JP2002299329A - Heat treatment apparatus, heat treatment method and cleaning method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a heat treatment apparatus, having the advantages of both the heat treatment and the plasma process, without complicating the apparatus constitution. SOLUTION: The apparatus comprises comprises a cylindrical process chamber 10, capable of being evacuated for applying a specified heat treatment to work W, a work holding means 22 for holding a plurality of works in a multistage way, a gas introducing means 40 for introducing a specified process gas into the processing chamber, a coil-like resistance heater means 90 wound around the processing chamber, a heating power source 92 connected to the heater means and a plasma high-frequency power source connected to the heater means 12. Thus the apparatus has the advantages of both the heat treatment and the plasma processing, without complicating the apparatus constitution.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heat treatment apparatus, a heat treatment method, and a cleaning method that can combine the advantages of heat treatment and the advantages of plasma treatment when performing heat treatment on an object such as a semiconductor wafer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in order to form a semiconductor integrated circuit such as an IC, a surface of a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate, or the like,
By repeatedly performing a film forming process, an etching process, a thermal diffusion process, an oxidation process, and the like many times, desired transistor elements, resistance elements, capacitors, and the like are integrated and formed at a high density. In order to heat-treat a semiconductor wafer, a batch-type heat treatment apparatus that can heat-treat a large number of wafers at a time, and a single-wafer heat treatment apparatus that heat-treats one wafer at a time are known. In recent years, in various heat treatment steps, there is an increasing demand for lowering the process temperature in order to prevent the results of processing performed on semiconductor wafers up to that time from fluctuating due to subsequent heat treatment.

Under such circumstances, for example, in a mainly single-wafer type heat treatment apparatus as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H8-227878, a sputtering apparatus, an etching apparatus, a plasma CVD film forming apparatus and the like are used. To
Processes using plasma formed under reduced pressure are being actively performed, and processes using this plasma can generally be performed at low temperatures. It does not adversely affect the environment.

[0004]

However, a batch type heat treatment apparatus as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-14522, is formed in a high-temperature atmosphere by using heat energy from a resistance heater. There is a problem that the film treatment or the oxidative diffusion treatment is performed, and it is not possible to sufficiently cope with the above-mentioned demand for lowering the temperature of the heat treatment. It is also conceivable to simply lower the process temperature to the extent possible from the conventional process temperature, but in this case, the processing rate is reduced by the lower temperature or even more, and the throughput is reduced. Greatly reduced,
There is a problem. Also, in the above-described single-wafer heat treatment apparatus, even when it is desired to further increase the processing rate to improve the throughput, there is a limit to the throughput in the processing using only plasma. The present invention has been devised in view of the above problems and effectively solving them. An object of the present invention is to provide a heat treatment apparatus, a heat treatment method, and a cleaning method that have the advantages of heat treatment and the advantages of plasma treatment without complicating the apparatus configuration.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cylindrical processing container capable of being evacuated to perform a predetermined heat treatment on an object to be processed, and a plurality of objects to be processed. Object holding means for holding the object, gas introducing means for introducing a predetermined processing gas into the processing container, coil-shaped resistance heating means wound around the processing container, A heat treatment apparatus comprising: a heating power supply connected to the resistance heating means; and a plasma high-frequency power supply connected to the coiled resistance heating means.

Accordingly, during the heat treatment of the object to be processed, electric power for heating the heater and high-frequency electric power for plasma are simultaneously supplied to the coil-shaped resistance heating heater means.
The object to be processed is heated to a temperature lower than the conventional process temperature, a low-temperature heat treatment is performed while maintaining this low-temperature state, and plasma processing can also be performed by setting up a plasma, thereby complicating the apparatus configuration. Without this, low-temperature heat treatment can be efficiently performed with the assistance of plasma.

In this case, for example, the coiled resistance heater means comprises a plurality of coil heater portions which are mutually inducible to form a plurality of heating zones, and wherein the plasma heating means comprises a plurality of coil heater portions. High frequency power supply
It is connected to at least one of the plurality of coil heater units. The invention defined in claim 3 is a processing container which can be evacuated to perform a predetermined heat treatment on the processing object, a mounting table for mounting the processing object, and a predetermined processing in the processing container. Gas introducing means for introducing a gas, a coiled resistance heater wound around the processing vessel, a heating power supply connected to the coiled resistance heater, and the coiled resistance heater And a high-frequency power source for plasma connected to the heat treatment apparatus.

