Abstract: A film deposition apparatus includes a turntable including a substrate placement region at its surface; first and second reaction gas supply parts disposed in first and second supply regions in a chamber and supplying first and second reaction gases onto the surface, respectively; a separation region disposed between the first and second supply regions, the separation region including a separation gas supply part ejecting a separation gas separating the first and second reaction gases and a ceiling surface forming a separation space to supply the separation gas to the first and second supply regions; and first and second evacuation ports provided for the first and second supply regions. At least one of the first and second evacuation ports is disposed so as to guide the separation gas, supplied to the corresponding supply region, toward and along a direction in which the corresponding reaction gas supply part extends.

Abstract: A film deposition apparatus rotates a turntable and each gas nozzle relatively to each other at a rotational speed of 100 rpm or higher when depositing a titanium nitride film, to speed up a reaction gas supply cycle or a film deposition cycle of a reaction product. A next film of the reaction product is deposited before the grain size of the reaction product already generated on a substrate surface begins to grow due to crystallization of the already generated reaction product.

Abstract: There are provided an etching method and an etching apparatus suitable for etching an antireflection coating layer by using a resist film as a mask. The etching method includes forming the antireflection coating layer (Si-ARC layer) on an etching target layer; forming a patterned resist film (ArF resist film) on the antireflection coating layer; and forming a desired pattern on the antireflection coating layer by introducing an etching gas including a CF4 gas, a COS gas and an O2 gas into a processing chamber and etching the antireflection coating layer by the etching gas while using the resist film as a mask.

Abstract: In a cleaning method, a substrate having a pattern formed on the surface thereof can be cleaned by using a cleaning fluid, while preventing the pattern protrusions from being flattened when the cleaning fluid is removed or dried. The cleaning method includes the steps of: loading a substrate onto a loading platform inside a processing chamber; heating the substrate; and supplying a cleaning fluid onto the surface of the substrate. The substrate is heated in the substrate heating step so that the Leidenfrost phenomenon occurs and steam of the cleaning fluid is interposed between the substrate and droplets of the cleaning fluid supplied to the substrate in the cleaning fluid supply step.

Abstract: In the coating treatment apparatus, in a first treatment chamber, the front and rear surfaces of the substrate held by a transfer arm are inverted by a turning mechanism, and a coating solution is applied from a coating nozzle to the rear surface of the substrate. The substrate is transferred into a second treatment chamber, in which the coating solution on the rear surface is heated by a heating unit to cure, thereby forming a coating film on the rear surface of the substrate. The formation of the coating film by the coating treatment apparatus is performed before exposure processing, whereby the rear surface of the substrate can be flat for the exposure processing.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides a chemical liquid supply nozzle capable of suppressing the drying process of chemical liquid with a low cost. The chemical liquid supply nozzle is provided with a cutoff valve and a suction unit that sucks chemical liquid to a suction flow path at a nozzle main body connected to a front end of flow path member. Accordingly, the chemical liquid remaining at the downstream side of the cutoff valve after the chemical liquid is discharged, is sucked toward the upstream side of the cutoff valve and removed, to thereby suppress the drying and solidifying process of the chemical liquid at the chemical liquid flow path. Also, there is no need to block the chemical liquid flow path by sucking thinner at the downstream side of chemical liquid flow path, and the number of dummy dispense may be reduced, thereby reducing an overall operation cost of the process.

Abstract: After a rinse process on a wafer W is performed by feeding pure water to the surface of the wafer W at a predetermined flow rate while rotating the wafer W in an approximately horizontal state, a feed amount of the pure water to the wafer W is reduced, and a pure-water feed point is moved outward from the center of the wafer W. In this manner, the wafer W is subjected to a spin dry process while forming a liquid film in a substantially outer region of the pure-water feed point.

