An apparatus for processing a substrate includes a process chamber; a support which is placed inside the process chamber and supports the substrate; a fluid supplier which supplies fluid into the process chamber; and a controller configured to perform a compressing step to bring the fluid into a supercritical phase inside the process chamber, in which the compressing step includes a continuous first section and second section, the fluid supplier includes a first portion and a second portion, and the controller supplies the fluid into the process chamber at a first speed during the first section using the first portion, and supplies the fluid into the process chamber at a second speed higher than the first speed during the second section using the second portion.

A semiconductor machine system comprises a plurality of working chambers, wherein the working chambers process materials separately; a control host coupled to the plurality of working chambers, comprising: a main control module coupled to the plurality of working chambers; an analog control module coupled to the plurality of working chambers, and the analog control module is detachably coupled to one or more external devices by serial interface coupling; a digital control module coupled to the plurality of working chambers, and the main control module, the analog control module and the digital control module are coupled to each other; and a plurality of operating units coupled to at least one of the main control module, the analog control module and the digital control module, respectively, to control the plurality of working chambers for processing the materials by the main control module, the analog control module and the digital control module.

An apparatus for drying a wafer, includes: a drying chamber; a supercritical fluid supply module configured to supply supercritical fluid to the drying chamber; a main exhaust line connected to the drying chamber and in which a main valve is installed; and an auxiliary exhaust unit connected to the main exhaust line. The auxiliary exhaust unit includes: an auxiliary exhaust line connected to the main exhaust line and configured to exhaust the supercritical fluid from the drying chamber when the main valve is closed; a negative pressure tank installed in the auxiliary exhaust line; a first valve, installed in the auxiliary exhaust line, that is configured to be opened when the main valve is closed; and a second valve, installed in the auxiliary exhaust line, that is configured to be opened in conjunction with the first valve.

Implementations disclosed herein generally relate to systems and methods of protecting a substrate support in a process chamber from cleaning fluid during a cleaning process. The method of cleaning the process chamber includes positioning in the process chamber a cover substrate above a substrate support and a process kit that separates a purge volume from a process volume. The method of cleaning includes flowing a purge gas in the purge volume to protect the substrate support and flowing a cleaning fluid to a process volume above the cover substrate, flowing the cleaning fluid in the process volume to an outer flow path, and to an exhaust outlet in the chamber body. The purge volume is maintained at a positive pressure with respect to the process volume to block the cleaning fluid from the purge volume.

A substrate processing method for removing an organic film on a substrate includes a) carrying out introduction of ozone-containing gas into a substrate processing chamber to fill at least a space above the substrate in the substrate processing chamber with ozone-containing gas, b) starting spraying through the space a heated chemical liquid containing sulfuric acid onto the substrate after the a), c) continuing the spraying started in the b), and d) stopping the spraying continued in the c).

A light-enhanced wafer processing system disclosed herein which includes a rotatable chuck configured to support and selectively rotate at least one wafer, at least one dispenser body configured to selectively flow at least one photolytic material onto a surface of the wafer, and at least one optical radiation source may be configured to provide optical radiation to at least a portion of the wafer having photolytic material applied thereto, wherein the optical radiation is configured to result in the formation of optically-induced radicals having enhanced reactivity with at least one material applied to the wafer.

A single layer process is utilized to reduce swing effect interference and reflection during imaging of a photoresist. An anti-reflective additive is added to a photoresist, wherein the anti-reflective additive has a dye portion and a reactive portion. Upon dispensing the reactive portion will react with underlying structures to form an anti-reflective coating between the underlying structure and a remainder of the photoresist. During imaging, the anti-reflective coating will either absorb the energy, preventing it from being reflected, or else modify the optical path of reflection, thereby helping to reduce interference caused by the reflected energy.

Provided is a stripping method capable of stripping a resist while suppressing the time and cost of processing required for stripping, while giving sufficient consideration to the load on the environment. The resist stripping method is a method for stripping a resist film-formed on a substrate, including: a pretreatment step of exposing the resist to a heated steam in a predetermined temperature range for a predetermined time; and a stripping step of stripping the resist exposed to the heated steam in the pretreatment step by using a resist stripping liquid, wherein the predetermined temperature range and the predetermined time are set according to the resist.

Apparatus for processing substrates can include a gas distribution plate that includes an upper plate and a lower plate and a solid disk between the upper plate and the lower plate. Each of the upper plate and the lower plate has a central region and an outer region surrounding the central region, the central region being solid and the outer region having a plurality of through holes. The upper plate and the lower plate are coaxially aligned along a central axis extending through a center of the central region of the upper plate and a center of the central region of the lower plate. The solid disk is coaxially aligned with the upper plate and the lower plate. The solid disk is configured to block transmission of ultraviolet radiation through the solid disk.

A method of forming a pattern includes forming an etching object layer on a substrate. A photoresist layer including a metal, oxygen and an organic material is formed on the etching object layer. An exposure process is performed on the photoresist layer. A developing process is performed on the photoresist layer to form a photoresist pattern including a metal oxide. Ozone is provided onto the substrate to remove a residue of the photoresist layer that includes the organic material, The etching object layer is etched using the photoresist pattern as an etching mask.