Also in this case, similarly to the invention defined in claim 1, during heat treatment of the object to be processed, electric power for heating the heater and high-frequency electric power for plasma are simultaneously supplied to the coil-shaped resistance heater. In this way, the object to be processed is heated to a temperature lower than the conventional process temperature, a low-temperature heat treatment is performed while maintaining this low-temperature state, and plasma treatment can be performed by setting up a plasma. Low-temperature heat treatment can be efficiently performed by plasma assist without complicating the process. Further, for example, as defined in claim 4, a high-frequency block means for preventing a high-frequency voltage from being applied to the heating power supply is provided on a power supply line of the heating power supply. This makes it possible to prevent a high-frequency voltage from being applied to the heating power supply by the function of the high-frequency blocking means.

Further, for example, as defined in claim 5,
The heating power supply and the plasma high-frequency power supply are connected in series. Further, for example, the heating power supply and the plasma high-frequency power supply are connected in parallel.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cylindrical processing container capable of being evacuated to perform a predetermined heat treatment on an object to be processed, and an object for holding a plurality of objects to be processed in multiple stages. A processing body holding unit, a gas introduction unit for introducing a predetermined processing gas into the processing container, a coiled resistance heater unit wound around the processing container, and a connection to the coiled resistance heating unit unit A power supply for heating, an auxiliary coil means provided in parallel with the coiled resistance heater means so as to be mutually inducible, and a high frequency power supply for plasma connected to the auxiliary coil means. Heat treatment equipment. Thus, during the heat treatment of the object to be processed, electric power for heating the heater is supplied to the coil-shaped resistance heater means, and at the same time, high-frequency electric power is supplied to the auxiliary coil means, so that the coil-shaped resistance heater means is supplied to the coil-shaped resistance heater means. A high-frequency voltage is induced by inductive coupling,
The object to be processed is heated to a temperature lower than the conventional process temperature, a low-temperature heat treatment is performed while maintaining this low-temperature state, and plasma processing can also be performed by setting up a plasma, thereby complicating the apparatus configuration. Without this, low-temperature heat treatment can be efficiently performed with the assistance of plasma. In this case, for example, as defined in claim 8,
The coil-shaped resistance heater unit includes a plurality of coil heater units that are mutually inducible to form a plurality of heating zones, and the auxiliary coil unit includes at least one of the plurality of coil heater units. Are installed side by side.

Also, for example, as defined in claim 9,
The power supply line of the heating power supply is provided with a high frequency blocking means for preventing a high frequency voltage from being applied to the heating power supply. The invention defined in claim 10 defines a method invention performed by the above-described apparatus invention, that is, in a method of performing a predetermined heat treatment on an object to be processed using any one of the above-described heat treatment apparatuses, A heat treatment method wherein the object to be processed is heated by a coil-shaped heater means at the same time as plasma is formed therein, and the predetermined heat treatment is performed. According to this, the heat treatment can be performed quickly at a relatively low temperature, and for example, in the case of a film forming process, the film quality can be significantly improved.

In this case, for example, the predetermined heat treatment is a film forming process for forming a thin film. In this case, for example, as defined in claim 12,
In the predetermined heat treatment, a silicon oxynitride film is formed by simultaneously flowing a source gas for forming an SiO ₂ film and a nitrogen-containing gas.

Further, for example, at least the surface of the object to be processed is a silicon layer, and the predetermined heat treatment is performed by simultaneously flowing an oxidizing gas and a nitrogen-containing gas to form a silicon oxynitride film. Form. Further, for example, as defined in claim 14, the predetermined heat treatment includes:
A first step of forming a SiO ₂ film, the SiO ₂
A second step of forming a silicon oxynitride film by nitriding the film.

Alternatively, for example, the predetermined heat treatment includes a first step of forming a SiN film and a second step of oxidizing the SiN film to form a silicon oxynitride film. And According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for performing a predetermined heat treatment on an object to be processed by using any one of the above-described heat treatment apparatuses. A heat treatment method characterized in that the body is heated to remove a natural oxide film on the surface of the object. Thus, when removing the natural oxide film on the surface of the object to be processed, heat energy and plasma energy are simultaneously applied, so that this processing can be performed quickly and efficiently.

The invention defined in claim 17 is the method for cleaning the inside of a heat treatment apparatus according to any one of the above, wherein a cleaning gas is flowed into the processing vessel to generate plasma in the processing vessel, and at the same time a coiled heater is provided. Cleaning is performed by heating the inside of the processing container by means.
Thereby, when cleaning the inside of the processing container,
Since the heat energy and the plasma energy are applied simultaneously, this cleaning process can be performed quickly and efficiently.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a heat treatment apparatus, a heat treatment method and a cleaning method according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the heat treatment apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electric system of the apparatus shown in FIG. The heat treatment apparatus 2 includes a processing vessel 10 having a double tube structure including a cylindrical quartz inner cylinder 4 and a quartz outer cylinder 8 concentrically disposed outside the inner cylinder 4 with a predetermined gap 6 therebetween. The outside thereof is surrounded by a coil resistance heater unit 12 arranged so as to be wound in a coil around the processing container 10. The coil resistance heater means 12 is supported inside a heat insulating material 14 made of, for example, alumina or silica, and forms a heating furnace 16 as a whole. The coiled resistance heater means 12 is provided on the entire inner surface of the heat insulating material 14.

