JP5854741B2 - Substrate processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus for performing various processes on a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer.

  Conventionally, this type of substrate processing apparatus includes a transfer chamber in which a transfer robot for transferring a substrate is installed, and process chambers arranged at a plurality of locations around the transfer chamber, and the transfer robot carries the substrate into and out of each process chamber. A cluster tool type is known. However, in this case, when the number of processing chambers is increased, it is necessary to make the transfer chamber a large one having a long circumference, and it is necessary to secure a considerably large installation space for the apparatus.

  Conventionally, according to Patent Document 1, a transfer chamber in which a transfer robot for transferring a substrate is installed is arranged in parallel, and a substrate is placed by a transfer robot at a plurality of locations around each transfer chamber excluding an intermediate portion in the transfer chamber parallel arrangement direction. In addition to arranging processing chambers to be loaded and unloaded, a substrate support member that supports a substrate so as to be freely transferred to and from each transfer robot is disposed at a substrate transfer location provided in the intermediate portion of the transfer chamber in the side-by-side direction. Substrate processing apparatuses are also known. In this case, the installation space for the apparatus can be reduced as compared with a case where a large number of processing chambers are arranged around one transfer chamber.

  In the one disclosed in Patent Document 1, three delivery locations are provided in the middle portion of the transfer chamber in the side-by-side direction and arranged in the direction orthogonal to the side-by-side direction, and a substrate support member is disposed at each delivery location. When two substrates are juxtaposed between the two transfer chambers arranged side by side at the same time and the processing in the two processing chambers around one transfer chamber and the two processing chambers around the other transfer chamber are repeated, The two delivery locations on the side are used for the reciprocating path of the two substrates, and the central delivery location is used for the transport path other than the reciprocating transport.

  Here, only one substrate can be placed on the substrate support member. For this reason, if the next substrate is placed on the substrate support member at the delivery location on both sides during the process of reciprocating the previous substrate between the transfer chambers, the previous substrate cannot be transferred back and forth between the transfer chambers. Accordingly, it is necessary to wait for the processing of the next substrate until the processing of the previous substrate is completed, and the throughput deteriorates.

JP 2003-60005 A

  In view of the above points, an object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus in which transfer chambers are arranged side by side, which can improve throughput.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a transfer chamber in which a transfer robot for transferring a substrate is installed in parallel, and each transfer robot is provided at a plurality of locations around each transfer chamber excluding an intermediate portion in the transfer direction of the transfer chamber. A substrate support member for supporting the substrate so as to be freely transferred to and from each transfer robot is provided at a substrate transfer location provided in the intermediate portion in the parallel direction of the transfer chamber. In the arranged substrate processing apparatus, the substrate support member includes at least two upper and lower support portions for supporting the substrate, and particles falling from the substrate supported by the upper support portion and positioned between the support portions in the vertical direction. And a shielding plate for receiving.

  According to the present invention, even if the next substrate is placed on the upper and lower support portions of the substrate support member during the process of reciprocating between the two transfer chambers in which the previous substrate is arranged side by side, The previous substrate can be reciprocated between the two transfer chambers using the upper and lower support portions. Accordingly, the processing of the next substrate can be started without waiting for the completion of the processing of the previous substrate, and the throughput can be improved.

  However, when the substrate support member is simply provided with two upper and lower support portions, the following problems occur. That is, since particles adhere to the lower surface of the substrate from the electrostatic chuck installed in the processing chamber, the particles peeled off from the lower surface of the substrate supported by the upper support portion fall on the substrate supported by the lower support portion. , It becomes a cause of quality defects, and the yield deteriorates.

  On the other hand, in the present invention, since the substrate support member is provided with a shielding plate that receives particles falling from the substrate supported by the upper support portion, the particles do not fall on the substrate supported by the lower support portion. . Therefore, throughput can be improved and yield can be prevented from deteriorating.

