Substrate processing apparatus
AssigneeTokyo Electron Limited
InventorsIssei Ueda, Michiaki Matsushita, Kazuhiko Ito, Tadayuki Yamaguchi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Temperature regulation is performed at a buffer cassette in which a wafer is temporarily housed before and after being delivered to/from an aligner, or at an inlet-side delivery stage of a portion for delivering a wafer to the aligner, in reference with a state of temperature regulation of the wafer in the aligner, so that the temperature of the wafer can be more accurately regulated on a temperature regulating plate in the aligner in a shorter time. Therefore, circuit patterns can be accurately transferred, and throughput can be improved by speeding up the processing.
Claims20
A substrate processing apparatus connected to an aligner for exposing a substrate coated with a resist, while regulating the temperature of the substrate, the substrate processing apparatus comprising:
- a coating section that applies a resist to the substrate;
- a developing section that develops the substrate after exposure;
- an interface section disposed between said coating section and said developing section, and said aligner, that transfers a substrate between said substrate processing apparatus and said aligner;
- a conveyor that transfers a substrate between said coating section, said developing section and said interface section;
- a holding section disposed in said interface section, that holds the substrate;
- and
- a temperature controller that regulates the temperature of the substrate held by said holding section in accordance with a regulated temperature in said aligner.
A substrate processing apparatus connected to an aligner for exposing a substrate coated with a resist, while regulating the temperature of the substrate, the substrate processing apparatus comprising:
- a coating section that applies a resist to the substrate;
- a developing section that develops the substrate after exposure;
- an interface section disposed between said coating section and said developing section, and said aligner, that transfers a substrate between said substrate processing apparatus and said aligner;
- a conveyor that transfers a substrate between said coating section, said developing section and said interface section;
- a first holding section disposed in said interface section that holds the substrate before being exposed;
- a second holding section disposed in said interface section that holds the substrate after being exposed;
- a gas supply section that supplies temperature regulated gas to said first and second holding sections;
- and
- a temperature controller between said first holding section and said gas supply section, that further regulates the temperature of the gas supplied from said gas supply section.
A substrate processing apparatus, comprising:
- an aligner that exposes a substrate coated with a resist, while regulating the temperature of the substrate;
- a coating section that applies a resist to the substrate;
- a developing section that develops the substrate after exposure;
- an interface section disposed between said coating section and said developing section, and said aligner, that transfers a substrate between said substrate processing apparatus and said aligner;
- a conveyor that transfers a substrate between said coating section, said developing section and said interface section;
- a holding section disposed in said interface section, that holds the substrate;
- and
- a temperature controller that regulates the temperature of the substrate held by said holding section in accordance with a regulated temperature in said aligner.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.