The lower end of the processing vessel 10 is supported by a cylindrical manifold 18 made of, for example, stainless steel, and the lower end of the inner cylinder 4 has a ring-shaped support projection projecting inward from the inner wall of the manifold 18. A quartz wafer boat 22 as a processing object supporting means, which is supported by 20 and holds a plurality of semiconductor wafers W as processing objects from below the manifold 18 in a multi-stage manner, can be vertically inserted and removed. I have. In the case of the present embodiment, the wafer boat 22 is provided with:
For example, about 150 wafers can be supported in multiple stages at substantially equal pitches.

The wafer boat 22 is mounted on a rotary table 26 via a heat insulating tube 24 made of quartz. The rotary table 26 passes through a lid 28 that opens and closes a lower end opening of the manifold 18. It is supported on the upper end of the rotating shaft 30. For example, a magnetic fluid seal 32 is interposed in the penetrating portion of the rotating shaft 30, and rotatably supports the rotating shaft 30 while hermetically sealing it. Also, the lid 2
8 and the lower end of the manifold 18, for example, O
A seal member 34 composed of a ring or the like is interposed to maintain the sealing property inside the container. The rotating shaft 30 is attached to the tip of an arm 38 of a lifting mechanism 36 such as a boat elevator, so that the wafer boat 22 and the lid 28 can be moved up and down integrally. A gas introduction nozzle 40 as a gas introduction means for introducing a processing gas into the inner cylinder 4 is provided on a side portion of the manifold 18, and a required processing gas is introduced from the gas introduction nozzle 40 while controlling the flow rate. I am getting it. Although only one gas introduction nozzle 40 is shown in the illustrated example, it goes without saying that a plurality of gas introduction nozzles may be provided as necessary.

On the side of the manifold 18,
An exhaust port 42 for exhausting the atmosphere in the container is provided from the bottom of the gap 6 between the inner cylinder 4 and the outer cylinder 8.
2 is connected to a vacuum exhaust system provided with a vacuum pump or the like (not shown). A heating power supply 44 and a plasma high-frequency power supply 46 which is a feature of the present invention are connected to the coil-shaped resistance heater means 12, and heater power and high-frequency power are simultaneously supplied to the heater means 12. It is possible to do it. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the coiled resistance heater unit 12 is divided and divided into a plurality of, in the illustrated example, three coil heater units 12A, 12B, and 12C in the height direction of the heating furnace 16. The processing container 10 can be individually heated for each heating zone divided in the height direction. Here, each of the coil heater sections 12A to 12C has about ten and several turns. It should be noted that the number of divisions of the heater means 12 is not limited to three, but may be more, for example, four or five.

In this case, the coil heater sections 12A to 12C vertically adjacent to each other are arranged so as to be mutually inductively close to each other, and are inductively coupled to each other when a high-frequency current is supplied to one of the coil heater sections. It is supposed to. The heating power supply 44 is, for example, 3
And a three-phase power transformer 50. The power transformer 50 and the coil heaters 12
A to 12C, a pair of feed lines 52
A, 52B, and 52C are provided to supply power for heating the heater. In the illustrated example, the three-phase power transformers 50 are connected in a delta (Δ) connection, but the present invention is not limited to this, and they may be connected in a star (Y) connection.

The pair of power supply lines 52A,
Power controllers 54A, 54B, and 54C are interposed in one of the lines 52B and 52C, respectively, so that the supplied power can be individually controlled by an external signal. The power controllers 54A to 54C are configured by, for example, thyristors. A high-frequency blocking means 56A for preventing the high-frequency voltage from the high-frequency power supply 46 from being applied to the heating power supply 44 side, on each of the pair of power supply lines 54A to 54C.
56B and 56C are interposed respectively. The high-frequency blocking means 56A to 56C are, for example, low-pass filters (LPFs: Low Pass Filters) each including a coil L interposed in each line as shown in FIG. 1 and a capacitor C bridged between the line and the ground. ), A current having a commercial frequency of 50 to 60 Hz is passed therethrough, and a high-frequency current is short-circuited by the low-pass filter so that it cannot flow into the heating power supply 44 side.

