Apparatus for treating a wafer

An apparatus for treating a wafer manufactured from semiconducting material, the apparatus comprising a first and a second housing part arranged for movement away from and towards each other, the two housing parts in a closed position, moved together, bounding a treatment chamber, at least one gas feed channel being provided in the first and/or second housing part which opens into the treatment chamber, the first and the second housing part around the treatment chamber being provided with a first and second boundary surface respectively, while in the closed position a gap is present between the first and the second boundary surface for discharging the gas fed into the treatment chamber in radially outward direction, wherein in at least one of the two boundary surfaces, there is provided a first groove connected to gas discharge means, while in at least one of the two boundary surfaces, there is provided a second groove connected to gas feed means, both the first and the second groove extending substantially along the circumference of the treatment chamber, the first groove being located radially within the second groove, and, in use, the pressure created by the gas feed means being such that from the second groove, gas flows both in radial inward and in radial outward direction in the gap between the first and the second boundary surface, the two housing parts in an open, moved-apart position keeping clear an interspace between the first and the second boundary surface for loading and unloading the wafer by means of wafer transport means, wherein at least one of the two boundary surfaces of one of the two housing parts is provided with a number of wafer transport means receiving grooves which incorporate the wafer transport means when the two housing parts are in the closed position.

An apparatus for treating a wafer manufactured from semiconducting material, the apparatus comprising a first and a second housing part arranged for movement away from and towards each other, the two housing parts in a closed position, moved together, bounding a treatment chamber, at least one gas feed channel being provided in the first and/or second housing part which opens into the treatment chamber, the first and the second housing part around the treatment chanter being provided with a first and second boundary surface respectively, while in the closed position a gap is present between the first and the second boundary surface for discharging the gas fed into the treatment chamber in radially outward direction, wherein in at least one of the two boundary surfaces, there is provided a first groove connected to gas discharge means, while in at least one of the two boundary surfaces, there is provided a second groove connected to gas teed means, both the first and the second groove extending substantially along the circumference of the treatment chamber, the first groove being located radially within the second groove, and, in use, the pressure created by the gas feed means being such that from the second groove, gas flows both in radial inward and in radial outward direction in the gap between the first and the second boundary surface, the two housing parts in an open, moved-apart position keeping clear an interspace between the first and the second boundary surface for loading and unloading the wafer by means of wafer transport means, wherein the wafer transport means substantially comprises a transport ring provided with a number of support fingers, the transport ring having a diameter greater than the outer circumference of the two housing parts, the support fingers being connected to the transport ring and extending radially in the direction of the center of the transport ring, such that the ends of the support fingers jointly support a circumferential edge of the wafer.