There is provided a decompression processing method for a substrate processing apparatus including a chamber for processing a substrate in an inside thereof, a decompression unit that decompresses the inside of the chamber, and a gas supply that supplies a gas into the inside of the chamber, the method including supplying an additional substance mixable with moisture in a liquid or solid state by the gas supply to the inside of the chamber, forming the moisture into a mixture of the additional substance, and decompressing the inside of the chamber by the decompression unit to remove as a gas the mixture from the inside of the chamber.

This invention disclosure provides a semiconductor process system that rapidly establishes and maintains steady state vacuum chamber pressures. In one embodiment, the system achieves faster stabilization by fixing the set point for the vacuum valve and adjusting the chamber pressure using the driving currents for the solenoid valves of the Mass Flow Controllers (MFCs). In another embodiment, the system operates in training and inference modes. In the training mode, set points for the MFCs and the vacuum valve are determined using PID controls. These set points are then quickly deployed in inference mode during substrate processing, enabling efficient and consistent pressure control.

A substrate processing apparatus includes a chamber, a stage in the chamber and configured to accommodate a substrate, a vacuum pump connected to the chamber and configured to provide negative pressure to the chamber, and a controller, where the vacuum pump includes a pipe assembly connected to the chamber, the pipe assembly including a first pipe, at least one second pipe, a common pipe connected to the first pipe and the at least one second pipe, a first valve provided on the first pipe, and at least one second valve provided on the at least one second pipe, an intake port connected to the pipe assembly, and a pump connected to the intake port and configured to provide negative pressure.

An etching method of etching silicon formed on a side surface of a recess that exists in a substrate includes: forming an oxide film on a surface of the silicon by performing a radical oxidation processing on the substrate; performing a chemical processing with a gas on the oxide film; and removing a reaction product produced by the chemical processing, wherein the forming the oxide film includes: a first phase of performing a radical processing with a plasma of an oxygen-containing gas; and a second phase of performing a radical processing with a plasma of the oxygen-containing gas and an etching gas, and wherein the forming the oxide film, the performing the chemical processing, and the removing the reaction product are repeated multiple times.

The present disclosure relates to a system and method for semiconductor manufacturing that utilizes a chamber pressure control ring equipped with integrated micro shutters. The system, managed by a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control, enables rapid and precise modulation of chamber pressure, significantly outperforming conventional vacuum valve-based methods. This innovation improves process efficiency and reduces cycle times, particularly in advanced semiconductor processes such as atomic layer etching (ALE) and atomic layer deposition (ALD).

A substrate processing system comprises a processing chamber comprising a pedestal configured to support a substrate. The processing chamber comprises a showerhead configured to supply precursors during dose steps and a purge gas during purge steps of an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process to process the substrate. The dose steps and the purge steps comprise a sequence of a dose step followed by a subsequent purge step. The substrate processing system comprises a throttle valve connected to the processing chamber and a vacuum pump connected to the throttle valve. The substrate processing system comprises a controller configured to control the vacuum pump, open the throttle valve during the purge steps, and close the throttle valve during at least a portion of the dose steps to increase pressure in the processing chamber during at least the portion of the dose steps of the ALD process.

An embodiment plasma processing apparatus includes a plasma generation source, a nozzle in a plasma chamber, the nozzle being able to direct plasma from the plasma generation source to a wafer that is to be processed, the plasma having the form of a plasma stream at an exit of the nozzle, an outer annulus disposed in the plasma chamber and over the wafer, the outer annulus surrounding the nozzle, a gas exhaust disposed between inner sidewalls of the outer annulus and outer sidewalls of the nozzle, and a first vacuum pump connected to the gas exhaust between the inner sidewalls of the outer annulus and the outer sidewalls of the nozzle.

The transporting apparatus of the present invention comprises an end effector including a hand and a plurality of vacuum holes installed in the hand; and a carrier located on the hand and for supporting a consumable part, wherein the carrier comprises one side for supporting a consumable part, the other surface facing the hand of the end effector, and a plurality of support blocks installed on the other surface and corresponding to the plurality of vacuum holes, wherein an inner space communicating with the vacuum hole is installed in the plurality of support blocks, and the inner space is evacuated by negative pressure provided from the plurality of vacuum holes.

The present invention, as manifested in one or more aspects, provides a novel apparatus, system and method for performing delayering and imaging of integrated circuit chips (IC). The delayering of the IC (also referred to as etching of the IC) followed by the imaging of the IC with the use of an electron microscope, for example, occur in one vacuumized chamber without breaking vacuum. Consequently, the likelihood of contamination is reduced and the overall time for IC delayering and evaluation is decreased.