A pedestal for a thermal treatment chamber is disclosed that includes a body consisting of an optically transparent material. The body includes a first plate with a perforated surface having a plurality of nozzles formed therein, a first portion of the plurality nozzles formed in the body at an angle that is orthogonal to a plane of the first plate, a second portion of the plurality of nozzles formed in the body in an azimuthal orientation and at an acute angle relative to the plane of the first plate, and a third portion of the plurality nozzles formed in the body in a radial orientation and at an acute angle relative to the plane of the first plate.

A droplet ejecting apparatus includes a workpiece table configured to place a workpiece thereon, a droplet ejecting head configured to eject droplets onto the workpiece placed on the workpiece table, a Y-axis linear motor configured to move the workpiece table in a main scanning direction (Y-axis direction), a position detector configured to detect a position of a carriage mark, and a control unit configured to calculate the positional deviation amount in the main scanning direction between a detection position detected by the position detector and a reference position of the carriage mark and correct a droplet ejecting timing of the droplet ejecting head based on the positional deviation amount.

An optical system may include a light source to provide a beam of light. The optical system may include a reflector to receive and redirect the beam of light. The optical system may include a light gate having an opening to permit the beam of light, from the reflector, to travel through the opening. The optical system may include a light sensor to receive a portion of the beam of light after the beam of light travels through the opening, and convert the portion of the beam of light to a signal. The optical system may include a processing device to determine whether a notch of a wafer is in an allowable position based on the signal.

The present application provides a wafer cleaning equipment and a wafer cleaning method. During wafer cleaning operation, the landing position of a cleaning agent sprayed by a nozzle onto the surface of a wafer can be detected, and when the landing position produces a deviation, the measures of controlling a nozzle adjusting mechanism to adjust the position and/or spray angle of the nozzle, controlling a flow rate adjusting unit to adjust the flow rate of the cleaning agent sprayed by the nozzle, etc. are taken, so that the landing position of the cleaning agent sprayed by the nozzle onto the surface of the wafer is within a preset target region.

An aligner device includes a robot hand, a lifting mechanism, sensors, a misalignment calculating unit, an x-y misalignment correcting unit, and a θ misalignment correcting unit. The robot hand includes vertically aligned hand members each configured to hold a planar workpiece. The lifting mechanism moves planar workpieces transported by the robot hand up from and down to the hand members, respectively. Each of the sensors, vertically spaced apart from each other, has a downward sensor surface to capture the outline of a planar workpiece brought close to the sensor surface by the workpiece lifting mechanism. The misalignment calculating unit calculates, by using the images of the captured outline shapes of the planar workpieces, an amount of positional misalignment of each planar workpiece with a reference position in X, Y and θ directions. The X-Y misalignment correcting unit corrects the misalignment of each planar workpiece in the X and Y directions based on the amount of X-Y direction misalignment calculated by the misalignment calculating unit. The θ misalignment correcting unit corrects the misalignment of each planar workpiece in the θ direction based on the amount of θ misalignment of the planar workpiece.

A substrate processing system includes a load-lock module including load-lock module stages, a process module including process module stages, a vacuum transfer module that connects the load-lock module to the process module, a first transfer device that transfers substrates from the load-lock module stages to the process module stages, the first transfer device being provided in the vacuum transfer module, a second transfer device that transfers the substrates to the load-lock module stages, and a processor. The processor is configured to perform teaching a position at which the first transfer device receives the substrates from the load-lock module, teaching a position at which the first transfer device delivers the substrates to the process module, measuring shift amounts between the process module stages and the substrates mounted thereon, and correcting positions at which the second transfer device delivers the substrates to the load-lock module stages based on the measured shift amounts.

A conveyance system discriminates the front and back of a frame wafer without human intervention. A frame is partially formed asymmetrically with respect to a predetermined center line when viewed in a direction orthogonal to a surface of a wafer. The conveyance system includes a hand configured to hold the frame so that the frame extends in a predetermined virtual plane, a first sensor configured to detect a portion of the frame held on the hand and located in a predetermined first region in the virtual plane, a second sensor configured to detect a portion of the frame held on the hand and located in a second region opposite to the first region across the center line, and a controller configured to determine the front and back of the frame wafer based on a detection result obtained by the first sensor and a detection result obtained by the second sensor.

A conveyor system for moving a plurality of targets is provided. The conveyor system includes at least one input group to input the target, at least one output group to output the target, and at least one bridge group to connect the input group with the output group. Each of the input group, the output group, and the bridge group includes a plurality of nodes having a size corresponding to a size of one target. The conveyor system further includes a control unit to align the target moving on the conveyor system.

A jig for teaching substrate handling in a semiconductor processing system includes a verification pin with a pin width and a disc body. The disc body has a first surface, a second surface opposite the first surface, and a thickness separating the second surface from the first surface of the disc body. The first and second surfaces define a verification aperture coupling the first surface to the second surface of the disc body. The verification aperture has an aperture width equivalent to the pin width of the verification pin to teach a transfer position by slidably receiving the verification pin in the verification aperture and a verification pin seat defined in a load lock of the semiconductor processing system while supported by a substrate transfer robot within the semiconductor processing system. Semiconductor processing systems and methods of teaching substrate handling in semiconductor processing systems are also described.

A liquid chemical processing device that reduces variation in resist removal for each substrate includes: a processing tank (10a) in which resist removal processing is performed by immersing substrates (4) in a chemical (6); a plurality of holders (22) configured to hold the substrates (4) in a vertical posture; vertical drivers (20) configured to individually and vertically drive the holders (22); and a chuck (55) configured to disengageably chuck the substrates (4), wherein the vertical drivers (20) are configured to individually and vertically move the holders (22) between an immersed position where the substrates (4) are immersed in the chemical (6) and a non-immersed position where the substrates (4) are lifted up from the chemical (6), and the substrates (4) held by the holders (22) are subjected to the resist removal processing in a single wafer manner.