Provided is a heat insulation structure used for a vertical heat treatment apparatus that performs a heat treatment on a substrate. The vertical heat treatment apparatus includes: a processing container having a double tube structure including an inner tube and an outer tube closed upward, the processing container having an opening at a lower end thereof; a gas supply section and exhaust section provided on a lower side of the processing container; a lid configured to introduce or discharge the substrate into or from the opening and to open/close the opening; and a heating section provided to cover the processing container from an outside. The heat insulation structure is provided between the inner tube and the outer tube.

A ring storage station used for delivering a consumable part to a substrate processing system includes a housing that includes a base plate and a rotating plate disposed over the base plate. An end-effector opening is disposed at a first side of the housing and a service window opening is disposed at a second side of the housing. A set of finger support structures is connected to the rotating plate. Each finger support structure includes a support column and support fingers disposed thereon. At least two of the set of columns have support fingers with index pins to radially align consumable parts when disposed in the ring storage station. In one configuration, consumable parts may be designed to match the rotation angle engagement to ensure catching the angle alignment between ring storage and process module.

A wafer boat configured to be placed on a pedestal of a vertical batch furnace, the pedestal having a substantially flat support surface. The wafer boat comprises a support ring defining a substantially flat bottom end surface of the wafer boat, and an alignment ring substantially concentric with the support ring. Either the support surface of the pedestal, or a bottom side of the alignment ring is provided with a plurality of alignment elements respectively protruding upwards from the support surface or downwards from the alignment ring, while the other one is provided with a plurality of alignment openings configured to accommodate therein the plurality of alignment elements. The support ring downwardly protrudes beyond the alignment ring so that, when the wafer boat is placed on the pedestal, the support ring is supported on the support surface while the alignment ring is spaced from the support surface of the pedestal.

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 vertical heat treatment apparatus includes: a substrate holder including a column, substrate holding parts configured to hold the substrates, and gas flow guide parts installed in the column in a corresponding relationship with the substrates; an elevator stand configured to support the substrate holder and to load the substrate holder into the reaction vessel from below the reaction vessel; a rotating mechanism installed in the elevator stand and configured to rotate the substrate holder about a vertical axis; a process gas supply port and an exhaust port respectively formed at a rear side and a front side of a substrate holding region; and a plurality of baffle parts installed independently of the substrate holder so that the baffle parts protrude from the outside toward spaces between the gas flow guide parts adjoining each other and run into the spaces.

A substrate boat for use in heat treatment of semiconductor wafers includes support rods and fingers for supporting a substrate in a horizontal orientation in process tools, e.g., furnaces. The substrate is supported in the substrate boat by groups of fingers lying in a common horizontal plane. The fingers contact the substrate at support locations on the back side of the substrate. The fingers have a plurality of different shapes and a substrate surface no contact region.

Described herein is a technique capable of uniformly processing a substrate. According to one aspect of the technique, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus including: a process chamber in which a substrate is processed; a microwave generator configured to supply a microwave to the process chamber to perform a heat treatment on the substrate; a substrate retainer configured to accommodate the substrate and a heat retainer provided above the substrate and retaining a temperature of the substrate heated by the microwave; and a first ring plate provided on an outer circumference of the heat retainer and whose outer diameter is greater than that of the substrate.

A central support device for supporting plate-shaped objects and a storage apparatus for storing the plate-shaped objects are provided and adapted to regulate the heights of support elements and confine front ends thereof to a specified range. The central support device includes a casing, the support elements and height adjustment elements. Partition portions each having a dent portions are disposed at the casing and arranged in the heightwise direction, with a support element receiving slot defined between every two adjacent partition portions. Bottom sides of the dent portions slope in the heightwise direction. One end of each support element is connected to a bottom portion of a corresponding support element receiving slot. The height adjustment elements are disposed in the dent portions, respectively, and extend in the heightwise direction to form top ends for supporting the support elements. The storage apparatus also includes the central support device.

A modularized large-sized carrier includes at least two body modules, at least one hermetic seal component and a back board. The body modules are connected to each other peripherally and arranged in a depth direction. The hermetic seal component surrounds junctions of the body modules. The back board is disposed behind the last one of the body modules. The modularized large-sized carrier overcomes existing carrier size limitations otherwise caused by injection molding machines and continuously expands in the depth direction to thereby enlarge the airtight storage space of the carrier.

A central support device for supporting plate-shaped objects and a storage apparatus for storing the plate-shaped objects are provided and adapted to regulate the heights of support elements and confine front ends thereof to a specified range. The central support device includes a casing, the support elements and height adjustment elements. Partition portions each having a dent portions are disposed at the casing and arranged in the heightwise direction, with a support element receiving slot defined between every two adjacent partition portions. Bottom sides of the dent portions slope in the heightwise direction. One end of each support element is connected to a bottom portion of a corresponding support element receiving slot. The height adjustment elements are disposed in the dent portions, respectively, and extend in the heightwise direction to form top ends for supporting the support elements. The storage apparatus also includes the central support device.