when it is determined that the concentration detected by the concentration detector exceeds the threshold value, the controller performs a control of decreasing a flow rate of the gas exhausted from the multiple processing units.

9. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the recipe information includes an amount or a concentration of the target component contained in the gas exhausted from the multiple processing units for the time period, and
the controller adjusts the flow rate of the dissolving liquid supplied to the at least one partition plate from the at least one liquid supply based on the amount or the concentration of the target component included in the recipe information.

10. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 9 ,
wherein the recipe information further includes a kind of the target component, and
the controller changes a kind of the dissolving liquid to be supplied to the partition plate from the at least one liquid supply based on the kind of the target component included in the recipe information.

11. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 10 ,
wherein the controller adjusts a temperature of the dissolving liquid supplied to the at least one partition plate from the at least one liquid supply based on the kind of the target component included in the recipe information.

12. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one liquid supply includes multiple liquid supplies, and at least one of the multiple liquid supplies is disposed in each of the multiple spaces, and
the controller increases or decreases a number of the liquid supplies that performs the supply of the dissolving liquid according to the operation information.

13. A control method of a substrate processing apparatus,
wherein the substrate processing apparatus comprises:
multiple processing units each configured to process a substrate by using a chemical;
an exhaust path through which a gas exhausted from the multiple processing units flows; and
a gas processing apparatus provided in the exhaust path to remove a target component contained in the gas flowing through the exhaust path from the gas, and
wherein the gas processing apparatus comprises:
a duct having therein a flow path through which the gas passes;
at least one partition plate configured to divide the flow path into multiple spaces, and formed of a porous material, through which the gas passes, configured to retain a liquid; and
at least one liquid supply configured to supply a dissolving liquid configured to dissolve the target component contained in the gas to each of the at least one partition plate, and
wherein the control method of the substrate processing apparatus comprises adjusting a flow rate of the dissolving liquid supp

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Tsugao Keisuke
• Okumura Tomonori

Classifications

• H10P72/0451

  Apparatus for manufacturing or treating in a plurality of work-stations · CPC title

• H10P72/0604

  Process monitoring, e.g. flow or thickness monitoring · CPC title

• H10P72/0458

  vertical arrangement · CPC title

• H10P72/0456

  in-line arrangement · CPC title

• H10P72/0402 Primary

  Apparatus for fluid treatment (H10P72/0441, H10P72/0448 take precedence) · CPC title