The power supply lines 52A to 52C
A pair of branch lines 56 are provided branching from one of the lines, in the illustrated example, the line 52C, and the high-frequency power supply 46 is connected to the branch line 56. As a result, the high-frequency power supply 46 is connected in parallel to the heating power supply 44. This high frequency power supply 4
From 6. For example, 13.56 MHz or 450 KHz
And so on. The branch line 56 includes a matching circuit 5 for preventing high-frequency reflection.
8, and a low-frequency cut capacitor C1 for preventing heating power from being applied from the heating power supply 44 to the high-frequency power supply 46 side. Although not shown, a thermocouple is embedded in the heat insulating material 14 holding the coil heater portions 12A to 12C for each heating zone, and the measured value detected here is used as a feedback signal for temperature control. ing.

Next, the method of the present invention performed using the apparatus configured as described above will be described. First, the overall flow will be described. When the wafer boat 22 is lowered from the processing container 10 and the wafer is unloaded and the heat treatment apparatus is in a standby state, the high-frequency power supply 46 is turned off.
Only the heating power supply 44 is turned on, and the processing container 10 is maintained at the process temperature or a lower temperature. At this time, at the time of processing, a wafer boat 22 having a large number of wafers W at normal temperature, for example, 150 wafers W mounted thereon, is loaded into the processing container 10 by being lifted from below and loaded into the lid 2.
At 8, the inside of the container is closed by closing the lower end opening of the manifold 18.

Then, the inside of the processing container 10 is maintained at a predetermined process pressure of a reduced pressure atmosphere, and the wafer temperature is raised to stand by until the processing temperature is stabilized at a predetermined process temperature. And is introduced into the processing vessel 10 while controlling the flow rate. At the same time, the high-frequency power supply 46 is also turned on and driven, and a high-frequency voltage of, for example, 13.56 MHz is applied to the lowermost coil heater section 12C in the illustrated example. Here, since the coil heater sections 12A to 12C arranged side by side in the vertical direction are inductively coupled to each other, each of the other coil heater sections 12A to 12C is inductively coupled to each other.
A high-frequency voltage is also induced in B and 12A by electromagnetic induction in this order. In this way,
When a high-frequency current flows through each of the coil heater sections 12A to 12C, the processing gas introduced into the processing container 10 is turned into plasma by the high-frequency wave, dissociation is promoted, and chemically active ions and radicals are formed. Therefore, the reaction is also activated.

As described above, since the thermal energy and the plasma energy are simultaneously supplied into the processing vessel 10, even if the processing temperature is lower than that of the conventional processing method, the reaction processing can be promoted. Becomes Therefore, not only can the process temperature be lowered, but also in the case of a film formation process, the film quality characteristics can be improved. In other words, in the case of a film forming process, the advantages of a good step coverage and good film thickness uniformity, which are the advantages of the thermal CVD process, and the good film forming properties in a low temperature region, which are the advantages of the plasma processing. It is possible to combine this with the advantage. In addition, since both the thermal energy and the plasma energy are used as described above, the reaction processing is promoted, and the processing time can be shortened and the throughput can be improved. In addition, energy saving can be realized. In this process, the high-frequency power supply 46 connected in parallel to the power supply line 52C has a low-frequency blocking capacitor C connected to a branch line 56 branched from the power supply line 52C.
1, the heater heating voltage is blocked by the capacitor C1, and the heater heating voltage is not applied to the high frequency power supply 46.

On the contrary, as described above, a high-frequency current flows through each of the coil heater sections 12A to 12C. Therefore, the high-frequency current is blocked by each of the blocking means 56A to 56C, and the high-frequency voltage is not applied to the heating power supply 44 side. Here, the high-frequency power supply 46 is connected in parallel to the power supply line 52C, but is not limited thereto, and may be connected to the power supply line 52A or 52B. In particular, when the high-frequency power supply 46 is connected in parallel to the middle power supply line 52B, the middle coil heater section 12B
The other coil heaters 12A, 1
Since 2C is arranged, the coupling strength of mutual induction can be increased. Further, the high frequency power supply 46 may be connected to all the power supply lines 52A to 52C in parallel.

Next, as a specific film forming process, a gate electrode
Silicon that is effective in suppressing boron penetration from the pole
A case where a conoxynitride film is formed will be described. This
There are four methods to form a ricon oxynitride film.
The first method is SiO₂ Source gas and nitrogen content for film formation
Simultaneous gas flow to form silicon oxynitride film in one process
In the second method, at least the surface of the object is
When the surface is a silicon layer, oxidizing gas and nitrogen-containing gas
This is a method of forming a silicon oxynitride film by flowing sometimes.
Method 3 is based on SiO₂ After forming a film, this S
iO ₂Method of forming silicon oxynitride film by nitriding film
The fourth method is the opposite of the third method,
To form silicon oxynitride film by oxidizing SiN film
Is the law.

