Provided is a transfer unit for transferring a substrate. The transfer unit includes: a hand on which a substrate is placed; and a detector for detecting the degree to which the substrate placed on the hand is out of a correct position of the substrate on the hand. The detector includes: a light emitting sensor located on one side between an upper side and a lower side of the substrate placed at the correct position on the hand to emit light; and a light receiving sensor located on the other side between the upper side and the lower side of the substrate placed at the correct position on the hand to receive the light emitted by the light emitting sensor. The light emitting sensor is installed to emit light obliquely to the substrate in a direction toward an outside of a radial direction of the substrate placed at the correct position on the hand.

Provided is a substrate processing apparatus, including: transportation chamber maintained in an atmospheric environment where a substrate is transported; a vacuum processing chamber connected with the transportation chamber through a load lock chamber; a substrate placing table installed in the vacuum processing chamber and having a body part and a surface part that is attachable to/detachable from the body part; a storage unit installed in the load lock chamber or the transportation chamber and configured to receive the surface part; and a transportation mechanism configured to transport the substrate from the transportation chamber to the vacuum processing chamber through the load lock chamber and transport the surface part between the storage unit and the body part of the vacuum processing chamber.

A calibration object is transferred from a processing chamber to an aligner station by one or more robot arms. The calibration object has a first processing chamber orientation in the processing chamber and a second orientation at the aligner station. A first characteristic error value associated with a transfer path between the processing chamber and the aligner is determined based on the first processing chamber orientation and the second orientation of the calibration object at the aligner station. In response to detecting an object at the aligner station to be transferred to the processing chamber along the transfer path, the object is aligned by the aligner station to be placed in the processing chamber according to a target processing chamber orientation based on a target aligner orientation as adjusted by the first characteristic error value determined for the transfer path between the processing chamber and the aligner station.

A semiconductor wafer held by a Bernoulli chuck is reliably rotated. A wafer holding apparatus includes: a chuck for holding a semiconductor wafer; and a rotating mechanism for rotating the chuck. On a facing surface of the chuck facing the semiconductor wafer, a plurality of pads and a plurality of support parts are formed. The chuck holds the semiconductor wafer by jetting gas from each of the plurality of pads. The plurality of support parts is formed at positions each deviated from a center of the facing surface of the chuck. When the chuck holds the semiconductor wafer, the plurality of pads is not in contact with the semiconductor wafer while the plurality of support parts is in contact with a principal surface of the semiconductor wafer.

A bonding apparatus for bonding a second substrate to a first substrate includes a support unit and a bonding unit. The support unit is configured to support the first substrate. The bonding unit is above the support unit and is configured to attach the second substrate. The bonding unit includes a tip member facing the support unit and a head member on the tip member. The tip member includes: a first part having a first region and a second region surrounding the first region, wherein the bonding apparatus is configured to eject a gas from the first region and the bonding apparatus is configured to form a vacuum in the second region; and a second part extending from the first part toward the head member. An area of a transverse section of the first part is less than an area of a transverse section of the second part.

The present disclosure relates to a multi-axis stage apparatus capable of significantly improving the precision of wafer bonding. The apparatus may include a base portion, a first driving device configured to vertically move at least a portion thereof in a third axis direction by a first distance with respect to the base portion, a second driving device formed on the first driving device and configured to vertically move at least a portion thereof in the third axis direction by a second distance, and an alignment stage connected to the second driving device and configured to align a first wafer chuck holding a first wafer such that the first wafer can be vertically moved in the third axis direction by a distance equal to the sum of the first and second distances.

Disclosed are methods of aligning a semiconductor wafer in a scanner device. In a method of aligning a semiconductor wafer in a scanner device, a first mark pair includes two marks among a plurality of marks of a semiconductor wafer. A plurality of mark pairs including the first mark pair are set by performing a geometric transformation at least once on the first mark pair. A plurality of coarse model parameters are generated by performing a coarse wafer alignment (COWA) based on each of the plurality of mark pairs. A fine model parameter is generated by performing a fine wafer alignment (FIWA) based on the plurality of marks. Whether an alignment of the semiconductor wafer is successful is determined based on the plurality of coarse model parameters and the fine model parameter. A subsequent process is performed based on a determination that the alignment of the semiconductor wafer is successful.

Systems and methods for providing variable spot size and variable focus at a substrate are described. Sets of variable focal length lenses can be added to an alignment system to allow for adjustment of the spot size and focus. A variable focal length lens is a liquid lens that is tunable based on application of voltage across the lens. Toggling the voltage changes the water-oil interface in the liquid lens, which in turn changes the direction of light passing through. For example, turning on the voltage across the lens shifts the light output direction to converging at a focal point. As a result, variable focal length lenses provide adjustment to compensate for the fixed spot size and focus shortcomings of the prior art. Furthermore, variable focal length lenses can also be applied to compensate for spot shift and higher order diffraction orders.

A substrate processing apparatus may include a substrate support unit in a lower portion of a process chamber; an edge ring on and along an edge of an upper surface of the substrate support unit and protruding from the upper surface of the substrate support unit; and a substrate alignment sensor on the substrate support unit. The substrate alignment sensor may include a body, an imaging unit, and a control unit. The imaging unit may be on a bottom surface of the body and configured to image a sidewall of the edge ring and a sidewall of the body. The control unit may be configured to control the imaging unit and calculate a spacing between the sidewall of the edge ring and the sidewall of the body. The control unit may be configured to align the substrate alignment sensor with the substrate support unit based on the spacing.

The present disclosure provides a miniature electrostatic chuck (ESC) for die-to-wafer (D2W) bonding. The ESC can be manufactured using conventional semiconductor processes, incorporating through-silicon-via (TSV) and through-dielectric-via (TDV) structures. The ESC with different sizes can be attached to and detached from a multi-axis robotic arm, allowing optimized D2W bonding processes.