US 2011/0217473 A1Published application

Wet processing apparatus, wet processing method and storage medium

AssigneeTokyo Electron Limited

InventorsNaofumi KISHITA, Kouji Fujimura, Yoshitaka Hara

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Abstract

A wet processing apparatus for wet-processing substrates can suppress the reduction of throughput when some component part thereof becomes unserviceable. The wet processing apparatus includes a first nozzle unit and a second nozzle unit. When the wet processing apparatus operates in a normal mode, a substrate carrying mechanism is controlled so as to deliver substrates alternately to processing units of a first group and those of a second group so that the substrates are processed sequentially in order. When the processing units of the first group (the second group) are unserviceable due to the inoperativeness of the substrate holders, a processing liquid supply system or a nozzle support mechanism, the nozzle unit for the processing units of the second group (the first group) is moved to process substrates by the serviceable ones of the first group (the second group).

Claims9

Dependent claims

A wet processing apparatus for processing substrates by pouring a processing liquid supplied by a processing liquid supply system onto the substrates, said wet processing apparatus comprising:

2n (n is an integer not smaller than 2) processing units arranged in a lateral row and respectively including 2n substrate holders for supporting a substrate in a horizontal position and 2n splash cups respectively surrounding the substrate holders, and divided into a first group of the n processing units on the left side and a second group of the n processing units on the right side;
a first nozzle unit to be used exclusively for the n processing units of the first group in a normal processing mode;
a first nozzle support mechanism supporting the first nozzle unit and capable of laterally moving the first nozzle unit to all the 2n processing units;
a second nozzle unit to be used exclusively for the n processing units of the second group in a normal processing mode;
a second nozzle support mechanism supporting the second nozzle and capable of laterally moving the second nozzle unit to all the 2n processing units;
a substrate carrying mechanism for transferring a substrate to and receiving a substrate from the substrate holders;
and
a controller which provides control signals for controlling the substrate carrying mechanism to deliver substrates alternately to the processing unit of the first group and that of the second group so as to use the processing units of the first and the second group in order in a normal processing mode, and for moving the first nozzle unit for the processing units of the first group to use the first nozzle unit for processing substrates by the serviceable ones of the processing units of the second group when the processing unit of the second group becomes unable to process substrates due to the inoperativeness of the substrate holder, the processing solution supply system or the nozzle support mechanism or for moving the second nozzle unit for the processing units of the second group to use the second nozzle unit for processing substrates by the serviceable ones of the processing units of the first group when the processing unit of the first group becomes unable to process substrates due to the inoperativeness of the substrate holder, the processing solution supply system or the nozzle support mechanism.

5 more elements

A wet processing method to be carried out by a wet processing apparatus for processing substrates by pouring a processing liquid supplied by a processing liquid supply system onto substrates, including 2n (n is an integer not smaller than 2) processing units arranged in a lateral row, including 2n substrate holders for supporting a substrate in a horizontal position and 2n splash cups respectively surrounding the substrate holders, and divided into a first group of the n processing units on the left side and a second group of the n processing units on the right side;

a first nozzle unit to be used exclusively for processing substrates by the n processing units of the first group in a normal processing mode;
a first nozzle support mechanism supporting the first nozzle unit and capable of moving the first nozzle unit to all the 2n processing units;
a second nozzle unit to be used exclusively for processing substrates by the n processing units of the second group in a normal processing mode;
a second nozzle support mechanism supporting the second nozzle unit and capable of moving the second nozzle unit to all the 2n processing units;
substrate carrying mechanism for transferring a substrate to and receiving a substrate from the substrate holders;
said wet processing method comprising the steps of:
pouring the processing liquid through the first nozzle unit onto substrates supported on the substrate holders of the processing units of the first group in a normal processing mode;
pouring the processing liquid through the second nozzle unit onto substrates supported on the substrate holders of the processing units of the second group in a normal processing mode;
transferring substrates alternately to the processing unit of the first group and that of the second group so as to use the processing units of the first and the second group in order;
and
laterally moving the first nozzle unit for the processing units of the first group to use the first nozzle unit for processing substrates by the serviceable ones of the processing units of the second group when the substrate holder, the processing liquid supply system or the nozzle support mechanism is unserviceable or laterally moving the second nozzle unit for the processing units of the second group to use the second nozzle unit for processing substrates by the serviceable ones of the processing units of the first group when the substrate holder, the processing liquid supply system or the nozzle support mechanism is unserviceable.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.