A rotational indexer rotatable to move semiconductor wafers or other items between various stations arranged in a circular array. The items being moved may be supported by arms of the indexer during such movement. The rotational indexer may be further configured to also cause the items being moved to rotate about other rotational axes to cause rotation of the items relative to the arms supporting them.

In an embodiment, a method includes: receiving, within a processing chamber, a wafer with a photoresist mask above a metal layer, wherein the processing chamber is connected to a gas source; applying an etchant configured to etch the metal layer in accordance with the photoresist mask within the processing chamber; and applying gas from the gas source to perform plasma ashing in the processing chamber.

A substrate processing apparatus includes: a vacuum transfer chamber including a substrate transfer mechanism provided in a vacuum transfer space thereof to collectively hold and transfer substrates with a substrate holder; and a processing chamber having processing spaces and connected to the vacuum transfer chamber. The processing chamber includes a loading/unloading port provided on a side of the vacuum transfer chamber to allow the vacuum transfer space and the processing spaces to communicate with each other. The processing spaces include a first processing space in which a first process is performed on the substrate and a second processing space in which a second process is performed on the substrate subjected to the first process. The first and second processing spaces are arranged in a direction in which the substrate is loaded and unloaded, and the substrate holder has a length that extends over the first and second processing spaces.

An operating method of a vacuum processing apparatus for processing multiple wafers sequentially in a vacuum processing apparatus comprising multiple vacuum transfer containers, adjacent two of which are interlinked, a lock chamber inside which a wafer is housed. The multiple processing units are each subjected to of cleaning the interior thereof upon elapse of a predetermined period. In advance of processing multiple wafers, the operating method configures multiple sets of processing units to process each of the wafers from among the multiple processing units and starts processing of the wafers, delayed by a predetermined time in descending order of the number of processing units included in each of the multiple sets of processing units and in descending order of distance of the processing units included from the lock chamber.

An apparatus includes first load ports 2A and 2B and second load ports 2C and 2D provided in a left-right direction; a processing unit D2; an inspection module 4 provided between the first load ports 2A and 2B and the second load ports 2C and 2D; a first substrate transfer mechanism 5A provided at one side of the inspection module 4 in the left-right direction, and configured to transfer a substrate W into the processing unit D2 and a transfer container C on the first load ports 2A and 2B; a second substrate transfer mechanism 5B provided at the other side thereof, and configured to transfer the substrate W into the inspection module 4 and a transfer container C on the second load ports 2C and 2D; and a transit unit 51 for transferring the substrate W between the first and the second substrate transfer mechanisms 5A and 5B.

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.

A high-pressure processing system for processing a layer on a substrate includes a first chamber, a support to hold the substrate in the first chamber, a second chamber adjacent the first chamber, a foreline to remove gas from the second chamber, a vacuum processing system configured to lower a pressure within the second chamber to near vacuum, a valve assembly between the first chamber and the second chamber to isolate the pressure within the first chamber from the pressure within the second chamber, a gas delivery system configured to increase the pressure within the first chamber to at least 10 atmospheres while the first chamber is isolated from the second chamber, an exhaust system comprising an exhaust line to remove gas from the first chamber, and a common housing surrounding both the first gas delivery module and the second gas delivery module.

A system, includes, a semiconductor processing unit, an Automated Materials Handling System (AMHS) vehicle, and a warehouse apparatus, wherein the warehouse apparatus comprises at least one input port, at least one output port, and at least one load/unload port, wherein the warehouse apparatus is configured to perform one of the following: receiving a plurality of tray cassette containers from the AMHS vehicle at the at least one input port, transporting at least one tray cassette in each of a plurality of tray cassette containers to the at least one load/unload port via the at least one input port, transporting at least one first tray from the at least one tray cassette to the semiconductor processing unit via a tray feeder conveyor, and receiving at least one second tray from the semiconductor processing unit via the tray feeder conveyor.

A substrate processing apparatus includes a stage including a first section and a second section, pins, a lifter configured to raise and lower the pins, and a controller configured to control the lifter. On the first section, a substrate is placed. On the second section, an edge ring is placed. The second section is provided at a periphery of the first section. Also, at the second section, holes are provided. The pins are provided in the respective holes so as to move up and down through the holes.

A method of preparing a self-aligned via on a semiconductor workpiece includes using an integrated sequence of processing steps executed on a common manufacturing platform hosting a plurality of processing modules including one or more film-forming modules, one or more etching modules, and one or more transfer modules. The integrated sequence of processing steps include receiving the workpiece into the common manufacturing platform, the workpiece having a pattern of metal features in a dielectric layer wherein exposed surfaces of the metal features and exposed surfaces of the dielectric layer together define an upper planar surface; selectively etching the metal features to form a recess pattern by recessing the exposed surfaces of the metal features beneath the exposed surfaces of the dielectric layer using one of the one or more etching modules; and depositing an etch stop layer over the recess pattern using one of the one or more film-forming modules.