There is provided a technique that includes a substrate support including a support column made of metal and a plurality of supports installed at the support column and configured to support a plurality of substrates in multiple stages; a process chamber configured to accommodate the plurality of substrates supported by the substrate support; and a heater configured to heat the plurality of substrates accommodated in the process chamber, wherein the plurality of supports includes at least a contact portion configured to make contact with the plurality of substrates and made of at least one selected from the group of a metal oxide and a non-metal material.

In an embodiment, a system includes: a base; and a rod set comprising multiple rods connected to the base, wherein each rod of the rod set comprises multiple fingers disposed in a vertically-stacked relationship to each other and separated respectively from each other by respective slots, wherein each slot is configured to receive a bevel of a wafer, and wherein each of the multiple fingers comprises a rounded end at a furthest extension.

A wafer boat and a method for forming a layer on a plurality of substrates that are provided in the wafer boat is disclosed. Aspects of the presently described wafer boat comprise at least two wafer boat rods, each of which including at least a first set of slots for holding a plurality of substrates. The wafer boat further includes a plurality of plates, whereby at least one slot of the at least first set of slots is provided in between two neighboring plates.

Described herein is a technique capable of processing a substrate uniformly using microwaves. According to one aspect of the technique of the present disclosure, there is provided a heating element used in a substrate processing apparatus configured to heat a substrate supported by a substrate retainer by microwaves and process the substrate, the heating element including a dielectric material of an annular shape capable of generating heat by the microwaves. An inner circumferential portion of the heating element is located outer than an outer circumferential portion of the substrate, and the heating element is supported by the substrate retainer without contacting the substrate.

In one embodiment, a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus includes a container to contain wafers, and supporting tables provided in the container so as to be stacked on one another, and each including a supporting face that comes into contact with a wafer to support the wafer. The apparatus further includes supporting columns to join the supporting tables together and provided at positions where the supporting columns are contained inside outer circumferences of the supporting tables. The apparatus further includes a gas feeder to feed a gas to the wafers on the supporting tables, and a gas discharger to discharge the gas fed to the wafers on the supporting tables. Each of the supporting tables includes a first upper face as the supporting face, and a second upper face provided so as to surround the first upper face at a level higher than a level of the first upper face.

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 semiconductor manufacturing apparatus includes a first structure having a first hole, a second structure on the first structure, the second structure including a space for accommodating a substrate and a lower plate with a second hole, a first pin insertable into the first hole, the first pin having a same diameter as the first hole and a length smaller than a length of the first hole in a vertical direction, a second pin insertable into the second hole and on the first pin, the second pin having a same diameter as the second hole, a locking plate between the first pin and the second pin, the locking plate overhanging a side wall of the first pin, and a coupling member configured to couple the first pin to or separate the first pin from the second pin.

A support ring for supporting a semiconductor wafer in a boat of a vertical furnace used in processing of the semiconductor wafer includes a semicircular segment. The semicircular segment has an upper surface, a lower surface opposite the upper surface, a radial inner wall defining an inner radius, and a radial outer wall defining an outer radius. The support ring further includes protrusions in the upper surface of the semicircular segment. The protrusions extend above the upper surface.

Provided are a quartz glass member with an increased exposure area, which has an increased exposure area to a film formation treatment gas as compared to a member having a flat surface and has the increased exposure area controlled so that a constant adsorption amount of the film formation treatment gas onto a surface thereof is achieved, a method for manufacturing the quartz glass member with an increased exposure area, and a blade with multiple peripheral cutting edges to be used for the method. The quartz glass member with an increased exposure area is a quartz glass member for exposure to a film formation treatment gas to be, in film formation treatment of a semiconductor substrate, placed in a reaction chamber together with the semiconductor substrate to be subjected to the film formation treatment and exposed to the film formation treatment gas, the quartz glass member including: a quartz glass member main body; and a plurality of irregularities formed on a surface of the quartz glass member main body, the exposure area of the quartz glass member to the film formation treatment gas being controlled and increased.

Provided is a wafer boat having a plurality of SiC wafers mounted on the water boat so that main surfaces of the plurality of the SiC wafers vertically face each other. The wafer boat includes a wafer support member in which a plurality of wafer shelves supporting the plurality of the SiC wafers are provided along an arrangement direction of the plurality of the SiC wafers, and a surface roughness of at least the wafer support member is equal to or larger than 2 m and equal to or smaller than 4 m at Ra value.