Vertical heat treatment apparatus and method of transferring substrates to be processed
US7981217B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 24, 2008 |
| Grant date | Jul 19, 2011 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 7, 2029 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01L21/324
- WIPO fieldSemiconductors
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Disclosed herein is a vertical heat treatment apparatus which includes a thermal reactor having a reactor opening, a cover that hermetically closes the reactor opening, a holder that holds a large number of to-be-processed substrates via a ring-shaped support plate in such a manner as to arrange the substrates vertically at predetermined intervals, and an elevator mechanism that loads the holder into and unloads the holder from the thermal reactor. A transfer mechanism has a plurality of transfer plates that are arranged at predetermined intervals to carry to-be-processed substrates, and transfers the to-be-processed substrates between the storage container and the holder. The support plate is divided into an outer support plate and an inner support plate. The outer support plate has a cutout section through which the transfer plates can vertically pass to transfer the to-be-processed substrates. The inner support plate is placed at the inner periphery of the outer support plate and provided with a block section for blocking up the cutout section. Therefore, a plurality of to-be-processed substrates can be transferred at a time to the holder having the ring-shaped support plate. Th…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.