A device and a method for manufacturing a thin film are provided. The device includes: a chamber; a substrate carrying member arranged within the chamber and configured to carry thereon a substrate on which the thin film is to be formed; a mask fixation member configured to fix a mask, wherein the mask includes a shielding region and an opening region, and a material for forming the thin film is allowed to pass through the opening region; and a position adjustment member configured to adjust a distance between the mask and the substrate to form the thin films of different sizes on the substrate, wherein orthogonal projections of the thin films of different sizes onto the substrate have different areas.

An optimal number of modules for use is accurately estimated in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. Provided is a method applied to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus including one or a plurality of substrate processing modules each including a plurality of submodules. The present method includes a step of estimating the optimal number of the submodules for use, based on a target production amount and predicted production amount of substrates and a use rate of the substrate processing module, a step of preparing, based on the estimated optimal number for use, a schedule to process a substrate with the optimal number of the submodules for use, a step of updating, based on the prepared schedule, the predicted production amount and the use rate, and a step of repeating the estimating step by use of the updated predicted production amount and use rate, to update the optimal number of the submodules for use.

This application relates to a photoresist removal method, including: acquiring a target wafer, a photoresist being provided on a surface of the target wafer, a surface of a photoresist layer of the photoresist being plated with a metal overhead layer; immersing the target wafer in a first organic solvent at a first temperature in a water bath for a first duration; rinsing the target wafer with a new first organic solvent in response to an end of the first duration; performing, in the first organic solvent, ultrasonic cleaning on the rinsed target wafer for a second duration based on a target ultrasonic power; removing the residual first organic solvent on the surface of the target wafer in response to an end of the second duration; and drying the target wafer with the solvent removed by simultaneous centrifugal drying and gas purging to obtain the target wafer with the photoresist removed.

A plating method capable of saving a substrate in an event of a failure of a transporter, a plating tank, or other component when the substrate is being plated is disclosed. The plating method includes: transporting a plurality of substrates to a plurality of plating tanks, respectively, with a transporter; immersing the plurality of substrates in a plating solution held in the plurality of plating tanks to plate the plurality of substrates; detecting a failure that has occurred in the transporter or a post-processing tank; and replacing the plating solution in the plurality of plating tanks with a preservative liquid to thereby immerse the plurality of substrates in the preservative liquid.

A method of controlling chemical concentration in electrolyte includes measuring a chemical concentration in an electrolyte, wherein the electrolyte is contained in a tank; and increasing a vapor flux through an exhaust pipe connected to the tank when the measured chemical concentration is lower than a control lower limit value.

According to an embodiment, a substrate holder holds a rectangular substrate and performs electrolytic plating on the substrate. The substrate holder includes a first holding member and a second holding member clamping the substrate between the first holding member and it and having a contact which contacts a peripheral part of the substrate and supplies an electric current to the substrate. The second holding member includes an opening defining a region where an electric field is formed and, at a position farther from the substrate than the opening, a shielding part protruding closer to an inner side than the opening and shielding the peripheral part of a surface of the substrate. The shielding part has a frame shape having a predetermined shielding width in the peripheral part of the substrate, and has, at a corner part thereof, a discontinuous part having a smaller shielding width than surroundings.

According to one embodiment, a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes loading a substrate into a processing container, airtightly sealing the processing container in which the substrate has been loaded, reducing a pressure of the processing container airtightly sealed, supplying a processing solution into the processing container with reduced pressure, performing a process on the substrate using the processing solution, discharging the processing solution used for the process from the processing container, after discharging the processing solution, opening the processing container, and unloading the substrate subjected to the process out of the processing container.

A corrosion-resistant component configured for use with a semiconductor processing reactor, the corrosion-resistant component comprising: a) a ceramic insulating substrate; and, b) a white corrosion-resistant non-porous outer layer associated with the ceramic insulating substrate, the white corrosion-resistant non-porous outer layer having a thickness of at least 50 μm, a porosity of at most 1%, and a composition comprising at least 15% by weight of a rare earth compound based on total weight of the corrosion-resistant non-porous layer; and, c) an L* value of at least 90 as measured on a planar surface of the white corrosion-resistant non-porous outer layer. Methods of making are also disclosed.

The present disclosure is directed to an electroless plating process using a panel basket for holding semiconductor panels comprising a plurality of metal pads and shielding the metal pads from contaminants and over-etching and under-etching caused by the contaminants.

A method of processing a semiconductor wafer is provided. The method includes introducing the wafer to a main chamber via a loading port, using a transfer mechanism to transfer the wafer to a first wafer processing module in a stack so that the wafer is disposed substantially horizontally in the first wafer processing module with a front face facing upwards, and performing a processing step on the front face of the wafer in the first wafer processing module.