A substrate processing apparatus performs increasing a pressure within a processing vessel up to a processing pressure higher than a threshold pressure of a processing fluid by supplying the processing fluid into the processing vessel in which a substrate having thereon a liquid is accommodated; and supplying the processing fluid into the processing vessel and draining the processing fluid while maintaining the pressure within the processing vessel at a level allowing the processing fluid to be maintained in a supercritical state. The increasing of the pressure includes: increasing the pressure to a first pressure; and increasing the pressure to the processing pressure from the first pressure. A temperature of the substrate is controlled to a first temperature in the increasing of the pressure to the first pressure, and is controlled to a second temperature higher than the first temperature in the increasing of the pressure to the processing pressure.

One or more embodiments described herein generally relate to drying environments within semiconductor processing systems. In these embodiments, substrates are cleaned and dried within a drying environment before returning to the factory interface. However, due to an opening between the factory interface and the drying environment, air flows from the factory interface into the drying environment, often reducing the effectiveness of the drying processes. In embodiments described herein, the air flow is blocked by a sliding door that raises up to the closed position when a substrate enters the drying portion of the dryer located within the drying environment. After the substrate exits the dryer and before the substrate enters the factory interface, the sliding door lowers to the opened position such that the substrate can enter the factory interface. As such, these processes allow for multiple substrates to dry quickly and consistently within the system, improving throughput.

A wafer cleaning and drying device includes: a box used to clean the wafer, an opening is arranged at the top of the box for the wafer to enter or exit the box; a support part arranged inside the box and used to hold the wafer, the support part can move upward and downward; a spraying pipe arranged at the opening and used to spray the drying gas onto the surface of the cleaned wafer. The wafer cleaning and drying device dries the surface of the wafer with the spraying pipe arranged at the opening of the box, which sprays the drying gas onto the surface of the cleaned wafer. Understandably, Marangoni effect is used in the present prevention the water attached to the surface of the wafer is eliminated on basis of surface tension gradient difference.

A fluid supply device and a fluid supply method capable of stably supplying a supercritical fluid includes a fluid supply device for supplying a fluid in a liquid state before being changed to a supercritical fluid toward a processing chamber. The fluid supply device comprises a condenser that condenses and liquefies a fluid in a gas state, a tank that stores the fluid condensed and liquefied by the condenser, a pump that pressure-feeds the liquefied fluid stored in the tank toward the processing chamber, and a heating means provided to a flow path communicating with a discharge side of the pump and for partially changing the liquid in the flow path to a supercritical fluid.

An apparatus for processing a wafer is provided. The provided apparatus for processing a wafer includes a chamber, a first nozzle, a negative pressure chamber and a vacuum pump. The first nozzle is arranged in the chamber and configured to spray a drying agent to the wafer. The negative pressure chamber is located in the chamber. The vacuum pump is located outside of the chamber and connected with the negative pressure chamber through a pipeline. The negative pressure chamber is arranged in a direction perpendicular to the wafer, and a gas in the negative pressure chamber is sucked by the vacuum pump through the pipeline to generate a negative pressure in the chamber, so as to reduce a surface pressure of the drying agent sprayed onto the wafer by the first nozzle. A method for controlling processing of a wafer is also provided.

A substrate processing apparatus includes a chamber, a holding unit, a hydrophobizing agent nozzle, a first organic solvent nozzle, a second organic solvent nozzle, and an exhaust port. The chamber has a gastight space that is capable of accommodating the plurality of substrates. The holding unit lifts or lowers the plurality of substrates between a storage area where a liquid is stored in the gastight space and a drying area that is located above the storage area in the gastight space. The hydrophobizing agent nozzle supplies a vapor of a hydrophobizing agent to the drying area. The first organic solvent nozzle supplies an organic solvent from the drying area to the storage area. The second organic solvent nozzle supplies a vapor of an organic solvent to the drying area. The exhaust port discharges a gas in the gastight space.

A substrate processing method of drying a substrate by using a processing fluid in a supercritical state is performed by a substrate processing apparatus. The substrate processing apparatus includes a fluid discharge unit, a supply line, a fluid drain unit, a drain line and a flow control device. The substrate processing method includes: flowing the processing fluid from the fluid discharge unit to the fluid drain unit such that the processing fluid flows along a surface of the substrate. The flowing of the processing fluid includes flowing the processing fluid in a first flow mode and flowing the processing fluid in a second flow mode. Between the first flow mode and the second flow mode, a flow direction distribution of the processing fluid is different, and a switchover between the first flow mode and the second flow mode is performed by the flow control device.

The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate. The substrate processing apparatus (1) includes a controller (90). The controller (90) rotates the substrate (W) at a second speed, after rotating the substrate (W) at a first speed. The controller (90) supplies a dry fluid from a dry fluid nozzle (30) onto the substrate (W) for predetermined time after rotating the substrate (W) at the second speed, and while rotating the substrate (W) at a third speed. The controller (90) moves a dry fluid nozzle (30) from a center of the substrate (W) toward a peripheral portion of the substrate (W) while continuing to supply the dry fluid from the dry fluid nozzle (30).

Disclosed is a method for processing a substrate, comprising a liquid processing step of performing liquid processing on the substrate by supplying a processing liquid onto the substrate in a liquid processing chamber, a transfer step of transferring the substrate from the liquid processing chamber to a drying chamber, and a drying step of drying the substrate in the drying chamber. In the drying step, the substrate is dried while an edge region of the substrate other than a central region of the substrate is supported by a support unit, and in the liquid processing step, the liquid processing is performed on the substrate such that a height of the processing liquid remaining on the edge region of the substrate is greater than a height of the processing liquid remaining on the central region of the substrate when the liquid processing is completed in the liquid processing chamber.

The invention relates to an apparatus (200, 200A, 300, 400) for a semiconductor production facility handling an object, the apparatus comprising a core module (100) and at least one functionality module (M . . . ). A core module (100) as well as an operating method for such an apparatus are further aspects of the invention.