  In the present invention, the shielding plate is preferably made of a transparent material. According to this, not only the upper support part but also the lower support part can be seen through the shielding plate from the observation window provided above the delivery place, and the inspection work becomes easy.

  Further, when the substrate is subjected to heat treatment or cooling treatment, the lower support portion of the substrate support member may be constituted by an electrostatic chuck having a function of heating or cooling the substrate. According to this, the substrate can be subjected to heat treatment or cooling treatment without being transferred to the heat treatment or cooling treatment chamber around the transfer chamber, and the throughput can be improved by reducing the number of times of transfer. . Furthermore, it is possible to reduce the size of the apparatus by omitting the processing chamber for heat treatment or cooling treatment.

  If the lower support is composed of an electrostatic chuck having a heating function and this electrostatic chuck is maintained at a high temperature, the substrate placed on the upper support is unintentionally radiated from the electrostatic chuck. The temperature rises. In this case, if the shield plate is made of metal, the shield plate can block the radiant heat from the electrostatic chuck and suppress the temperature rise of the substrate placed on the upper support portion.

  Further, when the substrate is subjected to heat treatment, a lamp for heating the substrate supported by the lower support portion of the substrate support member from below may be provided. In this case, if the shielding plate is made of a transparent material, the infrared ray from the lamp can be transmitted and the substrate supported by the upper support portion can be subjected to heat treatment.

  By the way, when heat-processing the board | substrate supported by the lower support part, the gas evaporated from a board | substrate may adhere to the lower surface of a shielding board, and may fall as a particle. In this case, if the shield plate is detachably provided on the substrate support member, the shield plate can be periodically exchanged by the transport robot to prevent particles from falling from the shield plate.

  Further, the dummy substrate may be supported by at least one support portion of the substrate support member installed at a predetermined delivery location among delivery locations provided at a plurality of locations in the intermediate portion in the parallel arrangement direction of the transfer chamber. According to this, the dummy substrate can be transferred to the processing chamber in a short time compared with the conventional case where the dummy substrate is transferred from the atmosphere side to the processing chamber. Since the substrate can be placed on the support portion and sufficiently cooled by radiation, it can be carried out to the atmosphere side at an arbitrary timing, so that the influence of the cooling waiting time for carrying out the dummy substrate on the atmosphere side on the substrate processing time can be reduced to the minimum.

(A) The typical top view which shows the substrate processing apparatus of embodiment of this invention, (b) Sectional drawing of the principal part cut | disconnected by the Ib-Ib line | wire of Fig.1 (a). Explanatory drawing which shows the conveyance procedure of the board | substrate in the substrate processing apparatus of embodiment. Sectional drawing of the principal part of 2nd Embodiment. Sectional drawing of the principal part of 3rd Embodiment.

  Thereafter, a cleaning process for removing the residue on the substrate surface and the natural oxide film by etching, a cooling process for cooling the substrate, and a barrier layer made of tantalum or the like on the substrate surface by sputtering are sequentially formed on the substrate made of the semiconductor wafer. A film forming process, a film forming process for forming a wiring layer made of copper or the like on the barrier layer by sputtering, a heating process for fluidizing the wiring layer by heating the substrate, and a film forming process for the wiring layer again. An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a substrate processing apparatus that performs the above will be described.

Referring to FIG. 1A, the substrate processing apparatus according to the embodiment includes first and second transfer chambers 1 ₁ , 1 ₂ that are evacuated in parallel in the front-rear direction (vertical direction in FIG. 1). It has. The first transfer chamber 1 ₁ first transfer robot 2 ₁ is installed for transferring the substrate, the second transfer chamber 1 ₂ second transfer robot 2 ₂ is provided for conveying the substrate. Each of the transfer robots 2 ₁ and 2 ₂ includes a rotary shaft 21 that can rotate and move up and down, a pair of frog-leg type robot arms 22 and 22 that are connected to the upper end of the rotary shaft 21 and can be expanded and contracted in the horizontal direction, and each robot. And a robot hand 23 that supports a substrate attached to the tip of the arm 22.

