Process for laser detection of gas and contaminants in a wafer transport gas tunnel

Abstract

A process of using a transport system for transporting substrate wafer, for making semiconductor integrated circuits and liquid crystal display panels and the like advanced devices, is presented. The object is to prevent surface degradation which may be inflicted on the surface to interfere with proper processing of the substrate. The substrate wafers are delivered to process chambers always in clean surface conditions. A method illustrated utilizes a purge gas containing an inert gas or a mixture of an inert gas and oxygen for flowing inside the tunnel space, and a semiconductor laser detection system to detect the contamination levels within the tunnel space, and the transport parameters are controlled according to the measured data.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.