Disclosed herein are laser-assisted metal-organic chemical vapor deposition devices and methods of use thereof.

A method for forming a semiconductor device is provided. The method for forming a semiconductor device is provided. The method includes coating a photoresist film over a target layer; performing a lithography process to pattern the photoresist film into a photoresist layer; performing a directional ion bombardment process to the photoresist layer, such that a carbon atomic concentration in the photoresist layer is increased; and etching the target layer using the photoresist layer as an etch mask.

A polishing method capable of accurately determining a polishing end point of a substrate is disclosed. The method is a film-thickness measuring method for a substrate W using a film-thickness measuring device, at least a part of which being mounted in a polishing table configured to support the polishing pad. The method includes measuring film thicknesses of the substrate W, while rotating the substrate W on a polishing surface of the polishing pad by a polishing head and controlling a position of the film-thickness measuring device relative to the polishing head.

A rotational indexer that is rotatable to allow semiconductor wafers or other items to be moved 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.

A substrate processing apparatus comprising a holding unit, a liquid supply unit, a recovery unit, a circulation path, a gas supply unit, and a control unit. The holding unit holds a substrate. The liquid supply unit supplies a processing liquid to a first major surface of the substrate being held by the holding unit. The recovery unit recovers the processing liquid that has been used for processing the substrate. The circulation path returns the processing liquid recovered by the recovery unit back to the liquid supply unit. The gas supply unit supplies a gas to a second major surface to the substrate being held by the holding unit opposite to the first major surface. The control unit controls the liquid supply unit and the gas supply unit. The control unit, when the processing liquid planned to be returned back to the liquid supply unit by the circulation path is supplied to the first major surface, causes the gas to be supplied to the second major surface.

A method for dry cleaning a susceptor is performed after a substrate is removed from a processing chamber of a substrate processing apparatus. In the method, a cleaning gas for dry cleaning is supplied to a first region including a substrate receiving region in the susceptor. The cleaning gas is regionally supplied to a second region where the cleaning gas is difficult to reach when the cleaning gas is supplied to the first region.

Apparatus and methods to process one or more wafers are described. A processing chamber comprises a first processing station comprising a first gas injector having a first face, a first emissivity and a first temperature, a second processing station comprising a second gas injector having a second face, a second emissivity and a second temperature, and a substrate support assembly comprising a plurality of substantially coplanar support surfaces, the substrate support assembly configured to move the support surfaces between the first processing station and the second processing station. When a wafer is on the support surfaces, a temperature skew of less than about 0.5° C. is developed upon moving the wafer between the stations in about 0.5 seconds.

Methods of processing a semiconductor substrate and apparatus to process semiconductor substrates are described. The methods and apparatus described enable the repetitive cyclic low temperature application of a chemistry and high temperature treatment step to a substrate.

A substrate processing apparatus includes: a holder that holds a substrate; a liquid supply that sequentially supplies a first processing liquid and a second processing liquid to a main surface of the substrate held by the holder; a friction body that comes into contact with and rub the main surface of the substrate during the supply of the first processing liquid and the second processing liquid; a mover that moves a contact position of the friction body in a first axial direction and a second axial direction; and a controller that controls the liquid supply and the mover to move the contact position of the friction body in one-side direction of the first axial direction during the supply of the first processing liquid, and move the contact position of the friction body in the other-side direction of the first axial direction during the supply of the second processing liquid.

A substrate processing apparatus includes: a process chamber performing film-forming processing to a substrate; a substrate support that is provided in the process chamber and includes a plurality of mounting surfaces on which the substrate is mounted; and a detector that is disposed outside or inside the process chamber and detects a state of a film-forming material adhering to at least one of the plurality of mounting surfaces in a non-contact manner.