Patent ID: 11948810
Assignee: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD.
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 13:
14. A vacuum apparatus, comprising:
process chambers comprising a first process chamber, a second process chamber, a third process chamber, and a fourth process chamber, each of which comprises a gate valve and a vacuum chamber;
a transfer chamber coupled to the process chambers and comprising sidewalls to which the first, second, third and fourth process chambers are attached; and
a load lock chamber connected to the transfer chamber, wherein:
the transfer chamber includes:
vacuum ports, thorough which a gas inside the transfer chamber is exhausted;
vent ports, from which a vent gas is supplied;
vacuum valves coupled to the one or more vacuum ports, respectively; and
vent valves coupled to the vent ports, respectively;

a controller for controlling the vacuum valves and the vent valves is provided,
the vacuum ports and the vent ports are arranged line-symmetric with respect to a center line of the transfer chamber, the center line being a line that passes a geometric center of the transfer chamber and at least one of the sidewalls of the transfer chamber and is perpendicular to the at least one of the sidewalls,
at least one vacuum port of the vacuum ports is provided in the transfer chamber in front of the load lock chamber,
the at least one of the vacuum ports is located closer to the load lock chamber than all vent ports provided in the transfer chamber,
the vent ports comprise four vent ports provided in one-to-one correspondence to the first to fourth chambers, and the four vent ports include a first vent port that is provided in front of the first chamber and is a closest vent port to the first chamber among the vent ports, a second vent port that is provided in front of the second chamber and is a closest vent port to the second chamber among the vent ports, a third vent port that is provided in front of the third chamber and is a closest vent port to the third chamber among the vent ports, and a fourth vent port that is provided in front of the fourth chamber and is a closest vent port to the fourth chamber among the vent ports,
a common vent port among the vent ports is provided on the center line of the transfer chamber, and a common vent valve of the vent valves is coupled to the common vent port,
the controller includes a processor and a storage storing a program, and
the program, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to, while the gate valve of each of the first to fourth process chambers is closed, open at least one vacuum valve among the vacuum valves and the common vent valve of the vent valves and at least two vent valves of the vent valves coupled to two of the first to fourth vent ports such that air streams inside the transfer chamber are line-symmetric with respect to a center line of the transfer chamber.