Pump liners and process chambers with the pump liners are described. The pump liner has a ring-shaped body with an annular wall enclosing a process region. A plurality of circumferentially spaced openings provide fluid communication through the annular wall between the process region and a region outside of the ring-shaped body. Each of the plurality of circumferentially spaced openings has a self-adjusting valve assembly. Self-adjusting valves and processing methods are also described.

Described herein is a technique capable of exhausting a process gas in a wide pressure range. According to one aspect of the technique, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus including: a process chamber; a gas supply system configured to supply a process gas containing a compound capable of reacting with a metal; and a gas exhaust system configured to exhaust an inner atmosphere of the process chamber, wherein the gas exhaust system includes: a common exhaust piping; a first exhaust piping made of a resin incapable of reacting with the compound and whose one end is connected to the common exhaust piping via a first valve and the other end is connected to a first exhauster; and a second exhaust piping made of the metal and whose one end is connected to the common exhaust piping via a second valve and the other end is connected to a second exhauster.

Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to isolator devices, components thereof, and methods associated therewith for substrate processing chambers. In one implementation, a substrate processing chamber includes an isolator ring disposed between a pedestal and a pumping liner. The isolator ring includes a first surface that faces the pedestal, the first surface being disposed at a gap from an outer circumferential surface of the pedestal. The isolator ring also includes a second surface that faces the pumping liner and a protrusion that protrudes from the first surface of the isolator ring and towards the outer circumferential surface of the pedestal. The protrusion defines a necked portion of the gap between the pedestal and the isolator ring.

A semiconductor wafer to be treated is heated at a first preheating temperature ranging from 100 to 200° C. while a pressure in a chamber housing the semiconductor wafer is reduced to a pressure lower than an atmospheric pressure. After the semiconductor wafer is preheated to increase the temperature into a second preheating temperature ranging from 500 to 700° C. while the pressure in the chamber is restored to a pressure higher than the reduced pressure, a flash lamp emits a flashlight to a surface of the semiconductor wafer. Heating the semiconductor wafer at the first preheating temperature that is a relatively low temperature enables, for example, the moisture absorbed on the surface of the semiconductor wafer in trace amounts to be desorbed from the surface, and also enables the flash heating treatment to be performed with oxygen derived from such absorption removed as much as possible.

To create constant partial pressures of the by-products and residence time of the gas molecules across the wafer, a dual showerhead reactor can be used. A dual showerhead structure can achieve spatially uniform partial pressures, residence times and temperatures for the etchant and for the by-products, thus leading to uniform etch rates across the wafer. The system can include differential pumping to the reactor.

There is provided a technique that includes: (a) supplying a first gas containing a predetermined element to the substrate; (b) supplying a second gas containing carbon and nitrogen to the substrate; (c) supplying a nitrogen-containing gas activated by plasma to the substrate; (d) supplying an oxygen-containing gas to the substrate; and (e) forming a film containing at least the predetermined element, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen on the substrate by: performing a cycle a first number of times of two or more, the cycle performing (a) to (d); or performing a cycle once or more, the cycle performing (a) to (d) in this order.

A flow guide apparatus includes an upper flow guide structure configured to receive a first gas from a remote source, and a lower flow guide structure attached to the upper flow guide structure. The upper flow guide structure and the lower flow guide structure are configured to receive at least one gas from at least one remote source. The flow guide apparatus further includes a line diffuser structure disposed between the lower flow guide structure and the upper flow guide structure. The line diffuser structure has a long axis along a length of the upper flow guide structure and a short axis. The line diffuser structure includes a plurality of through holes that are configured to approximately evenly distribute the at least one gas as it is output into a reactor.

There is provided a technique that includes: an exhauster including a casing in which a rotating body is installed; a gas supplier configured to supply an inert gas to the exhauster without passing through a process chamber; and a controller configured to be capable of controlling the gas supplier to supply the inert gas into the casing based on a temperature drop of the rotating body expected in advance in a state where a processing object is not being processed in the process chamber such that a temperature of the rotating body becomes equal to or higher than a target temperature.

In a process chamber connected with a process roughing pump via a pump foreline, pumping from the process chamber to the foreline ammonia and a deposition precursor, introducing into the foreline hydrogen fluoride gas to react with the ammonia to form ammonium fluoride, and maintaining the process roughing pump and pump foreline at at least the ammonium fluoride sublimation temperature during the pumping provides ammonia abatement for improved roughing pump performance.

In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, a substrate processing apparatus includes: a tube assembly having an inner space in which substrates are processed and assembled by laminating a plurality of laminates, each of which includes an injection part and an exhaust hole; a substrate holder configured to support the plurality of substrates in a multistage manner in the inner space; a supply line connected to one injection part of the plurality of laminates to supply a process gas; and an exhaust line connected to one of a plurality of exhaust holes to exhaust the process gas, and the substrate processing apparatus that has a simple structure and induces a laminar flow of the process gas to uniformly supply the process gas to a top surface of the substrate.