Substrate processing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9330950-B2
Application number	US-72395010-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 15, 2010
Priority date	Mar 17, 2009
Publication date	May 3, 2016
Grant date	May 3, 2016

Abstract

A substrate processing apparatus includes a processing unit performing a predetermined processing on a substrate; a transfer chamber; and a substrate accommodation unit including a substrate accommodation chamber communicating with the transfer chamber via a transfer opening, a gate provided at the transfer opening to separate the substrate accommodation chamber from the transfer chamber, and a gas supply unit supplying a gas into the substrate accommodation chamber. The substrate accommodation chamber accommodates therein substrates that have been processed by the processing unit, and the gas supply unit provides a gas flow suppressing an atmosphere of the transfer chamber from being introduced into the substrate accommodation chamber, thereby preventing undesired reaction between moisture in the atmosphere of the transfer chamber and deposits adhered on the processed substrates accommodated in the substrate accommodation chamber.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a processing chamber for accommodating a substrate to be processed; a loading/unloading port configured to mount thereon a carrier accommodating therein a plurality of substrates; a transfer chamber including a transfer mechanism therein, the transfer mechanism transferring the substrate from the carrier in an atmospheric atmosphere; a load-lock chamber connected to the transfer chamber, the substrate being transferred to the processing chamber via the load-lock chamber; a substrate accommodation chamber accommodating substrates processed in the processing chamber and transferred by the transfer mechanism via the load-lock chamber, wherein the substrate accommodation chamber is positioned at a location spaced form the loading/unloading port, and wherein a transfer opening is provided between the substrate accommodation chamber and the transfer chamber; a vertically movable gate disposed inside the transfer chamber and separating the substrate accommodation chamber from the transfer chamber wherein the vertically movable gate includes a first side and an opposite second side, and wherein the first side faces toward an interior of the transfer chamber and the second side faces toward the substrate accommodation chamber, and wherein the vertically movable gate extends across the transfer opening between the substrate accommodation chamber and the transfer chamber such that portions of the vertically movable gate are provided both above and below the transfer opening in at least one position of the vertically movable gate; and a gas supply unit configured to supply a gas into the substrate accommodation chamber from an opposite side of the substrate accommodation chamber to the vertically movable gate, wherein the apparatus further includes an inert gas source coupled to the gas supply unit such that the gas supplied by the gas supply unit is an inert gas from the inert gas source, wherein the vertically movable gate has a slit-shaped opening extending in a horizontal direction and serving as a loading/unloading opening through which the processed substrates are transferred one at a time such that when a substrate is transferred between the transfer chamber and the substrate accommodation chamber the substrate passes through the slit-shaped opening and the transfer opening, wherein the processed substrates are vertically arranged in substantially parallel with each other in the substrate accommodation chamber, and wherein a gas flow gap is provided between the vertically movable gate and the substrate accommodation chamber on the second side of the vertically movable gate and along said portions of the vertically movable gate such that the gas traverses the substrate accommodation chamber from the opposite side of the substrate accommodation chamber, passes through the transfer opening, and is discharged into the transfer chamber via the gas flow gap when the gas is supplied from the gas supply unit.

2. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least a substrate that has been processed last among the substrates that had been accommodated in the carrier is directly transferred to the carrier without being transferred to the substrate accommodation chamber.

3. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the substrates in the substrate accommodation chamber are transferred back to the carrier while a last substrate among the substrates accommodated in the carrier is processed in the processing chamber.

4. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing chamber is connected to the transfer chamber via the load-lock chamber.

5. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a vacuum transfer chamber installed between the load-lock chamber and the processing chamber.

Assignees

• Wakabayashi Shinji
• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Wakabayashi Shinji

Classifications

• H10P72/3304

  characterised by movements or sequence of movements of transfer devices · CPC title

• H10P72/3411 Primary

  involving loading and unloading of wafers · CPC title

• H01J37/32788

  for extracting the material from the process chamber · CPC title

• H01J37/32743

  for introducing the material into processing chamber · CPC title

• H01L21/67778 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic