A vertical batch furnace assembly for processing wafers comprising a cassette handling space, a wafer handling space, and a first wall separating the cassette handling space from the wafer handling space. The wall having a wafer transfer opening. The wafer transfer opening is associated with a cassette carrousel comprising a carrousel stage having a plurality of cassette support surfaces each configured for supporting a wafer cassette. The carrousel stage is rotatable by an actuator around a substantially vertical axis to transfer each cassette support surface to a wafer transfer position in front of the wafer transfer opening and to at least one cassette load/retrieve position, wherein the vertical batch furnace assembly is configured to load or retrieve a wafer cassette on or from a cassette support surface of the carrousel stage which is in the at least one load/retrieve position.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for efficiently performing active thermal control during device testing are disclosed. A device testing system includes a device under test, a thermal structure on top of the device under test, and a controller configured to determine when to apply and remove thermal energy to the device under test through the thermal structure. The thermal structure includes a thermal transfer block that transfers thermal energy to and from the device under test below the thermal transfer block. The thermal structure also includes a coolant block above the thermal transfer block that removes thermal energy from the thermal transfer block. There is no heating element between the coolant block and the thermal transfer block. Rather, the thermal structure includes a heating element in a wall of the thermal transfer block. Therefore, an unobstructed thermal path exists from the device under test to the coolant block.

The present application discloses a diffusion furnace, including: a furnace tube structure including a furnace tube body and a furnace bottom, a bottom of the furnace tube body being connected to the furnace bottom to form a reaction chamber; and a carrying structure including a pedestal and a plurality of cassettes disposed on the pedestal, the pedestal being disposed on the furnace bottom. By disposing the plurality of the cassettes, a height of the furnace tube body can be decreased and a width of the furnace tube body can be increased, thus enlarging a space of equipment repair and maintenance, which is favorable for the repair and maintenance of the equipment.

A method for temperature control includes: acquiring the present temperature of a reaction window in a process chamber of a semiconductor machine; comparing the present temperature with the preset temperature to acquire a comparison result; and adjusting the exhaust amount of an exhaust passage of the process chamber based on the comparison result to control the temperature of the reaction window.

An apparatus for heat-treating a substrate includes: a stage where the substrate is disposed; a heating part configured to change an output; a first temperature measurement part configured to measure a temperature at which the substrate is heated; a second temperature measurement part configured to measure the temperature, and having a level of measurement accuracy which is lower than that of the first temperature measurement part in a first temperature region and is higher than that of the first temperature measurement part in a second temperature region; a temperature calculator configured to calculate a weighted average temperature of the temperatures measured by the first and second temperature measurement parts if a reference temperature is in a temperature range between the first and second temperatures, and configured to change a weight of the weighted average temperature; and a controller configured to control the output based on the weighted average temperature.

There is provided a technique capable of capable of preventing a substrate from being metal-contaminated by a component constituting a furnace opening. According to one aspect thereof, there is provided a furnace opening structure including: an upper inlet structure connected to a first protrusion provided at a lower portion of a reaction tube via a first seal, and configured to support the reaction tube; a lower inlet structure connected to the upper inlet structure via a second seal; and a fixing structure connected to the upper inlet structure and configured to fix the first protrusion, wherein the upper inlet structure is provided below an exhaust pipe provided at the lower portion of the reaction tube, and wherein the first protrusion is configured to be capable of being cooled by circulating a cooling medium through flow paths provided inside the upper inlet structure and the fixing structure, respectively.

A semiconductor processing tool is disclosed, the tool having a frame forming at least one chamber with an opening and having a sealing surface around a periphery of the opening, a door configured to interact with the sealing surface for sealing the opening, the door having sides perpendicular to the door sealing surface and perpendicular to a transfer plane of a substrate, and at least one drive located on the frame to a side of at least one of the sides that are substantially perpendicular to the door sealing surface and substantially perpendicular to the transfer plane of the substrate, the drive having actuators located at least partially in front of the sealing surface and the actuators being coupled to one of the sides of the door for moving the door from a sealed position. The at least one drive is located outside of a substrate transfer zone.

An apparatus for processing a substrate includes a reaction tube, a side cover, a heater, a first gas supplier, a second gas supplier and a controller. The reaction tube is configured to receive a substrate boat in which a plurality of the substrate is received to process the substrate. The side cover is configured to receive the reaction tube. The heater lines the interior of the side cover. The first gas supplier is provided to an upper portion of the side cover to supply a cooling gas at a first supplying rate to a space between the side cover and the reaction tube. The second gas supplier is provided to a lower portion of the side cover to supply the cooling gas at a second supplying rate different from the first supplying rate to the space between the side cover and the reaction tube. The controller controls the reaction tube.

The treating arrangement (900) for an epitaxial reactor (1000) comprises: a reaction chamber (100) for treating substrates, a transfer chamber (200) adjacent to the reaction chamber (100), for transferring substrates placed over substrates support devices, a loading/unloading group (300) at least in part adjacent to the transfer chamber (200), arranged to contain a substrates support device with one or more substrates, a storage chamber (400) at least in part adjacent to the load-lock chamber (300), having a first storage zone (410) for treated and/or untreated substrates and a second storage zone (420) for substrates support devices without any substrate, at least one external robot (500) for transferring treated substrates, untreated substrates and substrates support devices without any substrate between said storage chamber (400) and said loading/unloading group (300), at least one internal robot (600) for transferring substrates support devices with one or more substrates between said loading/unloading group (300) and said reaction chamber (100) via said transfer chamber (200).

The treating arrangement (900) for an epitaxial reactor (1000) comprises: a reaction chamber (100) for treating substrates, a transfer chamber (200) adjacent to the reaction chamber (100), for transferring substrates placed over substrates support devices, a loading/unloading group (300) at least in part adjacent to the transfer chamber (200), arranged to contain a substrates support device with one or more substrates, a loading/unloading chamber (400) at least in part adjacent to the loading/unloading group (300), having a first storage zone (410) for treated and/or untreated substrates and a second storage zone (420) for substrates support devices without any substrate, at least one external robot (500) for transferring treated substrates, untreated substrates and substrates support devices without any substrate between said loading/unloading chamber (400) and said loading/unloading group (300), at least one internal robot (600) for transferring substrates support devices with one or more substrates between said loading/unloading group (300) and said reaction chamber (100) via said transfer chamber (200); wherein said external robot (500) comprises an articulated arm (510) arranged to handle both treated substrates and untreated substrates as well as substrates support devices.