A substrate processing system includes an equipment front end module (EFEM) coupled to a vacuum-based mainframe, the EFEM including multiple interface openings. The system further includes a batch degas chamber attached to the EFEM at an interface opening of the multiple interface openings. The batch degas chamber includes a housing that is sealed to the interface opening of the EFEM. Within the housing is located a cassette configured to hold multiple substrates. A reactor chamber, attached to the housing, is to receive the cassette and perform an active degas process on the multiple substrates. The active degas process removes moisture and contaminants from surfaces of the multiple substrates. An exhaust line is attached to the reactor chamber to provide an exit for the moisture and contaminants.

According to one aspect of the technique described herein, there is provided a technique including: forming a film on a substrate by performing a cycle a predetermined number of times, wherein the cycle includes sequentially performing: (a) supplying source gas to a substrate accommodated in a reaction tube; (b) exhausting the source gas remaining in the reaction tube through an exhaust pipe connected to the reaction tube; (c) supplying a reactive gas reacting with the source gas to the substrate; and (d) exhausting the reactive gas remaining in the reaction tube through the exhaust pipe, wherein at least in (a) and (c), a temperature of the reaction tube is set to a first temperature lower than a thermal decomposition temperature of the source gas and higher than a condensation temperature of the source gas and a temperature of the exhaust pipe is set to a second temperature equal to or higher than the first temperature.

A method for depositing a silicon nitride layer on a stack is provided. The method comprises providing an atomic layer deposition, comprising a plurality of cycles, wherein each cycle comprises dosing the stack with a silicon containing precursor by providing a silicon containing precursor gas, providing an N.sub.2 plasma conversion, and providing an H.sub.2 plasma conversion.

Provided is a SiC composite substrate including a biaxially-oriented SiC layer in which SiC is oriented in both a c-axis direction and an a-axis direction, and a SiC polycrystalline layer provided on one surface of the biaxially-oriented SiC layer. A joint interface of the biaxially-oriented SiC layer and the SiC polycrystalline layer has an uneven shape, which has an amount of unevenness of 1 to 200 μm.

This application relates to an apparatus and method for processing a wafer. In an embodiment of this application, an apparatus for processing a wafer includes: a heater including a pedestal, where a top portion of the pedestal includes an annular edge step and a wafer pocket recessed relative to the annular edge step to accommodate a wafer; a side ring, including an outer portion and a top portion, where the outer portion surrounds an outer side wall of the pedestal, and the top portion covers an outer portion of the annular edge step and includes a centripetal slant bevel; and a shadow ring, a bottom portion thereof including a slant bevel matching the centripetal slant bevel of the top portion of the side ring.

A workpiece support for a thermal processing system is provided. The workpiece support includes a rotor configured to support a workpiece. The workpiece support further includes a gas supply. The gas supply can include a plurality of bearing pads. Each of the bearing pads can be positioned closer to a periphery of the rotor than a center of the rotor. Each of the bearing define one or more passages configured to direct gas onto the rotor to control a position of the rotor along a first axis and a second axis that is substantially perpendicular to the first axis. Furthermore, one or more of the bearing pads define at least one additional passage configured to direct gas onto the rotor to control rotation of the rotor about the first axis.

A film forming method includes: removing a natural oxide film formed on a front surface of a metal-containing film by supplying a hydrogen fluoride gas to a substrate accommodated in a processing container, the substrate having the metal-containing film formed thereon, and the metal-containing film including no metal oxide film; and forming a silicon film on the metal-containing film by supplying a silicon-containing gas into the processing container, wherein the step of forming the silicon film occurs after the step of removing the natural oxide film.

A technique for improving uniformity of film thickness on substrates, includes a substrate processing apparatus having a substrate retainer including substrate and partition plate supports; a reaction tube; a first driver vertically moving the substrate retainer into or out of the reaction tube; a second driver vertically moved by the first driver and rotating the substrate retainer to change a distance between a substrate and a partition plate by moving at least one of the substrate or the partition plate support; a heater; a gas supplier comprising a nozzle; a gas exhauster; and a controller controlling the first driver, the second driver and the gas supplier such that a gas is supplied to the substrate while changing at least one of a relative position of the substrate and a relative position of the partition plate with respect to a hole of the nozzle by driving the second driver.

A method and apparatus for applying an electric field and/or a magnetic field to a photoresist layer without air gap intervention during photolithography processes is provided herein. The method and apparatus include a chamber body, which is configured to be filled with a process fluid, and a substrate carrier. The substrate carrier is disposed outside of the process volume while substrates are loaded onto the substrate carrier, but is rotated to a processing position either simultaneously or before entering the process fluid. The substrate carrier is rotated to a process position parallel to an electrode before an electric field is utilized to perform a post-exposure bake process on the substrate.

A heat treatment apparatus includes: a vertically-extended processing container configured to accommodate a substrate; a gas supply including a gas supply pipe that extends along an inner wall surface of the processing container in a vertical direction; a heater having a heat insulating material provided around the processing container, and a heating element provided along the inner wall surface of the heat insulating material; and a cooler having a fluid flow path formed outside the heat insulating material, and a blowing-out hole penetrating the heat insulating material and configured to blow out a cooling fluid toward the gas supply pipe, the blowing-out hole having one end that communicates with the fluid flow path and a remaining end that communicates with a space between the processing container and the heat insulating material. A plurality of blowing-out holes is provided in the gas supply pipe in a longitudinal direction.