A washing apparatus comprises a loader, unloader, and three washing units (i.e., a carry-in side unit, a carry-out side unit, and an intermediate unit) arranged between the loader and unloader. Each unit has two washing sections for performing batch treatment of wafers, and a rotary transfer arm. An underwater loader is provided between each pair of adjacent washing units. Each of the washing sections and underwater loaders has a vessel and a case housing the vessel. The case is provided with a shutter and an air curtain at an opening thereof for isolating the atmosphere therein from the outside thereof. The loader, unloader, washing sections, and underwater loaders are located around the rotational axis of the rotary transfer arm such that each adjacent two are arranged substantially at right angles to each other, which enables the device to be made compact and to have high treatment efficiency.
A substrates-cleaning apparatus comprising process vessels in which washing solutions are contained, a chuck mechanism having a first substrate holder section for carrying silicon wafers to the process vessels while holding them in it, and a boat mechanism having a second substrate holder section for receiving the wafers from the chuck mechanism and for supporting the wafers in the washing solutions, wherein said second substrate holder section comprises base members made of erosion and heat resistant material, and receiver members attached to the base members, having a plurality of substrate holding grooves thereon, and made of erosion and heat resistant synthetic resin substantially same in softness as or softer than the wafers.
A substrate treatment apparatus includes a loader 1 for soaking a plurality of wafers W in deionized water, a back surface cleaning portion 2, a front surface cleaning portion 3, a rinsing and drying unit 4 and a plurality of transporting units 6. The back surface cleaning unit 2 cleans the back surface of the wafer W with a brush from the lower side by supplying deionized water to the wafer W that is removed from the loader 1. The front surface cleaning unit 3 cleans the upper surface of the wafer W with a brush by supplying deionized water to the wafer W cleaned by the back surface cleaning unit 2. The rinsing and drying unit 4 rinses the cleaned wafer W and then dries it. There is a transporting unit 6 disposed between the loader 1 and the back surface cleaning unit 2, another unit 6 is disposed between unit 2 and the upper surface cleaning unit 3, and another unit 6 is disposed between unit 3 and the rinsing and drying unit 4 while each of these three transporting units 6 transports the wafer W, deionized water is supplied to the wafer W to prevent being dried during the cleaning treatment.
Provided is a polishing apparatus which comprises a polishing mechanism for polishing a wafer taken out from a cassette, an attaching-detaching device for attaching to and detaching the wafer from the polishing mechanism, a device for cleaning the polished wafer, and a transportation device for transporting the wafer between the cassette, polishing mechanism, attaching-detaching device, and cleaning device. These devices are arranged individually in compartments. A working chamber is divided into a plurality of compartments by means of partitioning devices. A device for polishing a workpiece is set in one of the compartments. The apparatus is also provided with communication devices for internally connecting the adjacent compartments which are divided by the partitioning devices. The apparatus may further comprise devices for individually controlling the respective internal pressures of the compartments or a device for generating an air flow in the form of a laminar flow in each of the compartments.
A substrate processing apparatus according to this invention includes an interface section having a first transfer member for transferring an object from a coating process section for applying a process solution to the object in accordance with a single sheet process to an object holding member, and a moving member for detachably supplying a plurality of object holding member and simultaneously moving the plurality of object holding member, and a heat-treatment section having a second transfer member for transferring the object placed on the object holding member to a heat-treatment section for heat-treating the plurality of objects, which have undergone the coating process, in accordance with a batch process.
A polishing apparatus includes an arrangement of a plurality of units to deal with various operations and a robot having at least one arm. The plurality of units are disposed around the robot and include a loading unit for receiving thereon a, e.g. dry, workpiece to be polished, a polishing system including at least one polishing unit for polishing the workpiece, a washing system and a drying system at least one washing unit for washing and drying the polished workpiece, and an unloading unit for receiving thereon a resultant clean and dry polished workpiece.