Abstract: There is provided a substrate processing method capable of preventing pattern collapse when a rinse solution is removed from a substrate on which a microscopic resist pattern is formed and also capable of reducing cost for processing the substrate by decreasing an amount of usage of a hydrophobicizing agent. The substrate processing method includes a rinse solution supply process (step S12) for supplying the rinse solution onto the substrate on which the resist pattern is formed; and a rinse solution removing process (steps S14 to S16) for removing the rinse solution from the substrate in an atmosphere including vapor of a first processing solution that hydrophobicizes the resist pattern.

Abstract: A substrate processing apparatus includes mounting units for mounting transfer containers, a substrate transfer unit for unloading substrates from a transfer container, processing unit for processing the substrates from the transfer container, an image pickup unit for capturing at one time an image of the entire substrate accommodating region of the transfer container before the substrate transfer unit unloads the substrates from the transfer container and a moving unit for moving the image pickup unit horizontally along one direction. The apparatus further includes an information acquiring unit for acquiring information on vertical positions of the substrates based on the image obtained by the image pickup unit and a control unit for controlling the substrate transfer unit to unload the substrates accommodated in the transfer container based on the information on the vertical positions of the substrates. The image pickup unit is provided in common for at least two of the transfer containers.

Abstract: A film deposition apparatus has a vacuum chamber in which a turntable placing plural substrates is rotated, the plural substrates come into contact with plural reaction gases supplied to plural process areas and thin films are deposited on surfaces of the plural substrates, and has plural reaction gas supplying portions for supplying the plural processing gases, a separation gas supplying portion for supplying a separation gas and an evacuation mechanism for ejecting the plural processing gases and the separation gas, wherein the plural process areas includes a first process area for causing a first reaction gas to adsorb on the surfaces of the plural substrates, and a second process area, having an area larger than the first process area, for causing the first reaction gas having adsorbed the surfaces of the plural substrates and a second reaction gas to react, and depositing the films on the surfaces of the plural substrates.

Abstract: A film deposition apparatus includes a separation member that extends to cover a rotation center of the turntable and two different points on a circumference of the turntable above the turntable, thereby separating the inside of the chamber into a first area and a second area; a first reaction gas supplying portion that supplies a first reaction gas toward the turntable in the first area; a second reaction gas supplying portion that supplies a second reaction gas toward the turntable in the second area; a first evacuation port that evacuates the first reaction gas and the first separation gas that converges with the first reaction gas; and a second evacuation port that evacuates the second reaction gas and the first separation gas that converges with the second reaction gas.

Abstract: In a substrate treatment method for supplying a coating solution to a substrate with projections and depressions on a front surface thereof to form a coating film on the front surface of the substrate, the coating solution is supplied to the rotating substrate to form a coating film on the front surface of the substrate, and the substrate having the coating film formed thereon is heated to adjust an etching condition of the coating film. Next, the etching solution is supplied to the rotating substrate to etch the coating film, and thereafter the coating solution is supplied to the substrate to form a flat coating film on the front surface of the substrate. Thereafter, the substrate is heated to cure the coating film. This flattens the coating film with uniformity and high accuracy without undergoing a high-load process such as chemical mechanical polishing.

Abstract: The present invention has: a first step of measuring, as an initial condition of a substrate, any of a film thickness of a processing film on the substrate, a refractive index of the processing film, an absorption coefficient of the processing film, and a warpage amount of the substrate; a second step of estimating a dimension of a pattern of the processing film after predetermined processing from a previously obtained first relation between the initial condition and the dimension of the pattern of the processing film based on a measurement result of the initial condition; a third step of obtaining a correction value for a processing condition of the predetermined processing from a previously obtained second relation between the processing condition of the predetermined processing and the dimension of the pattern of the processing film based on an estimation result of the dimension of the pattern; a fourth step of correcting the processing condition of the predetermined processing based on the correction valu

Abstract: A nitriding process is performed at a process temperature of 500° C. or more by causing microwave-excited high-density plasma of a nitrogen-containing gas to act on silicon in the surface of a target object, inside a process container of a plasma processing apparatus. The plasma is generated by supplying microwaves into the process container from a planar antenna having a plurality of slots.

