Vacuum processing apparatus and method, and storage medium for executing the method

A vacuum processing apparatus for performing a vacuum process on a wafer, which is a semiconductor substrate, in a vacuum processing chamber, the apparatus capable of transferring the wafer with respect to a preliminary vacuum chamber by a first transfer arm disposed under a normal pressure atmosphere and also capable of transferring the wafer between the preliminary vacuum chamber and the vacuum processing chamber by a second transfer arm disposed in a vacuum transfer chamber, the preliminary vacuum chamber being switchable between a normal pressure atmosphere and a vacuum atmosphere,

• wherein the preliminary processing apparatus includes:
• a temperature control plate for sustaining the wafer thereon while controlling a temperature thereof;
• and
• a rotary stage configured to be revolvable about a vertical axis while sustaining the wafer thereon and vertically movable between a raised position where the rotary stage maintains the wafer above the temperature control plate and a lowered position where the rotary stage is sunk inside the temperature control plate while allowing the wafer to be placed on the temperature control plate, the rotary stage allowing the wafer to be transferred with respect to the first and the second transfer arms, and
• wherein the vacuum processing apparatus comprises:
• a position data acquiring unit for acquiring position data of a peripheral portion of the wafer placed on the rotary stage;
• a first operation module for calculating a center position and a direction of the wafer based on the position data acquired by the position data acquiring unit;
• and
• a control module for controlling a rotation of the rotary stage to adjust the direction of the wafer based on the calculation result and for controlling the second transfer arm such that the second transfer arm conveys the wafer to a wafer mounting member inside the vacuum processing chamber while allowing a center of the wafer to be aligned to a center of the mounting member based on the calculation result.