There is provided a substrate processing apparatus that includes a process chamber in which at least one substrate is processed; a gas supplier configured to supply a gas; and a buffer structure. The buffer structure includes at least two plasma generation regions in which gas is converted into plasma by a pair of electrodes connected to a high-frequency power supply and an electrode to be grounded, a first gas supply port that supplies a gas generated in a first plasma generation region among the at least two plasma generation regions, and a second gas supply port that supplies a gas generated in a second plasma generation region among the at least two plasma generation regions.

Provided is a batch-type substrate processing apparatus. The substrate processing apparatus includes a vertical reaction tube having an internal space for receiving a substrate boat in which a substrate is stacked in multiple stages, a deposition gas supply unit configured to supply a deposition gas inside the reaction tube, a heater disposed outside the reaction tube to provide a thermal energy inside the reaction tube, and an adhesion layer coated on an inner wall of the reaction tube and to which a deposition by-product layer by an excess deposition gas is attached.

A patterned backside stress compensation film having different stress in different sectors is formed on a backside of a substrate to reduce combination warpage of the substrate. The film can be formed by employing a radio frequency electrode assembly including plurality of conductive plates that are biased with different RF power and cause local variations in the plasma employed to deposit the backside film. Alternatively, the film may be deposited with uniform stress, and some of its sectors are irradiated with ultraviolet radiation to change the stress of these irradiated sectors. Yet alternatively, multiple backside deposition processes may be sequentially employed to deposit different backside films to provide a composite backside film having different stresses in different sectors.

There is provided a substrate processing apparatus including: an inner tube including a substrate accommodating region where substrates are accommodated along an arrangement direction; an outer tube outside the inner tube; gas supply ports provided on a side wall of the inner tube along the arrangement direction; first exhaust ports provided on the side wall of the inner tube along the arrangement direction; a second exhaust port provided at an end portion of the outer tube along the arrangement direction; and a gas guide controlling gas flow in an annular space between the inner and outer tubes. A first exhaust port A is located farthest from the second exhaust port, and faces a gas supply port A. The gas guide includes a fin provided near the gas supply port A and surrounds at least a part of an outer periphery of the gas supply port A.

Provided is processing of a substrate including: forming film on substrate by performing cycle, multiple times, including non-simultaneously performing: (a) supplying precursor gas and inert gas to the substrate; and (b) supplying reaction gas to the substrate. In (a), at least one of the precursor and inert gas stored in first tank is supplied to the substrate, and at least one of the precursor and inert gas stored in second tank is supplied to the substrate. A concentration of the precursor gas in the first tank differs from that in the second tank. Further, in (a), the at least one of the precursor and inert gas is supplied from the first tank to the substrate, and the at least one of the precursor and inert gas is supplied from the second tank to the substrate to suppress multiple adsorption of molecules constituting the precursor gas on the substrate's surface.

There is provided a technique that includes: high-frequency power sources supplying power to plasma generators; and matchers installed between the high-frequency power sources and the plasma generators and matching load impedances of the plasma generators with output impedances of the high-frequency power sources, wherein at least one of the high-frequency power sources includes: a high-frequency oscillator; a directional coupler at a subsequent stage of the high-frequency oscillator, which extracts a part of a traveling wave component from the high-frequency oscillator and a part of a reflected wave component from the matcher; a filter removing a noise signal in the reflected wave component extracted by the directional coupler; and a power monitor measuring the reflected wave component after passing through the filter and the traveling wave component extracted by the directional coupler and feedback-controlling the matcher to reduce a ratio between the reflected wave component and the traveling wave component.

Methods of forming an oxide layer over a semiconductor substrate are provided. The method includes forming a first oxide containing portion of the oxide layer over a semiconductor substrate at a first growth rate by exposing the substrate to a first gas mixture having a first oxygen percentage at a first temperature. A second oxide containing portion is formed over the substrate at a second growth rate by exposing the substrate to a second gas mixture having a second oxygen percentage at a second temperature. A third oxide containing portion is formed over the substrate at a third growth rate by exposing the substrate to a third gas mixture having a third oxygen percentage at a third temperature. The first growth rate is slower than each subsequent growth rate and each growth rate subsequent to the second growth rate is within 50% of each other.

A substrate processing method includes providing a substrate with a silicon-containing film in a chamber, supplying a process gas containing an HF gas, a phosphorus halide gas, and at least one gas selected from the group consisting of a C.sub.4H.sub.2F.sub.6 gas, a C.sub.4H.sub.2F.sub.8 gas, a C.sub.3H.sub.2F.sub.4 gas, and a C.sub.3H.sub.2F.sub.6 gas into the chamber to generate plasma, and etching the silicon-containing film in the substrate.

Methods are disclosed for forming a Silicon Metal Oxide film using a mono-substituted TSA precursor. The precursors have the formula: (SiH3)2N—SiH2-X, wherein X is selected from a halogen atom; an isocyanato group; an amino group; an N-containing C4-C10 saturated or unsaturated heterocycle; or an alkoxy group.

A chemical vapor deposition furnace for depositing silicon nitride films is disclosed. The furnace having a process chamber elongated in a substantially vertical direction and a wafer boat for supporting a plurality of wafers in the process chamber. A process gas injector inside the process chamber is provided with a plurality of vertically spaced gas injection holes to provide gas introduced at a feed end in an interior of the process gas injector to the process chamber. A valve system connected to the feed end of the process gas injector is being constructed and arranged to connect a source of a silicon precursor and a nitrogen precursor to the feed end for depositing silicon nitride layers. The valve system may connect the feed end of the process gas injector to a cleaning gas system to provide a cleaning gas to remove silicon nitride from the process gas injector and/or the processing chamber.