Patent · US Expired

Vacuum processing apparatus and vacuum processing method

US7112805B2 · kind B2 · utility

0Cited by
3References
14Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 25, 2004
Grant dateSep 26, 2006
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 25, 2024

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH01L21/67167
  • WIPO fieldSemiconductors
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The invention provides a semiconductor fabrication apparatus capable of preventing increase of carriage time of samples, deterioration of sample output, increase of footprint and increase of investment costs. The vacuum processing apparatus comprises a plurality of vacuum processing chambers for subjecting a sample to vacuum processing; a vacuum carriage for carrying the sample into and out of the vacuum processing chamber; a switchable chamber capable of being switched between atmosphere and vacuum for carrying the sample into and out of the vacuum processing chamber; a cassette support for supporting a plurality of cassettes and a controller for controlling carrying of the sample from a cassette through the switchable chambers, the vacuum carriage means into and out of the vacuum processing chamber. The vacuum processing chamber is equipped with an etching chamber and a critical dimension measurement chamber for critical dimension inspection of the sample.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.