There is provided a substrate processing method including: reducing an oxide of a ruthenium film by supplying a hydrogen-containing gas to a substrate including the ruthenium film; etching the ruthenium film by supplying an oxygen-containing gas to the substrate so as to oxidize the ruthenium film; and repeating, multiple times, a cycle including reducing the oxide of the ruthenium film and etching the ruthenium film.

There is provided a technique that includes a reaction container in which an object to be processed, containing a semiconductor, is arranged; a heater configured to emit heat; and a radiation control body arranged between the reaction container and the heater, wherein the radiation control body is configured to radiate a radiant wave of a wavelength transmittable through the reaction container by selecting a wavelength of a radiation heat from the heater such that the radiant wave reaches the object to be processed in the reaction container.

The disclosure relates to a flange for a process tube in an apparatus for processing substrates, e.g., a vertical furnace. The flange may be provided with an opening for in use giving access to the process chamber of the process tube and a cooling channel for allowing a cooling fluid to flow there through and cool the flange. A material with a heat conductivity between 0.1 and 40 W/m K may be at least partially provided in between the cooling fluid and the rest of the flange.

A workpiece management method includes a frame unit forming step of forming a frame unit with a workpiece supported in an opening of an annular frame via a resin sheet, a printing step of, after performing the frame unit forming step, printing identification information of the workpiece on the resin sheet in an area between an outer periphery of the workpiece and an inner periphery of the annular frame, a processing step of processing the workpiece by a processing machine, a separation step of separating the processed workpiece from the resin sheet, and a storage step of storing the resin sheet from which the workpiece has been separated. A sheet cutting machine suitable for use in the workpiece management method is also disclosed.

A substrate treatment method is provided, which includes: an organic solvent replacing step of supplying an organic solvent, whereby a liquid film of the organic solvent is formed on the substrate as covering the upper surface of the substrate to replace a rinse liquid with the organic solvent; a substrate temperature increasing step of allowing the temperature of the upper surface of the substrate to reach a first temperature level higher than the boiling point of the organic solvent after the formation of the organic solvent liquid film, whereby a vapor film of the organic solvent is formed below the entire organic solvent liquid film between the organic solvent liquid film and the substrate to levitate the organic solvent liquid film above the organic solvent vapor film; and an organic solvent removing step of removing the levitated organic solvent liquid film from above the upper surface of the substrate.

Methods and apparatus for supporting substrates are provided herein. In some embodiments, a substrate support for supporting a plurality of substrates includes: a plurality of substrate support elements having a ring shape configured to support a plurality of substrates in a vertically spaced apart relation; and a plurality of substrate lift elements interfacing with the plurality of substrate support elements and configured to simultaneously selectively raise or lower substrates off of or onto respective substrate support elements.

A heat treatment apparatus includes: an inner tube having a cylindrical shape and configured to accommodate a substrate; an outer tube configured to cover an outside of the inner tube; a heater provided around the outer tube; a gas supply pipe that extends along a longitudinal direction in the inner tube; an opening formed in a side wall of the inner tube facing the gas supply pipe; a temperature sensor provided at a position shifted by a predetermined angle from the opening in a circumferential direction of the inner tube; and a controller that controls the heater based on a detected value of the temperature sensor.

According to one aspect of the technique, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus including: a reaction chamber in which a substrate is processed; a lid configured to close a furnace opening of the reaction chamber; a base provided below the lid; and a connector provided to connect the lid and the base. The connector includes: a shaft provided at the lid; an elastic structure provided to surround the shaft and configured to hold the lid; a cap provided to surround the elastic structure and provided at the base; a fixing block provided below the cap; and a moving block held by a holder provided between the fixing block and the shaft.

A heater and/or cooler chamber includes a heat storage block or chunk. In the block a multitude of parallel, stacked slit pockets are each dimensioned to accommodate a single plate shaped workpiece. Workpiece handling openings of the slit pockets are freed and respectively covered by a door arrangement. The slit pockets are tailored to snugly surround the plate shaped workpieces therein so as to establish an efficient heat transfer between the heat storage block or chunk and the workpieces to be cooled or heated.

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.