Abstract: A thermal plate of a heating unit is divided into a plurality of thermal plate regions, and a temperature can be set for each of the thermal plate regions. A temperature correction value for adjusting a temperature within the thermal plate can be set for each of the thermal plate regions of the thermal plate. The line widths within the substrate which has been subjected to a photolithography process are measured, and an in-plane tendency of the measured line widths is decomposed into a plurality of in-plane tendency components using a Zernike polynomial. From the calculated plurality of in-plane tendency components, in-plane tendency components improvable by changing the temperature correction values are extracted and added together to calculate an improvable in-plane tendency of the measured line widths within the substrate.

Abstract: The invention includes inserting an object to be processed into a processing vessel, which can be maintained vacuum, and making the processing vessel vacuum; performing a sequence of forming a ZrO2 film on a substrate by alternately supplying zirconium source and an oxidizer into the processing vessel for a plurality of times and a sequence of forming SiO2 film on the substrate by alternately supplying silicon source and an oxidizer into the processing vessel for one or more times, wherein the number of times of performing each of the sequences is adjusted such that Si concentration of the films is from about 1 atm % to about 4 atm %; and forming a zirconia-based film having a predetermined thickness by performing the film forming sequences for one or more cycles, wherein one cycle indicates that each of the ZrO2 film forming sequences and the SiO2 film forming sequences are repeated for the adjusted number of times of performances.

Abstract: A rinsing method for performing a rinsing process on a substrate, after a developing process is performed on a light-exposed pattern disposed thereon, includes a step (STEP 5) of throwing off a developing solution from the substrate after development; a step (STEP 6) of supplying a water-based cleaning liquid onto the substrate; a step (STEP 7) of supplying a surfactant-containing rinsing liquid onto the substrate to replace liquid remaining on the substrate with the surfactant-containing rinsing liquid; and a step (STEP 8) of rotating the substrate to expand and throw off the surfactant-containing rinsing liquid on the substrate. STEP 8 is arranged to supply the surfactant-containing rinsing liquid for a supply time of 5 seconds or less. STEP 9 is arranged to include a first period with a lower rotation number and a second period with a higher rotation number, and to set the rotation number of the substrate in the first period to be more than 300 rpm and less than 1,000 rpm.

Abstract: A particle monitor system that can detect fine particles in a substrate processing apparatus. The substrate processing apparatus has a chamber in which a substrate is housed and subjected to processing, a dry pump that exhausts gas out of the chamber, and a bypass line that communicates the chamber and the dry pump together. The particle monitor system has a laser light oscillator that irradiates laser light toward a space in which the particles may be present, and a laser power measurement device that is disposed on an optical path of the laser light having passed through the space and measures the energy of the laser light.

Abstract: Disclosed is a probing method including, when the probes are configured to make contact with a chip row including four chips continuously arranged in an oblique direction so that the probe card test four chips at a time, finding a first reference oblique chip row extending in the oblique direction and containing a center chip positioned at the center of the wafer and a plurality of first additional oblique chip rows arranged in parallel with the first reference oblique chip row at an upper side of the first reference oblique chip row, and setting contact positions between the probes and the first oblique chip rows wherein the contact positions are positions of the probes obtained by shifting the probes; setting contact positions between the probes and the second oblique chip rows in an opposite direction to a first step; and setting a plurality of index group and test order.

Abstract: A plasma etching method includes: plasma etching a silicon oxide film to be etched that is positioned under a multi-layer resist mask by using the multi-layer resist mask formed on a substrate to be processed; and plasma etching a glass based film positioned under the silicon oxide film by using the multi-layer resist mask. In the method a gaseous mixture of C4F6 gas and C3F8 gas as a processing gas is used in the plasma etching of the glass based layer.