JP2003309078A - Substrate treating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vertical furnace which can maintain a boat perpendicular to a reaction tube while maintaining sealability of a reaction chamber even when a base is inclined when the boat is airtightly mounted in the chamber. <P>SOLUTION: The boat is fixed on a cap bearer, and the bearer is held parallel to a seal cap by a coupling bar provided perpendicularly to the cap. A base is fixed on a port side arm, and the cap is held by a plurality of elastic members arranged on the base such as, for example, springs. Thus, the cap is brought into contact with a flange of an inlet adapter by using the springs, maintained airtightly, and simultaneously the port is held parallel to an inside reaction tube and an outside reaction tube. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus for performing chemical processing such as diffusion or CVD, and more particularly to a sealing structure for closing an opening of a reaction chamber. 2. Description of the Related Art In a semiconductor manufacturing process, there is a process of forming a thin film on a substrate such as a wafer or performing a process such as diffusion of an impurity. An apparatus for performing such a process includes a vertical furnace. . [0003] A conventional sealing structure for an opening of a reaction chamber of a vertical furnace will be described with reference to FIG. [0004] A cylindrical heat insulating material 14 whose upper part is closed is disposed on a heater base 13, and a heater 15 is provided inside the heat insulating material 14. An inlet adapter 4 is attached below the heater base 13, and a cylindrical outer reaction tube 16 whose upper part is closed and a cylindrical inner reaction tube 3 are attached to the inner flange of the inlet adapter 4, respectively. It is arranged airtight and perpendicular to the inlet adapter 4. Also,
A gas supply port 25 and an exhaust port 17 are attached to the inlet adapter 4. A boat 8 for holding a substrate to be processed, for example, a wafer 9 in multiple stages in a horizontal position, is fixed on a cap receiver 7, and the cap receiver 7 and a support flange 18 are fixed.
The base 19 and the Loga arm 20 are fixed respectively. [0006] The support flange 18 and the seal cap 6 are hermetically attached using a stretchable wall, for example, a bellows 21. The seal cap 6 is held by a plurality of elastic members disposed on the base 19, for example, a spring 22. In addition, the Rogawa arm 20
Is attached to the elevating slider 5, and the elevating mechanism (not shown) allows the boat 8 to be raised and lowered. [0007] An O-ring 23 is provided on the seal cap 6 and is brought into contact with a flange portion 24 provided horizontally below the inlet adapter 4, thereby keeping the inlet adapter 4 and the seal cap 6 airtight. Due to the lifting action of the lifting mechanism, even after the O-ring 23 comes into contact with the flange part 24, in order to obtain an effective contact pressure between the O-ring 23 and the flange part 24, the lifting mechanism is slightly moved. And the elastic force of the spring 22 keeps the inlet adapter 4 and the seal cap 6 airtight. An airtight reaction chamber is formed by the seal cap 6, the inlet adapter 4, and the outer reaction tube 16, and the substrate is processed. In the above-mentioned conventional vertical furnace, when the opening of the reaction chamber is sealed by the seal cap 6, the weight of the boat 8 and the wafer 9 and the like are reduced.
Due to the reaction force of the spring 22, the base 19
As shown by an arrow A, a portion farther from the lift slider 5 is lowered, and the base 19 is no longer in a horizontal state. Therefore, the inclination in the direction of the arrow B propagates to the boat 8 as well, and the boat 8 is not inserted parallel to the inner reaction tube 3 and the outer reaction tube 16, and the inside of the substrate and the space between the substrates are not inserted. Temperature uniformity could not be maintained, and there was a risk of contact with the inner reaction tube 3 or dropping of the wafer 9. If the inner reaction tube 3 is not held vertically due to a mounting error or the like, the inner reaction tube 3
And the boat 8 may come into contact with each other. In view of such circumstances, the present invention provides a substrate processing apparatus in which the boat 8 is inserted in parallel with the inner reaction tube 3 and the outer reaction tube 16 while maintaining the airtightness of the reaction chamber. Is what you do. According to the present invention, there is provided a reaction chamber for accommodating and processing a substrate, a substrate holder for holding the substrate in multiple stages in a horizontal posture, and a reaction chamber opening is hermetically closed. In a substrate processing apparatus comprising: a lid to be inserted; and a moving mechanism for inserting and pulling the substrate holder into and out of the reaction chamber, the substrate holder is supported by the lid, and the moving mechanism and the lid are A substrate processing apparatus characterized by being connected via a plurality of elastic members. That is, the boat is fixed on the cap receiver, and the cap receiver is held parallel to the seal cap by a connecting rod provided perpendicular to the seal cap. Further, the base is fixed on the Rogawa arm, and the seal cap is held by a plurality of elastic members, for example, springs arranged on the base. Thus, by using a spring, the seal cap comes into contact with the flange portion of the inlet adapter to maintain airtightness, and at the same time, the boat can be held parallel to the inner reaction tube and the outer reaction tube. An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. It should be noted that FIG. 1, FIG. 2, or FIG.
The same reference numerals are given to those equivalent to those shown in FIG. The outline of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus provided with a vertical furnace will be described with reference to FIG. In this semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, a reaction furnace 2 is installed above the inside of a housing 1, and an inside reaction tube 3 (not shown in FIG. 1) and an outside reaction tube 16 are provided inside the reaction furnace 2.