First, in the first method, as a source gas for forming the SiO ₂ film, for example, SiH ₄ or Si
H ₂ Cl ₂ and H ₂ gas are used, and N ₂ O, NO or NO ₂ gas is used as the nitrogen-containing gas. Then, these gases are simultaneously supplied into the processing container 10 to form a silicon oxynitride film by simultaneously utilizing the thermal energy and the plasma energy as described above. In this case, the process condition is that the process pressure is 133 Pa (1
0 Torr) to about 13 Pa (0.1 Torr), and the process temperature is about 700 to 900 ° C. In the second method, a silicon layer is formed on the surface of a semiconductor wafer. Here, O ₂ , H ₂ O, or the like is used as an oxidizing gas, and NH ₃ or N ₂ is used as a nitrogen-containing gas. O, NO or NO ₂ gas is used. Then, these gases are simultaneously supplied into the processing container 10 to form a silicon oxynitride film by simultaneously utilizing the thermal energy and the plasma energy as described above. In this case, the process conditions are such that the process pressure is 399.
00Pa (300 Torr)-133 Pa (1 Torr)
The process temperature is in the range of about 700 to 900 ° C. in the range of about r).

In the third method, in the first step of forming the SiO ₂ film, SiH ₄ is used as a source gas.
Then, a SiO ₂ film is formed by using SiH ₂ Cl ₂ and H ₂ gas or the like, and then, in a second step of nitriding the SiO ₂ film, NH ₃ , N ₂ O, NO
And so on. Also in this case, in both the first step and the second step, the silicon oxynitride film is finally formed by simultaneously using the thermal energy and the plasma energy. In this case, the process condition is that the process pressure is 2 in the first step.
6600 Pa (200 Torr)-133 Pa (1 To
rr), the process temperature is 700 to 900 ° C.
Within the range. In the second step, the process pressure is 26600 Pa (200 Torr) to 133 Pa.
(1 Torr), the process temperature is 700 to
It is in the range of about 900 ° C.

In the fourth method, a SiN film is formed.
In the first step, SiH is used as a source gas.₄ And SiH
₂ Cl₂ And NH₃ After forming a SiN film using
In the second step of oxidizing the SiN film, an oxidizing gas is used.
As N₂ O, NO₂ , NO, O ₂Use gas or the like.
Also in this case, in both the first step and the second step, thermal energy is used.
Energy and plasma energy at the same time
A silicon oxynitride film is formed. In this case, the process
The condition is that the process pressure is 26600 Pa in the first step.
(200 Torr) to 133 Pa (1 Torr)
Within the range, the process temperature is within the range of about 700 to 900 ° C
It is. In the second step, the process pressure is 2660.
0 Pa (200 Torr)-133 Pa (1 Torr)
Process temperature is about 700 to 900 ° C.
Within range. According to the first to fourth methods described above,
At a relatively low temperature, a silicon film with good film quality
A conoxynitride film could be formed.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the film forming process is performed as an example has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this case, and the present invention can be applied to an oxidation diffusion process, an etching process, a sputtering process, and the like. it can. Further, the present invention can be applied to a case where a natural oxide film attached to the surface of a semiconductor wafer is removed as an example of the etching process. In this case, a halogen-based gas such as NF ₃ gas or H ₂ gas, for example, is flown as an etching gas into the processing vessel 10, and at the same time, heat energy and plasma energy are simultaneously supplied as described above. According to this, the natural oxide film can be quickly removed at a relatively low temperature of, for example, about 400 to 800 ° C. Also, instead of heat treatment of the semiconductor wafer, the processing vessel 1
The present invention can also be applied to the case where the inside of 0 (which may include the wafer boat 22) is cleaned.

In the case of this cleaning, the processing container 1
For example, NF ₃ or Cl
It keeps flowing halogen-containing gas such as F _3, at the same time supplies the thermal energy and plasma energy as described above at the same time. According to this, the reaction products attached to the inside of the processing container 10 and the surface of the wafer boat 18 can be quickly and easily changed to the vaporized gas and removed.
Efficient cleaning can be performed. In the heat treatment apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the high frequency power supply 46 is connected in parallel to the power supply line 52C. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the high frequency power supply 46 may be connected in series as shown in FIG. Is also good. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing a first modified example of the device of the present invention, and the same components as those shown in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

In the case of the apparatus shown in FIG. 3, the secondary side of the auxiliary high-frequency transformer 60 is connected in series to the power supply line 52C, and the high-frequency power supply 46 is connected to the primary side of the auxiliary high-frequency transformer 60. Thus, the high-frequency power supply 46 is connected to the low-frequency heating power supply 44 of about 50-60 Hz.
Is insulated. Also in this embodiment, FIGS.
The same operational effects as those of the device example shown in FIG.

