A substrate processing apparatus includes a transfer chamber; an upper gas supply mechanism for supplying a gas into an upper region of the transfer chamber through a first gas supply port; and a lower gas supply mechanism configured to supply the gas into a lower region of the transfer chamber through a second gas supply port. The upper gas supply mechanism includes a first buffer chamber at a back surface of the first gas supply port; a pair of upper ducts at both sides of the first buffer chamber; and a first ventilation unit at lower ends of the pair of upper ducts. The lower gas supply mechanism includes a second buffer chamber at a back surface of the second gas supply port; a lower duct at lower surface of the second buffer chamber; and a second ventilation unit at a lower end of the lower duct.

Methods of and systems for performing leak checks of gas-phase reactor systems are disclosed. Exemplary systems include a first exhaust system coupled to a reaction chamber via a first exhaust line, a bypass line coupled to a gas supply unit and to the first exhaust system, a gas detector coupled to the bypass line via a connecting line, a connecting line valve coupled to the connecting line, and a second exhaust system coupled to the connecting line. Methods include using the second exhaust system to exhaust the connecting line to thereby remove residual gas in the connecting line that may otherwise affect the accuracy of the gas detector.

Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to a chamber liner for the high temperature processing of substrates in a processing chamber. The processing chamber utilizes an inert bottom purge flow to shield the substrate support from halogen reactants such that the substrate support may be heated to temperatures greater than about 650 degrees Celsius. The chamber liner controls a flow profile such that during deposition the bottom purge flow restricts reactants and by-products from depositing below the substrate support. During a clean process, the bottom purge flow restricts halogen reactants from contacting the substrate support. As such, the chamber liner includes a conical inner surface angled inwardly to direct purge gases around an edge of the substrate support and to reduce deposition under the substrate support and the on the edge.

A method is for depositing silicon nitride by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD). The method includes providing a PECVD apparatus including a chamber and a substrate support disposed within the chamber, positioning a substrate on the substrate support, introducing a nitrogen gas (N.sub.2) precursor into the chamber, applying a high frequency (HF) RF power and a low frequency (LF) RF power to sustain a plasma in the chamber, introducing a silane precursor into the chamber while the HF and LF RF powers are being applied so that the silane precursor forms part of the plasma being sustained, and subsequently removing the LF RF power or reducing the LF RF power by at least 90% while continuing to sustain the plasma so that silicon nitride is deposited onto the substrate by PECVD.

A process for preparing granular polysilicon using a fluidized bed reactor is disclosed. The upper and lower spaces of the bed are defined as a reaction zone and a heating zone, respectively, with the height of the reaction gas outlet being selected as the reference height. The invention maximizes the reactor productivity by sufficiently providing the heat required and stably maintaining the reaction temperature in the reaction zone, without impairing the mechanical stability of the fluidized bed reactor. This is achieved through electrical resistance heating in the heating zone where an internal heater is installed in a space in between the reaction gas supplying means and the inner wall of the reactor tube, thereby heating the fluidizing gas and the silicon particles in the heating zone. The heat generated in the heating zone is transferred to the reaction zone by supplying the fluidizing gas at such a rate that the silicon particles can be intermixed between the reaction zone and the heating zone in a continuous, fluidized state.

A SiC epitaxial wafer manufacturing method of the present invention includes: manufacturing a SiC epitaxial wafer including a SiC epitaxial layer on a surface of a SiC single crystal wafer while supplying a raw material gas into a chamber using a SiC epitaxial wafer manufacturing apparatus; and manufacturing a subsequent SiC epitaxial wafer after measuring a surface density of triangular defects originating from a material piece of an internal member of the chamber on the SiC epitaxial layer of the previously manufactured SiC epitaxial wafer.

Provided is a method of controlling a gas supply apparatus including a vaporizer, a carrier gas supply source and a gas supply line, the method including: supplying a liquid or sold raw material to a raw material container included in a vaporizer; vaporizing the liquid or sold raw material in the raw material container to produce a raw material gas; exhausting an interior of the raw material container having the liquid or sold raw material; supplying a carrier gas from the carrier gas supply source to the raw material container; and flowing the raw material gas and the carrier gas from the raw material container to a processing chamber in which a substrate to be processed is accommodated via the gas supply line.

A substrate processing method capable of stably loading a substrate regardless of a variation in pressure of a reaction space includes supplying an inert gas; and forming a thin film by sequentially and repeatedly supplying a source gas, supplying a reaction gas, and activating the reaction gas, wherein a center portion of a substrate and a center portion of a susceptor are spaced apart from each other to form a separate space, the reaction space above the substrate and the separate space communicate with each other via one or more channels, an inert gas is introduced to the separate space through the one or more channels during the supplying of the inert gas, and the inert gas prevents pressure imbalance between the separate space and the reaction space during a thin film deposition process.

In a vacuum processing apparatus, a load lock module includes a housing and substrate holding sections, the housing having first substrate transfer ports formed on one of right and left sides thereof and a second substrate transfer port formed on a rear side thereof, and each substrate holding section being configured to hold a substrate on a right or left side in the housing. Further, a normal pressure transfer chamber extends over or under the housing from one of the right and left sides of the housing to the other one thereof so that each first substrate transfer port is opened. The normal pressure transfer chamber includes a stacked transfer region that is a region overlapping the housing. Further, a normal pressure transfer mechanism transfers the substrate between each substrate holding section and a transfer container carried into each of loading/unloading ports via the stacked transfer region.

An arrangement of two shutters radially outward from an injector block and a susceptor onto which a wafer carrier is removably mounted are configured to provide a flowpath through a reactor chamber that does not exhibit a vortex, thereby reducing or eliminating buildup on the inside of the reactor chamber and facilitating large temperature gradient between the injector block and the wafer carrier. This can be accomplished by introduction of a purge gas flow at a radially inner wall of an upper shutter, and in some embodiments the purge gas can have a different chemical composition than the precursor gas used to grow desired epitaxial structures on the wafer carrier.