Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method

Abstract

A substrate processing apparatus includes an indexer block and a processing block adjacent to the indexer block in a lateral direction of the indexer block. A plurality of processing block layers are stacked in an up-down direction in the processing block. The indexer block includes a container holding portion and a first transfer robot that transfers a substrate between the substrate container held by the container holding portion and the processing block. Each of the processing block layers includes a plurality of processing units, a substrate placing portion, a dummy-substrate housing portion, and a second transfer robot that transfers a substrate between the substrate placing portion and the plurality of processing units and that transfers a dummy substrate between the dummy-substrate housing portion and the plurality of processing units.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A substrate processing apparatus comprising:
 an indexer block; and   a processing block that is adjacent to the indexer block in a lateral direction of the indexer block and in which a plurality of processing block layers are stacked in an up-down direction,   the indexer block comprising:
 a container holding portion that is configured to hold a substrate container that houses a substrate and to hold a dummy substrate container that houses a dummy substrate; and 
 a first transfer robot that transfers the substrate between the substrate container held by the container holding portion and the processing block, 
   each processing block layer comprising:
 a plurality of processing units that perform substrate processing; 
 a substrate placing portion that temporarily holds the substrate that is delivered between the first transfer robot and the processing block layer and that temporarily holds the dummy-substrate that is delivered between the first transfer robot and the processing block layer; 
 a dummy-substrate housing portion that houses at least one dummy substrate that is usable in the plurality of processing units for dummy processing; and 
 a second transfer robot that transfers the substrate between the substrate placing portion and the plurality of processing units and that transfers the dummy substrate between the dummy-substrate housing portion and the plurality of processing units, and that transfers the dummy substrate between the dummy-substrate housing portion and the substrate placing portion. 
   
     
     
         2 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the substrate placing portion is disposed between the first transfer robot and the second transfer robot, and the dummy-substrate housing portion is disposed between the first transfer robot and the second transfer robot. 
     
     
         3 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein, in each processing block layer, the plurality of processing units are arranged along a transfer path along which the substrate is transferred by the second transfer robot on both sides of the transfer path, and are stacked in the up-down direction. 
     
     
         4 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the dummy-substrate housing portion is disposed at a height different from a height of the substrate placing portion. 
     
     
         5 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 4 , wherein the dummy-substrate housing portion is disposed so as to overlap the substrate placing portion when viewed in plan. 
     
     
         6 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of processing block layers include a first processing block layer and a second processing block layer disposed above the first processing block layer,
 in the first processing block layer, the dummy-substrate housing portion is positioned below the substrate placing portion, and   in the second processing block layer, the dummy-substrate housing portion is positioned above the substrate placing portion.   
     
     
         7 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the dummy-substrate housing portion of each processing block layer includes a plurality of dummy-substrate slots that are equal in number to the plurality of processing units included in the processing block layer, and each dummy-substrate slot is configured to hold a single of the at least one dummy substrate. 
     
     
         8 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein the plurality of processing units of each processing block layer are correlated with the plurality of dummy-substrate slots of the processing block layer in a one-to-one correspondence, and the second transfer robot transfers the dummy substrate between the dummy-substrate slot and the processing unit that correspond to each other. 
     
     
         9 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 1 , the substrate processing apparatus further comprising a controller configured to record a usage history of the dummy substrate housed in the dummy-substrate housing portion and to issue a warning based on the usage history of the dummy substrate when the dummy substrate reaches a usage limit. 
     
     
         10 . A substrate processing apparatus comprising:
 an indexer block; and   a processing block that is adjacent to the indexer block in a lateral direction of the indexer block and in which a plurality of processing block layers are stacked in an up-down direction,   the indexer block comprising:
 a container holding portion that holds a substrate container that houses a substrate; and 
 a first transfer robot that transfers the substrate between the substrate container held by the container holding portion and the processing block, 
   each processing block layer comprising:
 a plurality of processing units that perform substrate processing; 
 a substrate placing portion that temporarily holds the substrate that is delivered between the first transfer robot and the processing block layer; 
 a dummy-substrate housing portion that houses at least one dummy substrate that is usable in the plurality of processing units for dummy processing; and 
 a second transfer robot that transfers the substrate between the substrate placing portion and the plurality of processing units and that transfers the dummy substrate between the dummy-substrate housing portion and the plurality of processing units, 
 wherein the dummy processing includes a maintenance process in which maintenance of the processing unit is performed. 
   
     
     
         11 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 10 , wherein the maintenance process includes at least one of a preparation process in which an environment is adjusted to process the substrate housed in the substrate container held by the container holding portion and a unit washing process in which an inside of the processing unit is washed and cleaned.