Further, in the example of the apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the case where the three coil heater sections 12A to 12C are separately formed has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this. As shown, three coil heater sections 12A-1A
2C may be delta (Δ) connected. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a second modified example of the device of the present invention, and the same parts as those shown in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals. In the case of the apparatus example shown in FIG. 4, the three coil heater sections 12A to 12C are delta-connected, and a high-frequency current is blocked by supplying a heater heating current of 50 to 60 Hz to the delta circuit. Low pass filter 6
2 is interposed. In this case, for the three-phase power transformer 50, each of the power supply lines 52A to 52C
Are connected by one (single line) line.
The high-frequency blocking means 56A to 56C formed of low-pass filters provided on the power supply lines 52A to 52C are grounded, respectively, and prevent high-frequency current from flowing to the heating power supply 44. A high-frequency power supply 46 having the same structure as that shown in FIG. 2 is connected to both ends of the low-pass filter 62 in parallel via a branch line 56.

In this case, a high frequency voltage can be directly applied to each of the coil heater sections 12A to 12C without using mutual induction. Also in the case of this embodiment,
Functions and effects similar to those of the example of the apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 can be exerted.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a third modification of the apparatus according to the present invention. The same reference numerals are given to the same components as those shown in FIG. In the device example shown in FIG. 5, the three coil heaters 12A to 12C are delta-connected as in the case shown in FIG. 4, and a high-frequency power supply having the same structure as shown in FIG. 4
6 are connected in series via an auxiliary high-frequency transformer 60. In this case, the low-pass filter 62 used in FIG. 4 is unnecessary and is not provided. In this case, without using mutual induction, each of the coil heater sections 12A to 12A
A high-frequency voltage can be directly applied to C. In the case of this embodiment, the same operation and effect as those of the apparatus example shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 can be exhibited.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a fourth modification of the apparatus of the present invention, and the same reference numerals are given to the same components as those shown in FIG. In the apparatus example shown in FIG. 6, the three coil heater sections 12A to 12C are delta-connected, as in the case shown in FIG. Here, the low-pass filter 62 shown in FIG. 4 is not provided, but is connected here. Here, the auxiliary coil means 66 is arranged in parallel above the uppermost coil heater section 12A. In this case, the auxiliary coil means 66
For example, it is wound for about ten and several turns, and is closely adjacent to the coil heater section 12A directly below the coil heater section 12A so as to be inductively coupled. The high frequency power supply 46 is connected to the auxiliary coil means 66 via a high frequency line 68. In this case, the auxiliary coil means 6
When a high-frequency current is supplied to the coil heater section 12 at the top,
A, a high-frequency current is sequentially induced in the order of the middle coil heater section 12B and the lowermost coil heater section 12C.

In this case, a high-frequency voltage can be directly applied to each of the coil heater sections 12A to 12C by using mutual induction. In the case of this embodiment, the same operation and effect as those of the apparatus example shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 can be exhibited. The auxiliary coil means 66 used in FIG.
Are not located directly above the uppermost coil heater section 12A, but as in the fifth modification shown in FIG.
The heater coil section 12A may be juxtaposed to the side of the heater coil section 12A in the illustrated example. In this case, the length of the auxiliary coil 66 may be further increased so as to be substantially the same as the entire length of the three coil heaters 12A to 12C.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the heating power supply 44 having the three-phase power transformer 50 is mainly used has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the heating power supply having a normal power transformer is used. Of course, may be used. In each of the above embodiments, a batch type heat treatment apparatus has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the present invention can be applied to a single wafer type heat treatment apparatus. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a sixth modification of the present invention as described above, and FIG.
1 is a schematic configuration diagram of the device shown in FIG. This heat treatment apparatus 70
Has a processing container 72 formed into a cylindrical shape by, for example, aluminum, stainless steel, or the like. An exhaust port 74 for exhausting the atmosphere in the container is provided at the bottom of the processing container 72, and an exhaust system 76 provided with a vacuum pump (not shown) is connected to the exhaust port 74. Then, the inside of the processing container 72 can be uniformly evacuated from the periphery of the bottom.

A disk-shaped mounting table 80 made of, for example, graphite, ceramic, or the like is provided in the processing container 72 via a support column 78, and a silicon substrate W as an object to be processed is mounted thereon. It is possible to do.
Although not shown, the mounting table 80 is provided with lifter pins for lifting the wafer when transferring the wafer, and an electrostatic chuck and a clamper for holding the wafer on the mounting table 80. Further, for example, a gas introduction nozzle 82 is provided as a gas introduction means on the side wall of the processing container 72 so that a required processing gas can be supplied while controlling the flow rate. The wafer W is loaded / unloaded on the side wall of the processing container 72.
A gate valve 84 is provided, which can be opened and closed in an airtight manner at the time of carrying out.

