US 12,444,623 B2
Substrate processing system and substrate processing method
Keita Hirase, Kumamoto (JP); Yukiyoshi Saito, Kumamoto (JP); Akihiro Teramoto, Kumamoto (JP); Koji Tanaka, Kumamoto (JP); Shota Takei, Kumamoto (JP); Masataka Gosho, Kumamoto (JP); Kazuaki Kitamura, Kumamoto (JP); Shinichi Ikeda, Kumamoto (JP); Shunsuke Kurizaki, Kumamoto (JP); and Yuji Kimura, Kumamoto (JP)
Assigned to TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED, Tokyo (JP)
Filed by Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo (JP)
Filed on Feb. 28, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/115,738.
Claims priority of application No. 2022-032093 (JP), filed on Mar. 2, 2022; and application No. 2022-179026 (JP), filed on Nov. 8, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2023/0282493 A1, Sep. 7, 2023
Int. Cl. H01L 21/67 (2006.01); H01L 21/311 (2006.01); H01L 21/677 (2006.01); H01L 21/687 (2006.01)
CPC H01L 21/67086 (2013.01) [H01L 21/31111 (2013.01); H01L 21/67028 (2013.01); H01L 21/67051 (2013.01); H01L 21/6708 (2013.01); H01L 21/67718 (2013.01); H01L 21/67766 (2013.01); H01L 21/67778 (2013.01); H01L 21/6875 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A substrate processing system comprising:
a carry-in/out section in which a cassette accommodating a plurality of substrates is carried in/out;
a batch processing section in which a wafer lot including the plurality of substrates is collectively processed in a state where each of the plurality of substrates stand upright;
a single-wafer processing section in which the plurality of substrates included in the wafer lot are processed one by one in a horizontal state; and
an interface section that delivers the plurality of substrates from the batch processing section to the single-wafer processing section,
wherein the interface section includes:
a standby table configured to horizontally hold a substrate in a state of being in contact with pure water; and
a transfer mechanism including a transfer arm and configured to deliver the substrate from the batch processing section to the standby table.
 
15. A substrate processing method comprising:
delivering a plurality of substrates accommodated in a wafer lot from a batch processing section in which the plurality of substrates in the wafer lot are collectively processed in a state where each of the plurality of substrates stand upright, to a single-wafer processing section in which the plurality of substrates in the wafer lot are processed one by one in a horizontal state,
wherein the delivering includes holding the substrate horizontally in a state of being in contact with pure water.