JP2006179509A - Method and device for thermal processing for quick heating and quenching - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve such a problem that a conventional thermal processing device, which is used to quickly heating or quenching a wafer in the semiconductor manufacturing process, can quickly heat the wafer, but cannot quench it, and it is difficult to uniformly cool the wafer and to control the cooling speed. <P>SOLUTION: A wafer case which enables cooling and can pass through optical energy, and a processing chamber which can adjust both pressure reduction and pressurization, are prepared. The wafer case housing wafers is set in the processing chamber of the processing device after it is cooled, the pressure of the processing chamber is reduced so that the temperature of the wafer case may be transmitted to the wafer, and the processing chamber is heated in vacuum state. When the heating is completed; the heater is stopped, the pressure of the processing chamber is increased, and low temperature kept by the wafer case is transmitted to the wafer, thereby quenching the wafer. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for rapidly heating and rapidly cooling a wafer in a wafer heat treatment process in a semiconductor manufacturing process. The present invention is not limited to the above semiconductor manufacturing process, but can be used for other heat treatment apparatuses.

  Conventionally, a heat treatment apparatus using a halogen lamp as a heat source is known as a heat treatment apparatus for rapidly heating and rapidly cooling a wafer used in a semiconductor manufacturing process. However, rapid heating of the wafer is possible with the above heat treatment apparatus, but rapid cooling is difficult, and it is difficult to solve the problem of cooling the wafer steeply and uniformly and controlling the cooling rate, and it takes time to cool the wafer. As a result, the occupancy rate dropped and the economy was affected.

  In view of the above-described problems in the heat treatment apparatus for rapidly heating and rapidly cooling the wafer, which is mainly used in the semiconductor manufacturing process, the present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art and is highly reliable by a simpler mechanism. It is to provide a wafer heat treatment method and apparatus with good reproducibility.

The present invention combines the following techniques as means for solving the above problems.
(1) The wafer case containing the wafer is cooled, and the processing chamber is depressurized and vacuumed so that the low temperature held by the wafer case is not transmitted to the wafer. A technology in which light energy from a heating source is transmitted through the wafer case and absorbed by the wafer inside.
(2) A technique for rapidly cooling the wafer after the heat treatment is completed by increasing the pressure in the processing chamber to conduct the low temperature of the wafer case to the wafer.

  According to the present invention, the wafer cooling rate of the heat treatment apparatus used in the semiconductor manufacturing process for rapidly heating and rapidly cooling the wafer is increased, and the wafer cooling rate can be controlled with high accuracy. With the above control, for example, by changing the cooling rate while keeping the maximum temperature of the wafer heat treatment constant, the heat input to the wafer can be controlled, and a heat treatment apparatus with high accuracy and good reproducibility can be provided.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 1 shows a wafer heat treatment apparatus for explaining the heat treatment method and apparatus of the present invention.
In the figure, the heat treatment apparatus places a wafer case 5 containing a wafer 4 in a processing chamber 3 formed so as to be surrounded by an upper reaction furnace 1 and a lower reaction furnace 2.

A halogen lamp 6 is disposed in the upper and lower reaction furnaces 1 and 2 and is covered with a transparent quartz glass 13. The processing chamber 3 includes a wafer thermometer 7, a pressure gauge 8, a gas introduction valve 9, an exhaust valve 10, It has. The exhaust valve is connected to the vacuum pump 12.
The embodiment of the present invention is configured as described above.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described.
The wafer case 5 containing the wafer 4 is cooled and set in the processing chamber 3, and the processing chamber 3 is evacuated by the vacuum pump 12 connected to the exhaust valve 10. Here, it is desirable to provide a gap 11 between the wafer 4 and the wafer case 5 to prevent contact heat conduction, for example, 0.5 mm to 2.0 mm. The cooling temperature of the wafer case 5 is, for example, −5 ° C. It is desirable that it is sufficiently cooled to -10 ° C. In addition, the degree of vacuum in the processing chamber 3 is desirably 0.001 Torr to 0.00001 Torr, for example, in order to obtain a sufficient heat insulating effect in order to insulate the vacuum using the gap 11.

  Next, the heat energy radiated from the halogen lamp 6 is transmitted through the wafer case 5 and absorbed by only the wafer to be heated. When the heat source is the halogen lamp 6, transparent quartz glass that transmits the light emitted from the halogen lamp 6 is used as the material of the wafer case 5.

  When the heat-treated wafer 4 is cooled, the gas introduction valve 9 is opened to increase the pressure in the processing chamber 3 to convert the gap 11 between the wafer 4 and the wafer case 5 from the heat insulating layer to the heat transfer layer. The low temperature held by the case 5 can be thermally conducted to the wafer 4 to rapidly cool the wafer 4.

  It is also known that increasing the pressure increases the thermal conductivity, and increasing the degree of vacuum by reducing the pressure increases the heat insulation effect. Therefore, the cooling rate of the wafer 4 can be controlled by utilizing the fact that the heat retaining effect on the wafer 4 can be changed by changing the pressure in the processing chamber 3. According to the above embodiment, a good cooling rate control and a steep cooling rate can be obtained. In particular, the present embodiment exerts a strong effect in a process with a short heating and holding time.

  Sectional drawing of the wafer heat processing apparatus which is embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, Upper reactor 2, Lower reactor 3, Processing chamber 4, Wafer 5, Wafer case 6, Halogen lamp 7, Wafer thermometer 8, Pressure gauge 9, Gas introduction valve 10, Exhaust valve 11, Clearance 12, Vacuum pump 13. Transparent quartz glass

Claims (2)

  A heat treatment device that rapidly heats and cools semiconductor wafers. The wafer case containing the wafer is cooled and set in the treatment chamber of the heat treatment device, and the pressure in the treatment chamber is reduced to a vacuum state so that the temperature of the wafer case is not transmitted to the wafer. Then, it is heated rapidly with a heater of heating light having a wavelength that passes through the wafer case. In addition, the heat treatment method is characterized in that when the heater is stopped after the heating is completed and the pressure in the processing chamber is increased, the low temperature held in the wafer case is transmitted to the wafer and the wafer can be rapidly cooled.   A heat treatment device that rapidly heats and cools semiconductor wafers. The wafer case containing the wafer is cooled and set in the treatment chamber of the heat treatment device, and the pressure in the treatment chamber is reduced to a vacuum state so that the temperature of the wafer case is not transmitted to the wafer. Then, it is rapidly heated with a heater of heating light having a wavelength that passes through the wafer case. In addition, when the heater is stopped after heating and the pressure in the processing chamber is increased, the low temperature held by the wafer case is transmitted to the wafer, and the wafer can be cooled rapidly.

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