Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP
Semiconductor manufacturing unit and semiconductor manufacturing method
A semiconductor manufacturing unit according to the invention includes a processing container into which a semiconductor substrate is adapted to be conveyed. A heating unit is adapted to heat an atmosphere in the processing container in order to thermally process the semiconductor substrate. A plane thermoelectric module having a first surface is arranged opposite to an area heated by the heating unit, for converting a thermal energy of the area into an electric energy by making use of Seebeck effect. According to the feature, the thermal energy which has been disposed in conventional units can be used as the electric energy. Thus, total energy efficiency of the semiconductor manufacturing unit can be raised.
Tokyo Electron Limited
H
H01L
inventional
Shingo Seiichi
Watanabe Yoshida