The first periphery of the transfer chamber 1 _1, except for both the first and the second transfer chamber 1 _1, 1 ₂ of the arrangement direction intermediate portion, from the front in this order, symmetric, two load lock chambers L1, L2 and Two vacuum processing chambers F1 and F2 for performing a cleaning process and two vacuum processing chambers F3 and F4 for performing a heating process are arranged. These include each of the load lock chambers L1, L2 and each of the processing chambers F1 to F4, the substrate through the gate valve 11 is carried, is unloaded by the first transfer robot _{2 1.} The second circumference of the transfer chamber 1 _2, except for both the transfer chamber 1 _1, 1 ₂ of the arrangement direction intermediate portion, from the front in this order, symmetric, two vacuum processing chamber for performing a film forming process of the wiring layer R1, R2, two vacuum processing chambers R3, R4 for performing a barrier layer film forming process, and two vacuum processing chambers R5, R6 for performing a cooling process are arranged. These include each of the processing chambers R1-R6, the substrate through the gate valve 11 is carried, it is unloaded by the second transfer robot _{2 2.}

In the middle part of both transfer chambers 1 ₁ and 1 _{2 in} the juxtaposed direction, a first delivery place M1 at the center in the transverse direction perpendicular to the juxtaposition direction, a second delivery place M2 on the left side, and a third delivery place on the right side M3 is provided. In each of these delivery locations M1, M2, and M3, a substrate support member 3 that supports the substrate at three locations in the circumferential direction is installed.

  As shown in FIG. 1B, the substrate support member 3 includes a lower support portion 31 that supports the substrate S, an upper support portion 32 that also supports the substrate S, and an intermediate between the support portions 31 and 32 in the vertical direction. And a shielding plate 33 that receives particles falling from the substrate S supported by the upper support portion 32. The shielding plate 33 is placed on a shelf 33 a provided between the lower support portion 31 and the upper support portion 32, and is detachable from the substrate support member 3. The shielding plate 33 is formed to have a larger diameter than the substrate S so that particles falling from the outer peripheral portion of the lower surface of the substrate S supported by the upper support portion 32 can be reliably received.

  A viewing window 12 fitted with glass is provided at the ceiling of each delivery place M1, M2, M3. The shielding plate 33 is made of a transparent material such as quartz or glass that transmits visible light. Therefore, not only the upper support portion 32 but also the lower support portion 31 can be visually checked through the shielding plate 33 from the viewing window 12, and the inspection work is facilitated.

Next, a substrate transfer procedure in the substrate processing apparatus of this embodiment will be described. First, continuously and to transfer the substrate by the first transfer robot 2 ₁ from the load lock chamber L1 into the processing chamber F1, and conveying the substrate by the first transfer robot 2 ₁ from the load lock chamber L2 in the processing chamber F2 The first transfer operation is performed, and the two substrates are cleaned almost simultaneously in the processing chambers F1 and F2.

After cleaning completion, and conveying the substrate to the lower support portion 31 of substrate support member 3 which is installed from the processing chamber F1 by the first transfer robot 2 ₁ to the first delivery location M1, the substrate second transport robot 2 ₂ and it is transported as well as transported to the processing chamber R5, the substrate from the processing chamber F2 by the first transfer robot 2 ₁ in the lower support portion 31 of substrate support member 3 which is installed in the first delivery location M1 by, the substrate second run the second transporting operation performed continuously be transported to the processing chamber R6 by the transfer robot 2 ₂ performs substantially simultaneously cooling process into two substrates in the processing chamber R5, R6.

