The current disclosure relates to a vapor deposition assembly for depositing material on a substrate. The vapor deposition assembly comprises a treatment chamber for treating susceptors from a deposition chamber that comprises multiple, moveable susceptors. The assembly further comprises a transfer system configured and arranged to move a susceptor between the deposition chamber and the treatment chamber. The disclosure further relates to a method of cleaning as susceptor and to a susceptor treatment apparatus.

There is provided a method of inspecting a substrate in an etching system including an imaging device, the method comprising: (A) imaging a substrate after plasma etching with the imaging device to acquire image data; and (B) calculating, based on the image data of the substrate after plasma etching, at least one selected from a group consisting of a dimension of a pattern on the substrate after plasma etching, information on a defect on the substrate after plasma etching, a thickness of a film on the substrate after plasma etching, and information on an appearance of the substrate after plasma etching.

Methods and apparatus for processing a substrate is provided herein. For example, a method for processing a substrate comprises depositing a silicide layer within a feature defined in a layer on a substrate, forming one of a metal liner layer or a metal seed layer atop the silicide layer within the feature via depositing at least one of molybdenum (Mo) or tungsten (W) using physical vapor deposition, and depositing Mo using at least one of chemical vapor deposition or atomic layer deposition atop the at least one of the metal liner layer or the metal seed layer, without vacuum break.

A substrate cleaning apparatus and related apparatuses/methods are disclosed. In one embodiment, a substrate cleaning apparatus includes: a first spindle group including a first driving spindle having a first driving roller configured to rotate a substrate and an idler spindle having a driven roller rotated by the substrate; a second spindle group including a plurality of second driving spindles each having a second driving roller configured to rotate the substrate; a cleaning mechanism configured to clean the substrate rotated by the first driving roller and the plurality of second driving rollers; and a rotation detector configured to detect the rotational speed of the driven roller. The driven roller is positioned on the opposite side to a direction in which the substrate receives a force from the cleaning mechanism.

A substrate processing apparatus includes a liquid processing module, including a carry-out/in port of a substrate, in which a first liquid processing device and a second liquid processing device provided at a position farther from the carry-out/in port than the first liquid processing device is are provided; and a transfer device configured to carry the substrate out from and into the liquid processing module. The first liquid processing device performs a first liquid processing on the substrate. The second liquid processing device performs a second liquid processing on the substrate before or after the first liquid processing. The transfer device includes a substrate holder configured to be moved back and forth in a first horizontal direction, and carries the non-processed substrate into the first liquid processing device through the carry-out/in port and carries the processed substrate out from the first liquid processing device through the carry-out/in port.

Semiconductor processing apparatuses and methods are provided in which an electrostatic discharge (ESD) prevention layer is utilized to prevent or reduce ESD events from occurring between a semiconductor wafer and one or more components of the apparatuses. In some embodiments, a semiconductor processing apparatus includes a wafer handling structure that is configured to support a semiconductor wafer during processing of the semiconductor wafer. The apparatus further includes an ESD prevention layer on the wafer handling structure. The ESD prevention layer includes a first material and a second material, and the second material has an electrical conductivity that is greater than an electrical conductivity of the first material.

Disclosed are techniques and systems for automatically determining and correcting the levelness of a wafer handling robot end effector. The systems may use a tilt sensor or a gravitational field sensor which may be calibrated to the wafer handling robot. The output from the tilt sensor may be used to determine or estimate the tilt of an end effector of the wafer handling robot and to perform correctional positioning to reduce or eliminate the tilt, to automatically teach certain positions that have reduced tilt, to perform health checks on the robot, provide feedback to a user, etc.

A substrate processing device includes a transfer chamber configured to transfer a substrate under an atmospheric atmosphere and a plurality of processing units each including at least one processing chamber for processing the substrate under a vacuum atmosphere and at least one load-lock chamber connected to the processing chamber to switch an inner atmosphere thereof between the atmospheric atmosphere and the vacuum atmosphere. The transfer chamber includes a connection unit configured to connect the transfer chamber and the load-lock chamber such that each of the processing units is detachably attached. The connection unit includes an opening that allows the transfer chamber to communicate with the load-lock chamber, and an opening/closing mechanism configured to open and close the opening portion.

Disclosed herein are systems and methods relating to a transfer chamber for an electronic device processing system. The transfer chamber can include a first magnetic levitation track having a face-up orientation and a second magnetic levitation track spaced from the first magnetic levitation track and having a face-down orientation. The system can include substrate carriers that move along the first and second magnetic levitation tracks where each substrate carrier includes a magnet on a bottom portion to interact with a first magnetic field and a second magnet on a top portion to interact with a second magnetic field. The system also can include at least one lift pin assembly to move the substrate carriers in a vertical direction between the first and second magnetic levitation tracks.

A particle removed from a substrate is suppressed from adhering to the substrate again. A substrate cleaning apparatus includes a substrate holder configured to hold the substrate; a gas nozzle configured to jet a cleaning gas to the substrate on the substrate holder; and a nozzle cover provided to surround the gas nozzle. The cleaning gas is jetted to a decompression chamber of the nozzle cover from the gas nozzle, and a gas cluster configured to remove the particle on the substrate in the decompression chamber is generated. A gas for a gas curtain is jetted from a holder support of the substrate holder toward the nozzle cover, and the gas curtain is formed between the nozzle cover and the holder support.