CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2018-184353, filed on Sep. 28, 2018, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a transfer method.

BACKGROUND

For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-205044 discloses a cluster-type substrate processing apparatus in which a plurality of processing chambers is connected to a vacuum transfer chamber. The substrate processing apparatus includes a substrate transfer device for transferring substrates to the vacuum transfer chamber. The substrates are transferred to and from the processing chambers by two arms of the substrate transfer device.

The present disclosure provides a technique capable of suppressing the effect of heat on an unprocessed substrate during transfer of the substrates.

SUMMARY

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a transfer method used in a substrate processing apparatus, wherein the substrate processing apparatus includes a vacuum transfer chamber maintained in a vacuum state, a first processing chamber, a second processing chamber and a preliminary chamber that are connected to the vacuum transfer chamber, and a substrate transfer device disposed in the vacuum transfer chamber to transfer substrates between the first processing chamber, the second processing chamber, and the preliminary chamber, and the transfer method repeatedly performs a process of transferring each of the substrates unloaded from the preliminary chamber sequentially and consecutively to the first processing chamber and the second processing chamber, the transfer method including: a first step of heating the first processing chamber and the second processing chamber such that a temperature of the first processing chamber becomes lower than a temperature of the second processing chamber; a second step of transferring a processed substrate from the first processing chamber to the second processing chamber using the substrate transfer device; and a third step of transferring an unprocessed substrate from the preliminary chamber to the first processing chamber using the substrate transfer device. The second step and the third step are repeatedly executed for each of the substrates, and the third step is executed when no substrate is mounted in the first processing chamber.