After cooling process is completed, continuously be conveyed and conveying the substrate into the processing chamber R3 from the processing chamber R5 by the second transfer robot 2 _2, the substrate to the processing chamber R4 from the processing chamber R6 by the second transfer robot 2 ₂ The third transfer operation is executed, and the barrier layers are formed on the two substrates almost simultaneously in the processing chambers R3 and R4. Then, after completing the film forming process of the barrier layer, the method comprising transporting the substrate into the processing chamber R1 from the processing chamber R3 by the second transfer robot 2 _2, the substrate to the processing chamber R2 from the processing chamber R4 by the second transfer robot 2 ₂ A fourth transfer operation is performed in which the transfer is continuously performed, and the first wiring layer deposition process is performed on the two substrates almost simultaneously in the processing chambers R1 and R2.

First after the film formation process is completed wiring layers, and conveying the substrate to the lower support portion 31 of substrate support member 3 which is installed from the processing chamber R1 to the second delivery location M2 by the second transfer robot 2 _2, the substrate It conveys the processing chamber F3 to the first transfer robot 2 _1, to transport the substrate to the lower support portion 31 of substrate support member 3 which is installed from the processing chamber R2 by the second transfer robot 2 ₂ to the third delivery location M2 If, executes a fifth transport operation performed it continuously for conveying the substrate into the processing chamber F4 by the first transfer robot 2 ₁ performs almost simultaneously heat treatment in the processing chamber F3, F4 two substrates .

After the heating process is completed, and to transfer the substrate to the upper support portion 32 of substrate support member 3 which is installed from the processing chamber F3 by the first transfer robot 2 ₁ to the second transfer location M2, the substrate second transport robot 2 ₂ and it is transported as well as transported to the processing chamber R1, the substrate in the upper support portion 32 of substrate support member 3 which is installed from the processing chamber F4 by the first transfer robot 2 ₁ to the third delivery location M3 by, the substrate second run the sixth conveying operation performed continuously be transported to the processing chamber R2 by the transfer robot 2 ₂ performs a film forming process of substantially simultaneously the second wiring layer into two substrates in the processing chamber R1, R2 .

After the second film forming process completes the wiring layers, and conveying the substrate to the second transfer robot 2 ₂ by the upper support portion 32 of substrate support member 3 which is installed from the processing chamber R1 to the first delivery location M1, the substrate the conveys the first transfer robot 2 ₁ to the load lock chamber L1, transports the substrate to the second transfer robot 2 ₂ by the upper support portion 32 of substrate support member 3 which is installed from the processing chamber R2 to the first delivery location M1 fact and the substrate running seventh conveying operation performed continuously be transported to the load lock chamber L2 by the first transfer robot 2 _1, completing the series of conveying operation for two substrates. Further, each time the cleaning process in the processing chambers F1 and F2 is completed, a series of operations from the first transport operation to the next two substrates are performed in succession to the second transport operation to the previous two substrates. Execute the transfer operation.

  The conveyance procedure described above is illustrated in FIG. In FIG. 2, M1d, M2d, and M3d mean that the substrate is placed on the lower support portion 31 of the substrate support member 3 installed at each delivery location M1, M2, and M3, and M1u, M2u, and M3u are each delivery. This means that the substrate is placed on the upper support portion 32 of the substrate support member 3 installed at the locations M1, M2, and M3.

By the way, if the substrate is reciprocated once between the processing chambers R1, R2 and the processing chambers F3, F4 as described above, the throughput is limited by the processing time and the reciprocating transport time in these processing chambers. It is necessary to secure the path with priority. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the second delivery location M2 closest to the processing chambers R1 and F3 is used as a reciprocating transfer path between the processing chambers R1 and F3, and the third delivery location M3 closest to the processing chambers R2 and F4. Is used as a reciprocating transfer path between the processing chambers R2 and F4, and the first delivery place M1 is used as a transfer path between the first and _second transfer chambers 1 ₁ and ₂ .