(Not visible in this figure). The outer reaction tube 16
Has a cylindrical shape whose upper part is closed, and a cylindrical inlet adapter 4 is attached to its lower part. An elevating mechanism (not shown in this figure) is provided below the outer reaction tube 16, and an elevating slider 5 (not shown in the figure) of the elevating mechanism is provided with an opening at the lower part of the inlet adapter 4. A seal cap 6 that is closed and forms an airtight reaction chamber is provided. A boat 8 made of quartz or SiC is installed on a cap receiver 7 (not shown in the figure) disposed above the seal cap 6. Substrates to be processed, for example, wafers 9 (not shown in this drawing) are mounted on the boat 8 in multiple stages in a horizontal posture. A wafer transfer device 10 is provided beside the lifting mechanism.
And a cassette stocker 11 is provided further to the side of the wafer transfer machine 10. The cassette stocker 11 is capable of storing a required number of wafer cassettes 12, and the loading and unloading of wafers 9 into and from the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is performed while the wafers 9 are loaded in the wafer cassette 12. When the processing of the wafer 9 is performed, the lifting mechanism is driven upward to insert the boat 8 on which the wafer 9 is mounted into the inner reaction tube 3. At that time, the seal cap 6 which rises at the same time finally closes the opening of the reaction chamber, thereby keeping the reaction chamber airtight.
A desired process is performed on the wafer 9 by heating the wafer 9 to a desired temperature by the heater 15 and introducing a reaction gas into the reaction chamber from the gas supply port 25. When the predetermined process is completed, the gas after the process is discharged from the exhaust port 17, and the boat 8 is lowered using the lifting mechanism,
The processed wafer 9 is unloaded. Next, an embodiment of a sealing structure for an opening of a reaction chamber according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The boat 8 is fixed on the cap receiver 7, and the cap receiver 7 is held parallel to the seal cap 6 by a connecting rod 27 provided perpendicular to the seal cap 6. Further, the base 19 is fixed on the Rogawa arm 20, and the seal cap 6 is held by a plurality of elastic members, for example, springs 22 arranged on the base 19. The spring 22 has sufficient strength to support the seal cap 6 with the elastic force kept from the base 19 even when the wafers 9 are all loaded on the boat 8. When the boat is not closed, the flange-shaped ring receiver 28 provided at the lower part of the seal cap 6 and the base 19 are in contact with each other to prevent the boat from becoming unstable. The base 19 is fixed to one end of the Loga arm 20, and the other end is fixed to the lifting slider 5, so that the boat 8 can be raised and lowered. The boat 8 holds wafers 9 in multiple stages,
The boat 8 is raised by the elevating mechanism and loaded into the inner reaction tube 3. An O-ring 23 is provided on the seal cap 6, and the O-ring 23 is in contact with a flange 24 provided horizontally below the inlet adapter 4 to seal the reaction chamber. Due to the lifting action of the lifting mechanism, the O-ring 2
3, even after contact with the flange portion 24, in order to obtain an effective contact pressure between the O-ring 23 and the flange portion 24, the lifting mechanism is slightly raised, and the elastic force of the spring 22 The lower part of the reaction chamber is sealed, and a desired treatment is performed. At this time, as in the conventional case, the portion of the base 19 farther than the lifting slider 5 is moved by the weight of the boat 8 and the wafer 9 and the reaction force of the spring 22.
As shown by arrow A, the base 19 cannot be maintained horizontal. However, since the seal cap 6 is in close contact with the flange 24, airtightness in the reaction chamber is maintained, and at the same time, the flange 19 is closed. And the same plane. Therefore, the boat 8 is inserted perpendicular to the flange, that is, parallel to the inner reaction tube 3 and the outer reaction tube 16. As described above, according to the present invention, the boat is fixed on the cap receiver, and the cap receiver is parallel to the seal cap with the connecting rod provided perpendicular to the seal cap. Holding, the base is fixed on the Loga arm, and the seal cap is held by a plurality of elastic members arranged on the base, for example, a spring. Due to the elastic force of the spring, the seal cap can be in close contact with the flange portion of the inlet adapter, and the airtightness of the reaction chamber can be maintained. At the same time, the boat can be inserted perpendicular to the flange portion, that is, the boat can be inserted parallel to the reaction tube, The temperature uniformity inside and between the substrates can be achieved, and it is possible to prevent the contact with the reaction tube or the falling off of the wafer. Further, even when the inner reaction tube is not held vertically due to a mounting error or the like, contact between the inner reaction tube and the boat is prevented.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a reaction chamber opening showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus provided with a vertical furnace which is a problem in the present invention. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a reaction chamber opening showing a conventional example. [Description of Signs] 2 Reactor 4 Inlet adapter 6 Seal cap 7 Cap receiver 8 Boat 18 Support flange 19 Base 20 Rogawa arm 21 Bellows 22 Spring 27 Connecting rod 28 Ring receiver

   ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page    (72) Inventor Yoshikazu Takashima             3-14-20 Higashinakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo Stock             Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc. F term (reference) 4K030 CA12 EA03 GA02 GA13 KA10                       KA11                 5F045 BB01 DP19 EB10

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. A reaction chamber for accommodating and processing a substrate, a substrate holder for holding the substrate in multiple stages in a horizontal posture, a lid for hermetically closing an opening of the reaction chamber, In a substrate processing apparatus comprising: a moving mechanism for inserting and pulling the substrate holder into and out of the reaction chamber; and the substrate holder is supported by the lid, and the moving mechanism and the lid include a plurality of elastic members. A substrate processing apparatus, wherein the substrate processing apparatus is connected via a link.