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US 6,656,281 B1Granted
Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method
AssigneeTokyo Electron Limited
InventorsIssei Ueda, Hiroyuki Kudou
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A blast unit for sending air from the top of a processing chamber to the bottom thereof and an exhaust pipe for exhausting gas from the bottom of the processing chamber are provided. Concomitantly with a change in pressure in the processing chamber, intervals of a slit damper and/or the degree of opening of a damper is controlled by a controller and thus a blast amount or an exhaust amount is controlled, thereby maintaining the pressure in the processing chamber almost constant.
Claims19
A substrate processing apparatus, comprising:
- a processing chamber in which a substrate is developed by a developing solution applied over the substrate;
- a filter configured to filter air to be sent into the processing chamber;
- a blast unit configured to send the filtered air into said processing chamber from the top toward the bottom thereof;
- an exhaust unit configured to exhaust gas from within said processing chamber through the bottom thereof;
- and
- a control unit configured to regulate at least one of a blast amount of said blast unit and an exhaust amount of said exhaust unit concomitantly with a change in pressure in said processing chamber to maintain the pressure in said processing chamber nearly constant.
3 more elements
A substrate processing apparatus, comprising:
- a processing chamber in which a substrate is developed by a developing solution applied over the substrate;
- a filter configured to filter air to be sent into the processing chamber;
- a blast unit configured to send the filtered air into said processing chamber from the top toward the bottom thereof;
- an exhaust unit configured to exhaust gas from within said processing chamber through the bottom thereof;
- a carrying in/out port configured to carry the substrate into said processing chamber and out of said processing chamber;
- a shutter configured to open and close said carrying in/out port;
- and
- a control unit configured to perform such control that a blast amount of said blast unit is increased or an exhaust amount of said exhaust unit is decreased concomitantly with the opening of said shutter when said shutter is opened to maintain pressure in said processing chamber nearly constant.
5 more elements
A substract processing apparatus, comprising:
- a processing chamber configured to house a substrate;
- a processing solution supply mechanism configured to supply a developing solution over the substrate in said processing chamber;
- a filter configured to filter air to be sent into the processing chamber;
- a blast unit configured to send the filtered air into said processing chamber from the top toward the bottom thereof;
- an exhaust unit configured to exhaust gas from within said processing chamber through the bottom thereof;
- and
- a control unit configured to stop an exhaust operation of said exhaust unit during a predetermined period of time after the developing solution is supplied over the substrate and concomitantly with the stop of the exhaust operation, decrease a blast amount of said blast unit to maintain pressure in said processing chamber nearly constant.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.