  As is clear from FIG. 2, every time the cleaning process in the processing chambers F1 and F2 is completed, the first transfer operation for the next two substrates is performed in succession to the second transfer operation for the previous two substrates. When a series of transfer operations from the transfer operation is executed, a sixth transfer operation (transfer from the processing chambers F3 and F4 to the processing chambers R1 and R2) for the Nth and N + 1th substrates (previous two substrates) is performed. Operation) A fifth transfer operation for the (N + 2) th and (N + 3) th substrate (the next two substrates) prior to placing the substrate on the second and third delivery locations M2, M3 on the way ( In the middle of the transfer operation from the processing chambers R1 and R2 to the processing chambers F3 and F4, the substrate is placed at the second and third delivery locations M2 and M3. Further, placing the substrate at the first delivery location M1 during the seventh transfer operation (transfer operation from the processing chambers R1, R2 to the load lock chambers L1, L2) for the Nth and N + 1th substrates, and N + 16 The substrate is placed at the first delivery location M1 during the second transfer operation (transfer operation from the processing chambers F1 and F2 to the processing chambers R5 and R6) for the first and N + 17th substrates at the same time. become.

  Prior to the sixth transfer operation with respect to the previous substrate, the next substrate is placed at each of the second and third delivery locations M2 and M3 because the processing chamber R1, This is because it is necessary to unload the next substrate from the processing chambers R1 and R2 in the fifth transfer operation for the next substrate before loading the previous substrate into R2. Here, in the conventional apparatus in which two substrates cannot be simultaneously placed in each delivery place M1, M2, and M3, the next substrate precedes the sixth transfer operation with respect to the previous substrate. If it is placed at the delivery locations M2 and M3, the sixth transfer operation for the previous substrate cannot be performed. Therefore, the fourth transfer operation (processing for the next substrate) is performed until the second wiring layer film forming process in the processing chambers R1 and R2 for the previous substrate is completed and the substrate is unloaded from the processing chambers R1 and R2. It is necessary to wait for the transfer operation from the chambers R3 and R4 to the processing chambers R1 and R2. Further, when the seventh transport operation for the previous substrate and the second transport operation for any of the subsequent substrates temporally overlap, it is necessary to wait for the second transport operation until the seventh transport operation is completed. There is. As a result, the throughput deteriorates.

  On the other hand, in the present embodiment, since the substrate support member 3 installed at each delivery place M1, M2, M3 includes the lower stage support part 31 and the upper stage support part 32, 2 at each delivery place M1, M2, M3 simultaneously. One board can be placed. Therefore, the substrate can be transported by the transport procedure shown in FIG. 2, and the throughput can be dramatically improved.

  However, since particles adhere to the lower surface of the substrate S from the electrostatic chucks installed in the processing chambers F1 to F4 and R1 to R6, when the upper and lower support portions 31 and 32 are simply provided on the substrate support member 3, Particles peeled off from the lower surface of the substrate S supported by the upper support portion 32 drop and adhere to the substrate S supported by the lower support portion 31, causing a quality defect and reducing the yield.

  On the other hand, in this embodiment, since the substrate support member 3 is provided with the shielding plate 33 that receives particles falling from the substrate S supported by the upper support portion 32, the substrate S supported by the lower support portion 31. The particles do not fall. Therefore, throughput can be improved and yield can be prevented from deteriorating.

  By the way, after the substrate is subjected to the heat treatment in the processing chambers F3 and F4, it may be necessary to subject the substrate to the cooling treatment and then to perform the second wiring layer deposition process in the processing chambers R1 and R2. is there. When this cooling process is performed in the processing chambers R5 and R6, a transfer operation from the processing chambers F3 and F4 to the processing chambers R5 and R6 and a transfer operation from the processing chambers R5 and R6 to the processing chambers R1 and R2 can be added. As a result, throughput is reduced.

Here, since the delivery places M1 to M3 are not partitioned by the respective transfer chambers 1 ₁ and 1 ₂ and the gate valve, the process of introducing gas cannot be performed, but the process of cooling or heating can be performed. Therefore, in the second embodiment shown in FIG. 3, an electrostatic chuck having a function of cooling the substrate S is used for the lower support portion 31 of the substrate support member 3 installed in each of the second and third delivery locations M <b> 2 and M <b> 3. 34. The electrostatic chuck 34 is provided with lift pins 34a for transferring the substrate S between the transfer robots 2 ₁ and 2 ₂ .

