Floating slit valve for transfer chamber interface

摘要

The present invention generally comprises a floating slit valve for interfacing with a chamber. A floating slit valve moves or “floats” relative to another object such as a chamber. The slit valve may be coupled between two chambers. When a chamber coupled with the slit valve is heated, the slit valve may also be heated by conduction. As the slit valve is heated, it may thermally expand. When a vacuum is drawn in a chamber, the slit valve may deform due to vacuum deflection. By disposing a low friction material spacer between the chamber and the slit valve, the slit valve may not rub against the chamber during thermal expansion/contraction and/or vacuum deflection and thus, may not generate undesirable particle contaminants. Additionally, slots drilled through the chamber for coupling the slit valve to the chamber may be sized to accommodate thermal expansion/contraction and vacuum deflection of the slit valve.

主权项

1. A method of processing a substrate, comprising:
moving a substrate from a transfer chamber, through a slit valve and into a processing chamber; heating the substrate in the processing chamber; heating the processing chamber; conductively heating the slit valve, the slit valve coupled to the processing chamber and the transfer chamber, the transfer chamber has:
an opening through thea transfer chamber body sized to permit passage of one or more substrates therethrough; anda plurality of slots disposed through the transfer chamber body; the slit valve comprising:a slit valve body having an opening therethrough, the opening sized to permit passage of a substrate through the opening; andone or more spacer elements coupled with the slit valve body and able to slide along a side of the transfer chamber when the slit valve moves due to thermal expansion and contraction; and expanding the slit valve, the expanding comprising sliding the one or more spacer elements along a first surface of the transfer chamber.