Processing chamber
AssigneeOerlikon Advanced Technologies AG
InventorJurgen Weichart
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A process apparatus for treatment of a substrate comprising a load chamber for loading the substrate, a process chamber for processing the substrate, a sealing plane separating the process chamber from the load chamber and means for vertically moving the substrate from the load chamber to the process chamber, and a method for treating the substrate are provided. The load chamber is located in one of the lower and upper portions of the process apparatus, and the process chamber is located in the other of the lower and upper portions of the process apparatus. The process apparatus and method of the present invention will provide easy maintenance and reduced costs by reducing the number of movements for loading the substrate.
Claims18
A method for treatment of a substrate in a process apparatus (1) with a load chamber (10) for loading the substrate, a process chamber (11) for processing the substrate, and means (13) for vertically moving the substrate from a load position to a process position, the means comprising a chuck (131) with a chuck drive (133), a lift ring (136), and a clamp ring (135), the method comprising:
- loading the substrate to the lift ring (136) while the chuck (131) is in the load position and the clamp ring (135) is in a rest position on an edge of the process apparatus (1), the edge of the process apparatus (1) defining a sealing plane (12);
- driving the chuck (131), including the lift ring (136) with the substrate, vertically upward from the load position such that the chuck drive (133) contacts the edge of the process apparatus (1) along the sealing plane (12);
- moving the clamp ring (135) vertically upward from the rest position to hold the substrate in place inside the process chamber (11) in the process position;
- processing the substrate;
- and
- unloading the substrate from the process chamber (11) to the load chamber (10).
A method for treatment of a substrate in a process apparatus (2) with a load chamber (20) for loading the substrate, a process chamber (21) for processing the substrate, and means (23) for vertically moving the substrate from a load position to a process position, the means comprising a chuck (231) with a chuck drive (233), a substrate support ring (236), and a clamp ring (235), the method comprising:
- loading the substrate on the substrate support ring (236) while the chuck (231) is in the load position and the clamp ring (235) is in a rest position adjacent to an edge of the process apparatus (2), the edge of the process apparatus (2) defining a sealing plane (22);
- driving the chuck (231), including the substrate support ring (236) with the substrate, vertically downward from the load position to contact the substrate and the substrate support ring (236) with the clamp ring (235) in the process position such that the chuck drive (233) contacts the edge of the process apparatus (2) along the sealing plane (22);
- and
- processing the substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.