  According to this, the cooling process after the heat treatment in the processing chambers F3 and F4 can be performed in the second and third delivery locations M2 and M3. Therefore, it is not necessary to transfer the substrate to the processing chambers R5 and R6, and the throughput can be improved. In this case, the substrate support member 3 at each of the second and third delivery locations M2 and M3 is used as a path during the fifth transfer operation (transfer operation from the processing chambers R1 and R2 to the processing chambers F3 and F4). The upper support portion 32 is used.

  Moreover, what has the function to heat the board | substrate S as the electrostatic chuck 34 which comprises the lower stage support part 31 of the board | substrate support member 3 installed in each of the 2nd and 3rd delivery locations M2 and M3 may be used. According to this, after the first wiring layer forming process in the processing chambers R1 and R2, the substrate is heated in the second and third delivery locations M2 and M3 without being transferred to the processing chambers F3 and F4. Processing can be performed. In this case, the processing chambers F3 and F4 are for cooling processing, and the processing chambers R5 and R6 are omitted, so that the substrate processing apparatus can be downsized.

  In addition, a heat treatment after the second wiring layer deposition process may be required. In this case, the lower support portion 31 installed at the first delivery location M1 may be configured by the electrostatic chuck 34 having a function of heating the substrate, and the heat treatment may be performed at the first delivery location M1. . Further, the lower stage support portion 31 installed at one of the second and third delivery locations M2 and M3 is constituted by an electrostatic chuck 34 having a function of cooling the substrate S, and the lower stage support installed at the other location. It is also possible to configure the part 31 with an electrostatic chuck 34 having a function of heating the substrate S.

  As described above, the substrate support member 3 installed at each delivery location M1, M2, and M3 is provided with the upper and lower two-stage support portions 31 and 32, and the lower support portion 31 is configured by the electrostatic chuck 34 having a heating or cooling function. By doing so, it can contribute to the improvement of productivity in various processing patterns.

  By the way, when the lower support 31 is constituted by an electrostatic chuck 34 having a heating function and the electrostatic chuck 34 is maintained at a high temperature, the substrate S placed on the upper support 32 is removed from the electrostatic chuck 34. The temperature rises unintentionally due to radiant heat. In this case, if the shielding plate 33 is made of a metal such as aluminum or stainless steel, the radiant heat from the electrostatic chuck 34 is shielded by the heat shielding plate 33 and the temperature rise of the substrate S placed on the upper support portion 32 is suppressed. it can. In addition, it is desirable to cool the shielding plate 33 so as not to exceed a certain temperature.

  Further, even if the lower support 31 of the substrate support member 3 installed at each delivery place M1, M2, M3 is not constituted by the electrostatic chuck 34 having a heating function, as in the third embodiment shown in FIG. If the lamp 35 that heats the substrate S supported by the lower support portion 31 from below is provided, the substrate S can be heated at the delivery locations M1, M2, and M3. In this case, if the shielding plate 33 is made of a transparent material such as quartz, the infrared rays from the lamp 35 are transmitted through the shielding plate 33 and the substrate S supported by the upper support portion 32 can be subjected to heat treatment. . In FIG. 4, reference numeral 35a denotes a reflector.

By the way, when the heat treatment is performed on the substrate S supported by the lower support portion 31, gas evaporating from the substrate S may adhere to the lower surface of the shielding plate 33 and fall as particles. In the present embodiment, since the shielding plate 33 is freely mounted removably on the shelf portion 33a of the substrate support 3, by periodically exchanging the shielding plate 33 by the first transfer robot 2 _1, shielding Particles falling from the plate 33 can be prevented.

