Abstract
A substrate treatment apparatus for treating substrates has a plate-shaped substrate carrier and at least one plate-shaped tempering device, which is arranged parallel to the substrate carrier. The substrate carrier has a substrate carrier front side for supporting at least one laminar substrate and a substrate carrier back side, which faces the tempering device. The object of the present invention is to provide a substrate treatment apparatus which enables a heat distribution as evenly as possible in the substrate carrier. For that purpose, there is provided at least one spacer element for forming a distance between the substrate carrier and the tempering device at the substrate carrier back side and/or a surface of the tempering device facing the substrate carrier.
Claims
1-11. (canceled)
12. A substrate treatment apparatus for treating substrates, the substrate treatment apparatus comprising: a plate-shaped substrate carrier having a substrate carrier front side for carrying at least one planar substrate and a substrate carrier back side; at least one plate-shaped tempering device arranged in parallel to said substrate carrier and facing towards said substrate carrier back side; at least one spacer element defining a spacing distance between said substrate carrier and said tempering device; and at least one receptacle module for receiving running rails mounted to said substrate carrier.
13. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said at least one spacer element is disposed on said substrate carrier back side and/or on a surface of said tempering device facing the substrate carrier.
14. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said at least one spacer element is one of a multitude of the spacer elements for forming the distance between said substrate carrier and said tempering device.
15. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 12, wherein a material of said at least one spacer element has a lower thermal conductivity than a material of said substrate carrier.
16. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said at least one spacer element projects from said substrate carrier and/or from said tempering device by a height between 0.1 mm and 1 mm.
17. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said at least one spacer element is configured with a variable height.
18. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said substrate carrier is formed of an electrically conductive material.
19. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said substrate carrier is coated with at least one electrically conductive material.
20. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said substrate carrier has a thickness between said substrate carrier front side and said substrate carrier back side of between 8 mm and 21 mm.
21. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said substrate carrier back side is formed with a surface modification and/or a surface coating configured to absorb more thermal radiation than a basic material of said substrate carrier.
22. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 12, which comprises at least one connecting element connecting said at least one receptacle module to said substrate carrier, said connecting element having a smaller cross section and/or a greater length than a receptacle module in one connecting direction between said substrate carrier and said receptacle module.
23. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 22, wherein said at least one receptacle module and/or said connecting element are formed from a material or a material compound having a lower thermal conductivity than a material of said substrate carrier.
Description
[0026] Advantageous embodiments of the present invention, their structure, function and advantages are exemplified below by means of figures, wherein
[0027] FIG. 1 schematically shows a substrate carrier according to an embodiment of a substrate treatment apparatus according to the invention with a single spacer element provided on the substrate carrier back side in a top-down view;
[0028] FIG. 2 schematically shows a substrate carrier in another embodiment of the substrate carrier according to the invention with a multitude of spacer elements provided on the substrate carrier back side in a top-down view; and
[0029] FIG. 3 schematically shows in a side-view an embodiment of the substrate treatment apparatus according to the invention with a substrate carrier and a tempering device and, arranged in between, spacer elements.
[0030] In FIG. 1, a schematic top-down view on a substrate carrier back side 5 of a substrate carrier 1 of an embodiment of the substrate treatment apparatus, is shown. According to this embodiment, exactly one spacer element 6 is provided on the substrate carrier back side 5, which in the shown example is formed in the cross section as a circular ring with four gaps. The spacer element 6 as present comprises an outer diameter, which equals about two-thirds of a side length of the substrate carrier 1. Preferably, the difference of the outer diameter and one inner diameter of the spacer element 6, which forms the width of the spacer element 6, in an area between 1 mm and 30 mm, particularly preferable between 10 mm and 25 mm.
[0031] As indicated in FIG. 1, the spacer element 6 can also comprise recesses and/or gaps. The spacer element 6 can comprise a different thermal expansion than the tempering device 2 or the substrate carrier 1. Due to the gaps, as well as the low width of the spacer element(s) 6, it is avoided, that deformations ensue because of the different thermal expansions. Furthermore, instead of the one spacer element 6, several spacer elements 6, in shape of a circular ring or a circular arc, can be arranged concentrically to one another on the substrate carrier back side 5. Thus, the spacer element(s) 6 can form an even distance C between the substrate carrier 1 and a, in FIG. 1 not depicted, tempering device 2, whereby an even temperature distribution in the substrate carrier 1 is enabled. In addition, a delayed tempering of the substrate carrier 1 ensues due to the spacer element(s), the heat transfer between the tempering device 2 and the substrate carrier 1 is thus throttled by the spacer element(s).
