Patent ID: 11971661
Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G  H

Claim 17:
18. A substrate processing method, comprising:
delivering a substrate to each of a first processing module and a second processing module by a first transfer mechanism and a second transfer mechanism in a first unit block, the first unit block including a first substrate transfer region extended in a left-right direction; and the first processing module and the second processing module provided to respectively face a first side and a second side of the first substrate transfer region in the left-right direction, the first transfer mechanism and the second transfer mechanism being respectively provided at the first side and the second side of the first substrate transfer region in the left-right direction, wherein the first substrate transfer region has a first transfer path and a second transfer path that do not overlap each other when viewed from above, the first transfer mechanism transfers the substrate by moving only the first transfer path among the first and second transfer paths, and the second transfer mechanism transfers the substrate by moving only the second transfer path among the first and second transfer paths such that the first transfer mechanism and the second transfer mechanism have movement areas that do not overlap with each other within the first unit block;
transferring the substrate in the left-right direction by a third transfer mechanism in a second substrate transfer region of a second unit block, the second unit block being stacked on the first unit block, the second substrate transfer region being extended in the left-right direction;
placing the substrate on first side placing units, which are provided at respective positions corresponding to heights of the first unit block and the second unit block, in a substrate carry-in/out block, the substrate carry-in/out block being provided on a first side in the left-right direction of a stack of the unit blocks composed of the first unit block and the second unit block; and delivering the substrate among the substrate carry-in/out block, the first transfer mechanism and the third transfer mechanism;
placing a carrier configured to accommodate therein the substrate on a carrier stage provided in the substrate carry-in/out block;
placing the substrate on second side placing units, which are provided at respective positions corresponding to the heights of the first unit block and the second unit block, in a relay block, the relay block being provided on a second side in the left-right direction of the stack of the unit blocks; and delivering the substrate among the relay block, the second transfer mechanism and the third transfer mechanism;
transferring the substrate between the second side placing units by a second side transfer mechanism provided in the relay block;
transferring the substrate between the carrier and each of the first side placing units by a first side transfer mechanism provided in the substrate carry-in/out block; and
delivering the substrate, which is processed by the first processing module and is not processed by the second processing module, from one of the first side placing units provided at a position corresponding to the height of the first unit block to one of the first side placing units provided at a position corresponding to the height of the second unit block by the first side transfer mechanism in order to transfer the substrate from a second side of the first unit block to the second processing module through the second unit block and the relay block in sequence.