A short cylindrical dielectric ceiling 86 made of a dielectric material such as quartz is hermetically attached to the opening of the ceiling of the processing container 72 via a seal member 88 such as an O-ring. ing. A coil-shaped resistance heater 90 having, for example, more than ten turns is provided on the side wall of the short cylindrical dielectric ceiling portion 86 by being wound. A heating power supply 92 is connected to the resistance heater 90 via a pair of power supply lines 52C, as shown in FIGS. The heating power supply 92 is different from the case shown in FIG. 1 in that it includes a single-phase power supply section 94 and a single-phase power transformer 96 here.
The pair of power supply lines 52C are provided with a high-frequency block unit 56C and a power controller 54C. A high-frequency power supply 46 is connected in parallel to the pair of power supply lines 52C via a branch line 56, similarly to the structure shown in FIG. 1, and a matching circuit 58 and a low-frequency Cutting capacitor C1
Is interposed.

Also in the case of the single-wafer type apparatus configured as described above, except for the difference between the batch type and the single-wafer type, the thermal energy is the same as in the example of the apparatus shown in FIGS. And the plasma energy can be simultaneously charged into the processing container 72, and the same function and effect can be exhibited. Also, in this case, as in the seventh modification of the device of the present invention shown in FIG. 10, the high-frequency power supply 46 is connected in series to the power supply line 52C via the auxiliary high-frequency transformer 60, as shown in FIG. Such a configuration may be adopted. Further, the shape of the dielectric ceiling portion 86 is not limited to a short cylindrical shape.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 878, the shape may be a dome shape, or as shown in FIG.
In this case, the coil-shaped resistance heater means 90 may be wound not in a cylindrical shape but in a spiral or spiral shape.
Here, as in the example of the batch type apparatus, the heater means 90 is used.
Can be divided into a plurality of zones and applied.

In this embodiment, the case where the heat energy and the plasma energy are supplied simultaneously to perform the heat treatment has been described as an example. However, the heat treatment or the plasma treatment is performed by supplying each of these energies individually and independently. As a matter of course, the apparatus of the present invention may be used as described above. The object to be processed is not limited to a semiconductor wafer, but may be a glass substrate, an LC
The present invention can be applied to a D substrate and the like.

[0044]

As described above, according to the heat treatment apparatus, the heat treatment method and the cleaning method of the present invention, the following excellent operational effects can be exhibited. Claim 1
According to the inventions defined in (1) to (3), (5) and (6), at the time of heat treatment of the object to be processed, electric power for heating the heater and high-frequency electric power for plasma are simultaneously supplied to the coiled resistance heating heater means, so that The body is heated to a temperature lower than the conventional process temperature, and the low-temperature heat treatment is performed while maintaining this low-temperature state, and the plasma can be formed and the plasma treatment can be performed at the same time. Low-temperature heat treatment can be performed efficiently with the assistance of plasma. According to the invention defined in claim 4, it is possible to prevent a high-frequency voltage from being applied to the heating power supply side by the function of the high-frequency blocking means. According to the invention as defined in claims 7 to 9, during the heat treatment of the object to be processed, electric power for heating the heater is supplied to the coil-shaped resistance heater, and high-frequency electric power is simultaneously supplied to the auxiliary coil. As a result, a high-frequency voltage is induced by inductive coupling in the coiled resistance heater means,
The object to be processed is heated to a temperature lower than the conventional process temperature, a low-temperature heat treatment is performed while maintaining this low-temperature state, and plasma processing can also be performed by setting up a plasma, thereby complicating the apparatus configuration. The low-temperature heat treatment can be efficiently performed without plasma assist. According to the invention as defined in claims 10 to 15, the heat treatment can be performed promptly at a relatively low temperature, and for example, in the case of a film forming process, the film quality can be greatly improved. According to the invention defined in claim 16, when removing the natural oxide film on the surface of the object to be processed, heat energy and plasma energy are simultaneously applied, so that this processing can be performed quickly and efficiently. Can be. Claim 1
According to the invention defined in Item 7, since the thermal energy and the plasma energy are simultaneously applied when cleaning the inside of the processing container, the cleaning process can be performed quickly and efficiently.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a heat treatment apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an electric system of the apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing a first modified example of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing a second modified example of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing a third modified example of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing a fourth modified example of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram showing a fifth modified example of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram showing a sixth modified example of the device of the present invention.

