The present disclosure provides a technology for holding a substrate with high precision and a high degree of flatness. A substrate holding device of the present disclosure comprises: a rotary stage; and a clamp part that supports, in a planar direction of the substrate, an edge of a substrate which is the object to be rotated by the rotary stage. The rotary stage is provided with: a plurality of gas supply openings that supply a gas toward the substrate; and one or more gas exhaust openings that are provided to each of the plurality of gas supply openings so as to surround the periphery of the gas supply opening.

A substrate treatment apparatus includes: a substrate holding unit; a rotator for rotating the substrate holding unit; a first liquid nozzle for supplying a rinsing liquid; a second liquid nozzle for supplying a low surface tension liquid; a heater; a lifting mechanism for relatively moving up and down the heater between a contact position allowing the heater to be brought into contact with the lower surface of the substrate and a separation position allowing the heater to be separated from the substrate; a gas nozzle provided in an upper surface of the heater to suck the substrate; a suction pump for sucking an atmosphere above the heater through the gas nozzle; a gas supply source for supplying an inert gas toward above the heater through the gas nozzle; and a controller for selectively performing suction of the atmosphere or supply of the inert gas, through the gas nozzle.

An apparatus includes a substrate stage configured to secure a substrate thereon and a motion mechanism configured to rotate the substrate stage. The substrate stage includes a plurality of holding pins for holding an edge of the substrate. Rotating the substrate stage causes a chemical solution dispensed on an upper surface of the substrate to spread outwardly toward the edge of the substrate. At least one of the plurality of holding pins includes at least one opening or at least one tapered side surface, or both, for guiding the chemical solution to flow off the substrate.

An apparatus, system and method for a wafer leveling rim, and for installing a wafer leveling rim. The leveling rim for a semiconductor wafer may include: a thin, substantially rigid receiver ring suitable to receive a circumferential rim of the semiconductor wafer; and a substantially flexible containment ring removably associated with the rigid receiver ring. Thereby, the rigid receiver ring imparts rigidity to a circumferential shape of the semiconductor wafer, and the containment ring retains the semiconductor wafer within the rigid receiver ring.

Dry development or dry removal of metal-containing extreme ultraviolet radiation (EUV) photoresist is performed in atmospheric conditions or performed in process tools without vacuum equipment. Dry removal of the metal-containing EUV photoresist may be performed under atmospheric pressure or over-atmospheric pressure. Dry removal of the metal-containing EUV photoresist may be performed with exposure to an air environment or with non-oxidizing gases. A process chamber or module may be modified or integrated to perform dry removal of the metal-containing EUV photoresist with baking, wafer cleaning, wafer treatment, or other photoresist processing function. In some embodiments, the process chamber for dry removal of the metal-containing EUV photoresist includes a heating assembly for localized heating of a semiconductor substrate and a movable discharge nozzle for localized gas delivery above the semiconductor substrate.

Apparatus and methods for flipping substrates in vacuum between PVD sputtering of each side for increasing throughput are provided herein. In some embodiments disclosed herein, a module of a processing system for flipping a substrate in vacuum is provided. The module includes a clamp assembly for securing the substrate, a first motor assembly coupled to the clamp assembly for rotating the clamp assembly, and a second motor assembly coupled to the first motor assembly for raising and lowering the first motor assembly and the clamp assembly.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure relates to a method that includes aligned a first wafer with a second wafer. The second wafer is spaced apart from the first wafer. The first wafer is arranged on a first electrostatic chuck (ESC). The first ESC has electrostatic contacts that are configured to attract the first wafer to the first ESC. Further, the second wafer is brought toward the first wafer to directly contact the first wafer at an inter-wafer interface. The inter-wafer interface is localized to a center of the first wafer. The second wafer is deformed to gradually expand the inter-wafer interface from the center of the first wafer toward an edge of the first wafer. The electrostatic contacts of the first ESC are turned OFF such that the first and second wafers are bonded to one another by the inter-wafer interface.

A method and apparatus for bonding a processor wafer with a microchannel wafer/glass manifold to form a bonded wafer structure are provided. A glass fixture is also provided for protecting C4 solder bumps on chips disposed on the processor wafer. When the glass fixture is positioned on the processor wafer, posts extending from the glass fixture contact corresponding regions on the processor wafer devoid of C4 solder bumps, so that the glass fixture protects the C4 solder bumps during wafer bonding. The method involves positioning the processor wafer/glass fixture and the microchannel wafer/glass manifold in a metal fixture having one or more alignment structures adapted to engage corresponding alignment elements formed in the processor wafer, glass fixture and/or glass manifold. The metal fixture secures the wafer components in place and, after melting solder pellets disposed between the processor wafer/glass fixture and microchannel wafer/glass manifold, a bonded wafer structure is formed.

Provided is a substrate treating apparatus. The substrate treating apparatus comprises: a support unit provided to support the substrate and rotate the substrate; a treatment liquid nozzle for supplying the treatment liquid onto the substrate supported by the support unit; a pre-wet liquid nozzle for supplying a pre-wet liquid onto a substrate supported by the support unit; and a controller for controlling the treatment liquid nozzle and the pre-wet liquid nozzle, wherein the controller controls the treatment liquid nozzle and the pre-wet liquid nozzle to perform a pre-wet step for supplying the pre-wet liquid to the substrate, and then a treatment liquid supply step for supplying the treatment liquid to the substrate and supplying the pre-wet liquid to the substrate during the supplying the treatment liquid to the substrate.

An industrial-scale system and method for handling precisely aligned and centered semiconductor substrate (e.g., wafer) pairs for substrate-to-substrate (e.g., wafer-to-wafer) aligning and bonding applications is provided. Some embodiments include an aligned substrate transport device having a frame member and a spacer assembly. The centered semiconductor substrate pairs may be positioned within a processing system using the aligned substrate transport device, optionally under robotic control. The centered semiconductor substrate pairs may be bonded together without the presence of the aligned substrate transport device in the bonding device. The bonding device may include a second spacer assembly which operates in concert with that of the aligned substrate transport device to perform a spacer hand-off between the substrates. A pin apparatus may be used to stake the substrates during the hand-off.