Purging spindle arms to prevent deposition and wafer sliding

A system comprising:

• a plurality of spindle arms located above a plurality of stations in a processing chamber to transport a semiconductor substrate between the stations, wherein the spindle arms reside in the processing chamber while processing the semiconductor substrate;
• first gas lines arranged below the stations to supply a purge gas;
• second gas lines extending upwards from the first gas lines to supply the purge gas to the spindle arms while processing the semiconductor substrate in the processing chamber;
• and
• a channel arranged near a top portion of each of the stations, the channel being in fluid communication with one of the second gas lines and including an outlet near each end of the channel to supply the purge gas to two of the spindle arms located on either side of the channel.

A system comprising:

• a plurality of gas lines arranged in a plane around base portions of N stations, the N stations being arranged around a center of a processing chamber for processing a semiconductor substrate, where N is an integer greater than 2;
• N liners lining circumferences of top portions of the N stations, respectively, each of the N liners extending from each circumference outwardly parallel to the plane and including a channel in fluid communication with the plurality of gas lines, the channel being arranged along the circumference, having closed first and second ends proximate to the center of the processing chamber, and including an outlet at each of the first and second ends to dispense a gas laterally away from the circumference;
• N spindle arms to transfer the semiconductor substrate between the N stations, each of the N spindle arms extending laterally from a spindle at the center of the processing chamber parallel to the plane, being disposed between two adjacent ones of the N liners, and including areas that contact the semiconductor substrate during the transfer, the areas being proximate to the outlets of the channels of the two adjacent ones of the N liners;
• and
• N vertical gas lines arranged in peripheries of the N stations, respectively, each of the N vertical gas lines being in fluid communication with each of the plurality of gas lines and with each of the channels of the N liners, respectively.