9 is a schematic configuration diagram of the device shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram showing a seventh modified example of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram showing an eighth modification of the device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Heat treatment apparatus 4 Inner cylinder 8 Outer cylinder 10 Processing vessel 12 Coiled heater unit 12A to 12C Coil heater unit 22 Wafer boat (substrate support unit) 40 Gas introduction nozzle (gas introduction unit) 44 Heating power supply 46 Plasma High frequency power supply 52A to 52C Power supply line 56A to 56C High frequency block means 70 Heat treatment device 72 Processing vessel 80 Mounting table 82 Gas introduction nozzle (gas introduction means) 90 Coil resistance heater means 92 Heating power supply W Semiconductor wafer (workpiece)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H01L 21/318 H01L 21/302 NF term (Reference) 5F004 AA14 AA15 BA01 BA20 BB13 BB26 BD04 DA17 DA24 DB00 5F045 AA03 AA08 AB32 AB33 AB34 AC01 AC05 AC11 AC12 AD10 AD11 AD12 AD13 AE19 AE21 AE23 AE25 BB07 BB09 CA05 DP19 DQ05 EB06 EH11 EK06 EM10 GB05 HA03 5F058 BC02 BC11 BF02 BF07 BF23 BF24 BF29 BF10 BG10 BJ10

Claims (17)

[Claims] 1. A processing container having a cylindrical shape, which can be evacuated to perform a predetermined heat treatment on a processing object, a processing object holding means for holding a plurality of processing objects in multiple stages, Gas introducing means for introducing a predetermined processing gas into the processing container, a coil-shaped resistance heating means wound around the processing vessel, a heating power supply connected to the coiled resistance heating means, A heat treatment apparatus comprising: a high-frequency power source for plasma connected to the coiled resistance heater. 2. The coil-shaped resistance heater means comprises a plurality of coil heater sections which are mutually inducible to form a plurality of heating zones, and wherein the high-frequency power source for plasma comprises a plurality of coil heater sections. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heat treatment apparatus is connected to at least one of the following. 3. A processing container evacuated to perform a predetermined heat treatment on the object to be processed, a mounting table on which the object to be processed is mounted, and a predetermined processing gas introduced into the processing container. A gas introduction unit, a coiled resistance heating unit wound around the processing container, a heating power supply connected to the coiled resistance heating unit, and a heating power supply connected to the coiled resistance heating unit A heat treatment apparatus comprising a high-frequency power supply for plasma. 4. A high-frequency block means for preventing a high-frequency voltage from being applied to the heating power supply is provided on a power supply line of the heating power supply. 5. The heat treatment apparatus according to any one of 4. 5. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heating power supply and the plasma high-frequency power supply are connected in series. 6. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heating power supply and the plasma high-frequency power supply are connected in parallel. 7. A processing container having a cylindrical shape which can be evacuated so as to perform a predetermined heat treatment on the processing object, a processing object holding means for holding a plurality of processing objects in multiple stages, Gas introducing means for introducing a predetermined processing gas into the processing container, a coil-shaped resistance heating means wound around the processing vessel, a heating power supply connected to the coiled resistance heating means, A heat treatment apparatus, comprising: an auxiliary coil unit provided in parallel with the coiled resistance heater unit so as to be mutually inducible; and a high frequency power supply for plasma connected to the auxiliary coil unit. 8. The coil-shaped resistance heater means comprises a plurality of coil heater portions which are mutually inducible to form a plurality of heating zones, and the auxiliary coil means comprises a plurality of coil heater portions. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the heat treatment apparatus is arranged in at least one of the plurality. 9. The heating power supply line is provided with high-frequency blocking means for preventing high-frequency voltage from being applied to the heating power supply. 9. The heat treatment apparatus according to 8. 10. A method for performing a predetermined heat treatment on an object to be processed using the heat treatment apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9; A heat treatment method, wherein the treatment body is heated to perform the predetermined heat treatment. 11. The heat treatment method according to claim 10, wherein the predetermined heat treatment is a film forming process for forming a thin film. 12. The heat treatment method according to claim 11, wherein said predetermined heat treatment forms a silicon oxynitride film by simultaneously flowing a source gas for forming an SiO ₂ film and a nitrogen-containing gas. 13. The silicon oxynitride film according to claim 11, wherein at least the surface of the object to be processed is a silicon layer, and the predetermined heat treatment is performed by simultaneously flowing an oxidizing gas and a nitrogen-containing gas to form a silicon oxynitride film. The heat treatment method described. 14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined heat treatment includes a first step of forming a SiO ₂ film and a _second step of nitriding the SiO ₂ film to form a silicon oxynitride film. The heat treatment method according to claim 11. 15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined heat treatment includes a first step of forming a SiN film and a second step of oxidizing the SiN film to form a silicon oxynitride film. 12. The heat treatment method according to item 11. 16. A method for performing a predetermined heat treatment on an object to be processed by using the heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plasma is formed in a processing vessel and said object is heated by a coil-shaped heater at the same time. A heat treatment method, wherein the treatment object is heated to remove a natural oxide film on the surface of the treatment object. 17. The method for cleaning the inside of a heat treatment apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein a cleaning gas is flowed into the processing container to generate plasma in the processing container, and at the same time, a coil-shaped heater is used. A cleaning method, wherein cleaning is performed by heating the inside of the processing container.