A carrier is formed in ring shape having a bottom surface mounted on an upper surface of a susceptor, an upper surface that contacts and supports an outer edge of a back surface of the wafer, an outer peripheral side wall surface and an inner peripheral side wall surface, and a gas vent hole is provided to penetrate between a space partitioned by the wafer, the carrier and the susceptor and a back surface of the susceptor.

A method for particle abatement in a wafer processing tool implements at least one cleaning-purposed mobile electrostatic carrier (MESC) including electrostatic field generating (EFG) circuits. Each EFG circuit is charged with the cleaning-purposed MESC. The cleaning-purposed MESC is then loaded into the wafer processing tool in a facedown orientation. A normal-purposed MESC is loaded into the wafer processing tool in a faceup orientation. Next, foreign materials are bonded to the cleaning-purposed MESC as the cleaning-purposed MESC is moved along a processing path through the wafer processing tool in the facedown orientation. The normal-purposed MESC travels the processing path during normal operation of the wafer processing tool in the faceup orientation. The cleaning-purposed MESC is then unloaded from the wafer processing tool. Next, the foreign materials are debonded from the cleaning-purposed MESC by discharging each EFG circuit with the cleaning-purposed MESC. Finally, the foreign materials are removed off the cleaning-purposed MESC.

A plasma processing apparatus includes a processing chamber, a support in the processing chamber to support an edge ring assembly that includes a heat transfer sheet that is attached to an edge ring, and the edge ring surrounding the substrate supported by support, and a delivery structure for vertically moving and transferring the edge ring assembly between the plasma processing apparatus and the pressure-reducible transfer apparatus. The transfer apparatus includes a pressure-reducible transfer chamber connected to the processing chamber, and a transferer for transferring the edge ring assembly. Without exposing the processing chamber to the atmosphere, the transferer supports the heat transfer sheet and moves the edge ring assembly to a position above the support, the delivery structure receives the edge ring assembly from the transferer and supports the heat transfer sheet, and the support receives the edge ring assembly to support the edge ring via the heat transfer sheet.

The present disclosure provides a magazine supporting equipment for supporting a magazine with multiple input ports. The magazine supporting equipment comprises a contact plate, a first sidewall plate, and a second sidewall plate. The contact plate is in contact with the magazine. The first sidewall plate extends vertically from one end of the contact plate. The second sidewall plate parallel is to the first sidewall plate and extends vertically from one end to the other end of the contact plate. The first sidewall plate extends along at least a part of a first sidewall of the magazine. The second sidewall plate extends along at least a part of a second sidewall of the magazine. The first sidewall plate and the second sidewall plate include control openings through which gas flows in and out.

A substrate storing and aligning apparatus is proposed. The substrate storing and aligning apparatus is capable of efficiently using space in substrate bonding equipment. The substrate storing and aligning apparatus in the substrate bonding equipment for bonding substrates includes a front end buffer including a front end storing slot configured to temporarily store a substrate, and a front end opening configured such that a transfer robot is movable therethrough to transfer the substrate from the front end storing slot, and a front end aligner provided to be stacked on an upper portion of the front end buffer, and configured to rotate the substrate so as to align the substrate.

A silicon wafer/cell, a photovoltaic cell module and a carrier, and a design and arrangement method are provided. The silicon wafer/cell is shaped as a rectangle or a quasi-rectangle with chamfered corners, with two adjacent side lengths of x and y, where x≠y, wherein the quasi-rectangle with chamfered corners has a chamfered area not more than 5% of its total area. The photovoltaic cell module is formed by arraying a plurality of the above-mentioned cells. The carder has an opening, the length of the opening of the carrier is equal to that of a short side of the silicon wafer/cell, and the silicon wafer/cell can be inserted into the opening along its long-side direction.

Using the first robot, the carrier standing by in the load lock chamber is deposited into the reaction chamber without mounting the wafer before processing, and cleaning gas is supplied while the reaction chamber is maintained at a predetermined cleaning temperature, and the carrier that has been cleaned in the reaction chamber is transferred to the load lock chamber using the first robot. The carrier is cleaned at a predetermined frequency.

Using the first robot, the carrier standing by in the load lock chamber is deposited into the reaction chamber without mounting the wafer before processing, and cleaning gas is supplied while the reaction chamber is maintained at a predetermined cleaning temperature, and the carrier that has been cleaned in the reaction chamber is transferred to the load lock chamber using the first robot. The carrier and susceptor are cleaned at a predetermined frequency. After that, the carrier is carried out from the reaction chamber, and the reaction gas is supplied to the reaction chamber to form a polysilicon film on the surface of the susceptor.

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.

Provided is an apparatus for processing a substrate using plasma, in which an etching rate can be controlled using an insulation plate provided with an air-gap. The substrate processing apparatus includes a chamber including a processing space for processing a substrate using plasma, and a support module located in the processing space and for supporting the substrate, wherein the support module includes a support plate for receiving high frequency power and a first surface disposed under the support plate and facing the support plate, and at least one first recess is formed on the first surface.