  Further, at least one support portion of the substrate support member 3 installed at a predetermined delivery place among the first to third delivery places M1, M2, and M3 is used in a preparatory process before the substrate process in the process chamber. It is also possible to support a dummy substrate. For example, four dummy substrates used for pre-sputtering in the four processing chambers R1 to R4 that perform the film forming process are connected to the lower support 31 of the substrate support member 3 installed at the first delivery location M1 and the second delivery. It is supported by the lower support part 31 of the substrate support member 3 installed at the place M2 and the lower support part 31 and the upper support part 32 of the substrate support member 3 installed at the third delivery place M3. In this case, the upper support 32 of the substrate support member 3 at the first delivery location M1 and the upper support 32 of the substrate support 3 at the second delivery location M2 can be used for the substrate transfer path. However, a decrease in throughput can be prevented by providing the substrate support member 3 with three or more upper and lower support portions.

  Conventionally, each dummy substrate is transferred from the load lock chambers L1 and L2 to the processing chambers R1 to R4. According to the above configuration, each dummy substrate is transferred from each delivery location M1, M2, and M3 to each processing. It can be transported to the chambers R1 to R4 in a short time. And the total processing time including the conveyance time of the dummy substrate concerning the pre sputter | spatter performed before the start of a board | substrate process can be shortened, and the process of a board | substrate can be started early. Further, when the dummy substrate is carried out to the atmosphere side through the load lock chambers L1 and L2 after pre-sputtering, it is necessary to wait for the dummy substrate that has become high temperature during pre-sputtering to be carried out to the atmosphere side. According to the above configuration, after pre-sputtering, the dummy substrate can be placed at each delivery location M1, M2, M3 and sufficiently cooled by radiation, and then can be carried out to the atmosphere side at an arbitrary timing. Therefore, the influence of the cooling waiting time for carrying out the dummy substrate on the atmosphere side on the substrate processing time can be reduced to the minimum.

As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described with reference to drawings, this invention is not limited to this. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the first to third three delivery locations M1, M2, and M3 are provided in the middle portion of the first and second transfer chambers 1 ₁ and 1 _{2 in} the juxtaposed direction. The number of places may be two or less or four or more. Further, the number of processing chambers arranged around each of the transfer chambers 1 ₁ and 1 ₂ is not limited to that in the above embodiment, and can be appropriately changed according to the processing pattern.

1 ₁ , 1 ₂ ... transfer chamber, 2 ₁ , 2 ₂ ... transfer robot, 3 ... substrate support member, 31 ... lower support, 32 ... upper support, 33 ... shielding plate, 34 ... electrostatic chuck, 35 ... lamp , F1 to F4, R1 to R6... Processing chamber, M1 to M3.

Claims (6)

Transfer chambers with transfer robots that transfer substrates are arranged side by side, and processing chambers where substrates are loaded and unloaded by transfer robots are placed at multiple locations around each transfer chamber except for the intermediate section of the transfer chambers. In a substrate processing apparatus in which a substrate support member that supports a substrate so as to be freely transferred to and from each transfer robot is disposed at a substrate transfer location provided in an intermediate portion in the parallel direction of the transfer chamber.
The substrate support member includes at least two upper and lower support portions that support the substrate, and a shielding plate that receives particles falling from the substrate supported by the upper support portion, positioned in the middle in the vertical direction of these support portions ,
And further comprising an exhaust device for holding the delivery place provided at a plurality of locations in the intermediate direction of the transfer chamber in a vacuum,
At least one of said support portions of said substrate support member disposed in a predetermined delivery location of said delivery locations provided at a plurality of positions of the arrangement direction intermediate portion of the transfer chamber, Rukoto dummy substrate is supported A substrate processing apparatus.   The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shielding plate is made of a transparent material.   The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lower support portion of the substrate support member includes an electrostatic chuck having a function of heating or cooling the substrate.   The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the shielding plate is made of metal.   The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a lamp that heats a substrate supported by a lower support portion of the substrate support member from below. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shielding plate is detachably provided on the substrate support member by a transfer robot that transfers the substrate.

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