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

Claim 9:
10. A vacuum apparatus, comprising:
process chambers;
a transfer chamber coupled to the process chambers;
gate valves provided between the transfer chamber and the process chambers, respectively;
a pump system;
a gas supply;
vacuum ports disposed inside the transfer chamber and connected to the pump system via vacuum valves, respectively;
vent ports disposed inside the transfer chamber and connected to the gas supply via vent valves, respectively; and
a controller for controlling at least the vacuum valves and the vent valves, wherein:
none of the vent ports provided in the transfer chamber is located at a same position as any of the vacuum ports in the plan view,
the vent ports are line-symmetrically arranged with respect to a center line of the transfer chamber, the center line being a line passing through a geometric center of the transfer chamber and being perpendicular to a first side wall of the transfer chamber in plan view,
the vacuum ports include a first group comprising one or more vacuum ports located in front of the first side wall of the transfer chamber and a second group comprising one or more vacuum ports located in front of a second side wall opposite to the first side wall of the transfer chamber,
all vent ports provided in the transfer chamber are located between the first group and the second group of the vacuum ports in plan view,
at least one common vent port among the vent ports is provided on the center line of the transfer chamber,
the controller includes a processor and a storage storing a program, and
the program, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to, while all the gate valves are closed, open at least one vacuum valve among the vacuum valves and the at least one common vent port and at least two of the vent valves such that air streams inside the transfer chamber are line-symmetric with respect to a center line of the transfer chamber.