There is provided a substrate processing apparatus including: an inner tube including a substrate accommodating region where substrates are accommodated along an arrangement direction; an outer tube outside the inner tube; gas supply ports provided on a side wall of the inner tube along the arrangement direction; first exhaust ports provided on the side wall of the inner tube along the arrangement direction; a second exhaust port provided at an end portion of the outer tube along the arrangement direction; and a gas guide controlling gas flow in an annular space between the inner and outer tubes. A first exhaust port A is located farthest from the second exhaust port, and faces a gas supply port A. The gas guide includes a fin provided near the gas supply port A and surrounds at least a part of an outer periphery of the gas supply port A.

The cleaning method according to an embodiment of the present invention is for cleaning a plasma processing apparatus that performs a plasma processing on a substrate. This cleaning method includes: forming a protective film; and cleaning. The forming the protective film involves forming the protective film in a plasma generation region by generating plasma while supplying a film-forming gas into a processing container in which a processing space including the plasma generation region and a diffusion region is formed. The cleaning involves cleaning an interior of the processing container in which the protective film has been formed by generating plasma while supplying a cleaning gas into the processing container.

The cleaning method according to an embodiment of the present invention is for cleaning a plasma processing apparatus that performs a plasma processing on a substrate. This cleaning method includes: forming a protective film; and cleaning. The forming the protective film involves forming the protective film in a plasma generation region by generating plasma while supplying a film-forming gas into a processing container in which a processing space including the plasma generation region and a diffusion region is formed. The cleaning involves cleaning an interior of the processing container in which the protective film has been formed by generating plasma while supplying a cleaning gas into the processing container.

Disclosed are methods and systems for depositing layers comprising a transition metal and a group 13 element. The layers are formed onto a surface of a substrate. The deposition process may be a cyclical deposition process. Exemplary structures in which the layers may be incorporated include field effect transistors, VNAND cells, metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structures, and DRAM capacitors.

A system and method for cleaning a preclean process chamber in between wafer processing. The internal pressure of the preclean process chamber is reduced to a first pressure and a first gas that consists of oxygen and an inert or noble gas, is introduced into the chamber. Plasma is generated within the preclean process chamber using the first gas at the first pressure. Internal pressure is then reduced to a second pressure, less than the first, and the first gas is continued into the chamber. Plasma is then generated using the first gas at the second pressure. Thereafter, a second gas, consisting of an oxygen-free inert or noble gas, is introduced into the chamber at the second pressure, following which plasma is generated within the chamber using only the second gas.

There is provided a technique of cleaning an inside of a process container, including: (a) removing substances adhered in a process container set at a first temperature by supplying a first gas at a first flow rate into the process container and exhausting the inside of the process container; (b) physically desorbing and removing residual fluorine in the process container set at a second temperature by supplying a second gas at a second flow rate into the process container and exhausting the inside of the process container; and (c) chemically desorbing and removing residual fluorine in the process container set at a third temperature by supplying a third gas at a third flow rate into the process container and exhausting the inside of the process container.

A processing apparatus is provided. The processing apparatus includes a processing chamber, a pump, and an intersecting module. The process chamber has a gas outlet. The pump communicates with the gas outlet. The pump is configured to exhaust gas from the processing chamber via the gas outlet. The intersecting module is positioned between the pump and the gas outlet. The intersecting module includes a plurality of support members and a plurality of internal ventilating plates. The support members are arranged along a longitudinal direction. Each of the internal ventilating plates has a plurality of orifices. At least one of the internal ventilating plates is positioned between two of the support members positioned adjacent to each other in the longitudinal direction. Each of the internal ventilating plates is inclined relative to a transversal direction that is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction.

A purge baffle for a substrate support includes an annular ring configured to surround an outer perimeter around the substrate support in a volume below the substrate support and a first portion. The first portion includes a plenum defined below the first portion and outside of the annular ring in the volume below the substrate support and a plurality of openings that provide respective flow paths from a region above the first portion into the plenum. At least a first opening of the plurality of openings has a first conductance and at least a second opening of the plurality of openings has a second conductance that is different than the first conductance.

A chemical vapor deposition furnace for depositing silicon nitride films is disclosed. The furnace having a process chamber elongated in a substantially vertical direction and a wafer boat for supporting a plurality of wafers in the process chamber. A process gas injector inside the process chamber is provided with a plurality of vertically spaced gas injection holes to provide gas introduced at a feed end in an interior of the process gas injector to the process chamber. A valve system connected to the feed end of the process gas injector is being constructed and arranged to connect a source of a silicon precursor and a nitrogen precursor to the feed end for depositing silicon nitride layers. The valve system may connect the feed end of the process gas injector to a cleaning gas system to provide a cleaning gas to remove silicon nitride from the process gas injector and/or the processing chamber.

The present invention relates to an etching apparatus including an etching chamber in which a target object is etched by an etchant, an etchant supply part which collects the etchant in the etching chamber and supplies the etchant to the etching chamber using an etchant pump, a gas circulation pipe connected from a predetermined point of an upper portion of the etchant supply part to a predetermined point of an upper portion of the etching chamber and formed to circulate a gas, and an air pump formed at one side of the gas circulation pipe and configured to forcibly circulate the gas.