US 12,438,016 B2
Objects detecting method for vacuum processing apparatus
Takaharu Kinoshita, Tokyo (JP); Hisanori Hayano, Tokyo (JP); Tomoyuki Watanabe, Tokyo (JP); and Norifumi Ozaki, Tokyo (JP)
Assigned to Hitachi High-Tech Corporation, Tokyo (JP)
Appl. No. 17/439,738
Filed by Hitachi High-Tech Corporation, Tokyo (JP)
PCT Filed Sep. 18, 2020, PCT No. PCT/JP2020/035381
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 15, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/059158, PCT Pub. Date Mar. 24, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2022/0310422 A1, Sep. 29, 2022
Int. Cl. H01L 21/67 (2006.01); H01L 21/683 (2006.01)
CPC H01L 21/67196 (2013.01) [H01L 21/67253 (2013.01); H01L 21/6838 (2013.01)] 5 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An objects detecting method for a vacuum processing apparatus equipped with a processing unit including a vacuum container having therein a processing chamber in which a wafer is processed, and an exhaust pump that exhausts gas in the processing chamber; a vacuum transfer unit including a vacuum transfer container having therein a transfer chamber in which the wafer is transferred; a connection pipe connecting the vacuum container and the vacuum transfer container therebetween; and a passage communicating between the processing chamber and the transfer chamber via an inside of the connection pipe and one or more flanges through which the wafer can be transferred between the processing chamber and the transfer chamber, an inner surface of the passage being constituted by a plurality of surface regions corresponding to a plurality of members constituting the passage comprising the connection pipe and the one or more flanges, the objects detecting method for a vacuum processing apparatus comprising:
an objects collecting process of increasing an internal pressure of the transfer chamber to be higher than an internal pressure of the processing chamber to generate a gas flow in the passage along a direction from the transfer chamber toward the processing chamber, transferring the wafer in the gas flow along the direction to a position where a projection surface of the wafer overlaps simultaneously an inside of each of the transfer chamber and the passage and the processing chamber, and stopping the transfer at the position while holding the wafer at the position for a predetermined time and, while the transfer is stopped, collecting the objects which fall to adhere to a surface of the wafer position where the projection surface of the wafer overlaps simultaneously the inside of each of the transfer chamber and the passage and the processing chamber; and
an objects detecting process of detecting objects adhering to each of a plurality of regions of the surface of the wafer, each region of the surface of the wafer being associated with a different corresponding one of the plurality of the surface regions of the inner surface of the plurality of members constituting the passage comprising the connection pipe and the one or more flanges, and determining whether the result of the detecting objects is within an allowable range for each region.