| 摘要 |
A processing method for processing a substrate has a vertical thermal processing furnace 4 having a bottom and an opening 4a provided at the bottom. A boat 3 holding substrates W in vertical multistairs can be placed on a first lid 17, and the first lid 17 can open and close the opening 4a of the vertical thermal processing furnace 4 with the boat 3 placed thereon. The processing unit also has a boat-placing portion 19 on which the boat 3 and another boat 3 can be placed and a boat conveying mechanism 21 for conveying the two boats 3 alternatively between the boat-placing portion 19 and the first lid 17. A second lid 18 hermetically closes the opening 4a of the vertical thermal processing furnace 4 when the first lid 17 opens the opening 4a but no boat 3 passes through the opening 4a. The processing unit can effectively reduce the undesirable influence from the opening 4a when the first lid 17 is taken off from the opening 4a and the boat 3 is conveyed out, and can also reduce the wasted energy by preventing the fall of the temperature in the interior of the thermal processing furnace 4.
|