[0032] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, two receptacle modules 7 are arranged per side on two opposing sides of the substrate carrier 1, each of which are linked via a connecting element 8 with the substrate carrier 1. Alternatively, the use of more than two receptacle modules 7 along the length of the substrate carrier 1 is possible, in order to avoid a deflection of the substrate carrier 1, for example eight to ten receptacle modules 7 along the length of the substrate carrier 1 can be arranged. The connecting elements 8 comprise a smaller cross section B in the connection direction A between the substrate carrier 1 and the respective receptacle module 7, than the receptacle module 7 with the cross section b, thus can be formed for example rod- or bar-shaped. Furthermore, the length L of the connecting elements 8 is in the connection direction A greater than the length I of the corresponding receptacle modules 7 in the shown example. Due to this geometry of the connecting elements 8, the heat transfer from the substrate carrier 1 to the receptacle modules 7 is effectively reduced. Running rails or other transport mechanisms can engage with the receptacle modules 7, in order for the substrate carrier 1 to be moved for example through a substrate processing chamber.
[0033] In FIG. 2, another embodiment of the substrate treatment apparatus according to the invention in a top-down view on the substrate carrier back side 5 of the substrate carrier 1, is shown. For forming an even distance C between the substrate carrier 1 and a, in this figure not depicted, tempering device 2, a multitude of the spacer elements 6 is arranged on the substrate carrier back side 5. The spacer elements 6 here each comprise a circular cross section. Alternatively, other cross section geometries for the spacer elements 6 are conceivable, for example circular, rectangular, triangular, octagonal or polygonal in any other way, oval or else comprising through openings/recesses. In addition, the same characteristics and functions as explained in FIG. 1 are provided for the receptacle modules 7 and the connecting elements 8.
[0034] The embodiment according to FIG. 2 has the advantage over the first embodiment according to FIG. 1, that an even distance C between the substrate carrier 1 and the tempering device 2 can also be formed in a peripheral area as well as a central area. According to the embodiment in accordance with FIG. 1, it is conceivable that the substrate carrier 1 deflects in said areas removed by the spacer element 6, towards the tempering device 2, so that the distance C between the tempering device and the substrate carrier 1 is not the same in all positions. This is avoided in the embodiment according to FIG. 2 by arranging the spacer elements 6 evenly distributed across the substrate carrier back side 5, whereby also in the peripheral areas and the central area of the substrate carrier 1, an even distance C to the tempering device 2 can be formed.
[0035] Alternatively to the embodiments of the FIGS. 1 and 2 it is also conceivable without further ado and therefore not specifically depicted graphically, that the spacer elements 6, 6 are arranged at a side of the tempering device 2 facing the substrate carrier 1, instead at the substrate carrier back side 5.
[0036] In FIG. 3, a side-view on the second embodiment according to FIG. 2 is shown. Between the tempering device 2 and the substrate carrier back side 5 of the substrate carrier 1, several spacer elements 6 are arranged evenly spread, which comprise a height H. Due to this, an even distance C is formed between the tempering device 2 and the substrate carrier 1. The substrate carrier 1 comprises a thickness D in an area between 8 mm and 21 mm, preferably between 10 mm and 15 mm, particularly preferable between 11 mm and 13 mm, which leads to a sufficient stiffness of the substrate carrier 1, so that it does not bend. A greater thickness D of the substrate carrier 1, that is larger than 21 mm, is disadvantageous for a swift tempering of the substrate 4, since therefore a lot of material of the substrate carrier 1 needs to be tempered. For certain applications, a thickness D of the substrate carrier of more than 21 mm can also be advantageous, since the substrate carrier 1 thus can keep a set temperature, even after the tempering is turned off, for a longer time than a thin substrate carrier 1 with a thickness D between 8 mm and 21 mm, particularly with a thickness D of the substrate carrier 1 of less than 15 mm. A thickness D of the substrate carrier 1 of more than 21 mm can also be advantageous with a substrate carrier 1 with a length and/or width of more than 200 cm.
[0037] On one substrate carrier front side 3 of the substrate carrier 1, several substrates 4 are arranged. The substrates 4 shall be in a thermal balance with the substrate carrier 1, so that the substrates 4 can be heated and/or cooled indirectly by the tempering device 2. Thus, the substrates 4 can be adjusted to a desired temperature in a substrate treatment process. As substrate(s) can be applied, for example, semiconductor substrates, such as silicon wafers, on the substrate carrier 1.
[0038] From the substrate carrier back side 5, the connecting elements 8 extend laterally to the receptacle modules 7 and link them to the substrate carrier 1. Alternatively it is also conceivable that the connecting elements 8 are arranged lateral at the substrate carrier 1 or another area provided outside a substrate contact area of the substrate carrier 1. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the connecting elements 8 comprise two deflections of in each case 90 between the substrate carrier 1 and the respective receptacle module 7. As a result, the connecting elements 8 comprise a greater length L than would be possible with a direct connection between the substrate carrier 1 and the respective receptacle module 7 along the connecting direction A. Due to an increasing length L of the connecting elements 8, the thermal conductivity is reduced by the connecting elements 8, whereby the heat transfer between the substrate carrier 1 and the receptacle modules 7 is minimized. Thus, a formation of heat sinks is avoided in the substrate carrier 1 at the positions of the connecting elements 8.
