Multi-Layer Substrate Holder for Uniform Heat Treatment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional heat treatment apparatuses face challenges in increasing the number of substrates that can be uniformly treated while maintaining treatment uniformity, as the minimum pitch required for uniformity limits the number of substrates that can be held.
Innovation Solution
The heat treatment method involves arranging substrates such that front and back surfaces of adjacent substrates face each other alternately, with specific distances set to ensure uniformity, and using a substrate holder composed of two bodies with columns arranged on an imaginary circle, allowing one body to move vertically and pivot to adjust positions, thereby increasing the number of substrates while maintaining uniformity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the pitch between substrate holding sections is increased to improve treatment uniformity, then the uniformity of the surface treatment is improved, but the number of wafers that can be held by the boat is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The invention transitions from a single-layer substrate arrangement to a multi-layer stacked arrangement. By utilizing the vertical dimension and stacking multiple layers of substrates with alternating front and back surface orientations, the system increases the number of substrates that can be treated simultaneously without compromising the horizontal pitch between adjacent substrates in the same layer, thereby maintaining treatment uniformity while improving productivity
Solution Approach 2:
The boat is divided into multiple independent layers, each capable of holding substrates. The layers are separated by spacing structures that maintain appropriate distances between them. This segmentation allows each layer to be optimized independently for uniform treatment while the overall multi-layer structure increases the total substrate capacity of the boat
2Manufacturing precision
If the minimum pitch of substrate holding sections is determined based on uniformity requirements, then the treatment uniformity is ensured, but it becomes difficult to increase the number of wafers to be held
Solution Approach 1:
The invention resolves the pitch constraint by moving the substrate arrangement into the vertical dimension through multi-layer stacking. This allows the horizontal pitch within each layer to maintain the minimum required for uniformity, while the vertical separation between layers provides additional capacity without interfering with the treatment uniformity of individual substrates
Data Source
AI summary
A substrate holder has two holder constituting bodies, each having a plurality of columns arranged on an imaginary circle, and substrate holding sections that hold circumferential portions of respective substrates. The holder constituting bodies hold the substrates so that either their front surfaces or their back surfaces face upward with a substrate having an upward facing front and a substrate having an upward facing rear being alternately arranged in a vertical direction. At least one of the holder constituting bodies moves in the vertical direction to change the positions of the holder constituting bodies relative to each other. A distance between a first pair of vertically adjacent substrates with their respective front surfaces facing each other is set to ensure treatment uniformity, and to be larger than a distance between a second pair of vertically adjacent substrates with their respective back surfaces facing each other.