Disclosed is a support unit. The support unit that supports a substrate may include a chuck stage that is rotatable, a heating member disposed above the chuck stage and that heats the substrate supported by the support unit, a power source that applies electric power to the heating member, a window disposed above the chuck stage and defining an interior space, in which the heating member is disposed, and an interlock module that selectively cuts off the electric power applied to the heating member.

Described herein is a technique capable of improving the controllability of a thickness of a film formed on a large surface area substrate having a surface area greater than a surface area of a bare substrate and improving the thickness uniformity between films formed on a plurality of large surface area substrates accommodated in a substrate loading region by reducing the influence of the surface area of the large surface area substrate and the number of the large surface area substrates due to a loading effect even when the plurality of large surface area substrates are batch-processed using a batch type processing furnace.

A method of curing or otherwise processing semiconductor wafers in an environmentally controlled process chamber includes: loading a plurality of semiconductor wafers into the process chamber such that pairs of adjacent semiconductor wafers are spaced apart from one another by gaps therebetween; introducing a process gas into the process chamber containing the plurality of semiconductor wafers; and drawing gas from the process chamber through one or more exhaust manifolds. Suitably, each exhaust manifold includes a plurality of inlet orifices through which gas is drawn into the exhaust manifold, at least one of the inlet orifices facing and aligning with each of the gaps.

A heat treatment apparatus and a heat treatment method are provided, in which at least a semiconductor device is disposed in the heat treatment apparatus, and a waste heat generated during a heat treatment process is exhausted through a heat exhaust pipe of the heat treatment apparatus, and a thermal energy of the waste heat is converted into an electrical energy using a thermoelectric conversion device disposed on the heat exhaust pipe. By using a gas pipe connecting the heat exhaust pipe of the heat treatment apparatus and a machine of the heat treatment apparatus, a gas is preheated using the waste heat and then supplied to the machine of the heat treatment apparatus, thereby reusing the waste heat.

A heat treatment apparatus includes a processing chamber that heat-treats a substrate, a heating unit that heats the processing chamber from outside, and an internal physical sensor that measures a temperature inside the processing chamber. The heat treatment apparatus further includes a prediction unit that predicts a measurement temperature of an external virtual sensor that is a virtualized version of an external physical sensor that measures a temperature near the heating unit, using a physical model that reproduces a physical configuration of a heat treatment furnace by simulation, and a temperature control unit that controls power supplied to the heating unit based on the measurement temperature of the internal physical sensor and the measurement temperature of the external virtual sensor.

There is provided a technique that includes a plurality of first coolers installed in or around a process furnace configured to process a substrate, and configured to perform cooling by a cooling fluid; a second cooler installed in or around the process furnace and configured to perform cooling by the cooling fluid, the second cooler being not included in the plurality of first coolers; a distributor configured to distribute the cooling fluid supplied from a cooling fluid supply port to the plurality of first coolers and an auxiliary system bypassing the plurality of first coolers; and a merging part configured to merge the cooling fluid passed through the plurality of first coolers and the cooling fluid passed through the auxiliary system, respectively, and supply the merged cooling fluid to the second cooler.

A plasma processing system is provided. The system comprises a plasma processing apparatus, a transfer apparatus connected to the plasma processing apparatus, and a controler. The plasma processing apparatus includes a substrate support including a support unit for a substrate as well as an annular member disposed to surround the substrate. The substrate support includes a plurality of insertion holes passing through the support unit, lifters to elevate/lower the annular member through the holes insertion and a temperature adjustment mechanism for adjusting a temperature of the support unit. The transfer apparatus includes a transfer mechanism for transferring the annular member to the substrate support. The annual member has includes concave portions in its bottom surface, into which upper end the lifters are fitted.

Systems for transporting a plurality of semiconductor structures, wafer boats for holding the plurality of semiconductor structures and methods for heating a set of semiconductor wafers. In some embodiments, the wafer boat frame is made of a metal and the combs are made of quartz. The wafer boats may include one or more combs that are able to float within a comb holder during heating of the wafer boat.

Disclosed is a high-pressure annealing device including an internal chamber configured to provide an internal space, an external chamber configured to accommodate the internal chamber therein, a heating module configured to perform heat treatment and disposed in an external space provided between the internal chamber and the external chamber, and a shielding element configured to seal the lower portion of the external space, thereby preventing dispersion of particles generated from the heating module and preventing contamination of a substrate (a semiconductor wafer) due to the particles.

A wafer placement table includes a ceramic plate, a cooling plate and a refrigerant flow path. The refrigerant flow path has a first variable section and a second variable section. The first variable section is provided such that the cross-sectional area of the refrigerant flow path gradually decreases as it proceeds in the direction of refrigerant flow from a starting point of the first variable section. The second variable section is provided such that, after the cross-sectional area of the refrigerant flow path is once expanded from the cross-sectional area of the refrigerant flow path at an end point of the first variable section in a first expansion section right before a starting point of the second variable section, the cross-sectional area of the refrigerant flow path gradually decreases as it proceeds in the direction of refrigerant flow from the starting point of the second variable section.