JP2013055141A - Substrate processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology capable of processing a large-sized processing substrate for a substrate processing apparatus that processes a substrate by using light.SOLUTION: A substrate processing apparatus comprises: a processing chamber for processing a substrate: a substrate loading part provided in the processing chamber and horizontally rotating in a state of loading a substrate; a light generation part provided outside the processing chamber so as to face the substrate loaded on the substrate loading part for radiating light into the processing chamber; a partition part provided between the processing chamber and the light generation part for separating the processing chamber and the light generation part; a processing gas supply part supplying a processing gas into the processing chamber; and an exhaust part exhausting an atmosphere in the processing chamber. The partition part includes a plurality of transmission windows transmitting light irradiated from the light generation part into the processing chamber and window fixing parts provided between the transmission windows for fixing the transmission windows. An area of at least one transmission window among the plurality of transmission windows is set at an area smaller than a substrate area.

Description

  In the present invention, a substrate is formed by using light, such as a thin film formation technology for forming a thin film on a substrate by exciting a processing gas with ultraviolet light or the like, or a heat treatment technology for irradiating a substrate with light to perform a heat treatment (annealing treatment). The present invention relates to a processing technology, for example, a semiconductor substrate (for example, a semiconductor wafer) on which a semiconductor integrated circuit (hereinafter referred to as IC) is manufactured, a liquid crystal substrate on which a liquid crystal device is manufactured, or an organic electroluminescence (EL) device. The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus that performs heat treatment or deposition (deposition) processing of an oxide film or the like on an EL substrate on which is formed.

  In recent years, semiconductor substrates having a diameter of 450 mm have been put into practical use, and in the manufacture of semiconductor substrates, liquid crystal substrates, EL substrates, etc., the size of processing substrates has significantly increased. However, there is a demand for a large substrate that can be manufactured. Even in a manufacturing apparatus that processes a substrate using light, the size of a light transmission window for isolating a processing chamber from a light source is increasing.

A structure of a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate using light in a conventional example will be described. FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view of a conventional substrate processing apparatus. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a planar structure of a substrate processing apparatus in a conventional example.
As shown in FIG. 5, the substrate 12 is placed on the substrate platform 13 in the processing chamber 11. A lamp chamber 21 is provided above the processing chamber 11 with a transmission window 123 therebetween. As shown in FIG. 6, rod-shaped lamps 22 are arranged in the lamp chamber 21 in the horizontal direction.
A processing gas supply pipe 14 that supplies a processing gas into the processing chamber 11 and a processing gas exhaust pipe 15 that exhausts the processing gas from the processing chamber 11 are provided on the side wall of the casing 18 that covers the processing chamber 11. . Further, a ventilation gas supply pipe 24 that supplies an inert gas for ventilation into the lamp chamber 21 and a ventilation gas exhaust that exhausts the inert gas in the lamp chamber 21 are provided on the side wall of the casing 18 that covers the lamp chamber 21. A tube 25 is provided.

  When substrate processing is performed in the processing chamber 11, the substrate 12 is placed on the substrate platform 13, processing gas is supplied into the processing chamber 11 from the processing gas supply pipe 14, and from the processing gas exhaust pipe 15. The process chamber 11 is evacuated to a low pressure state. In this state, light is irradiated from the lamp 22 and the substrate 12 is processed. At this time, in order to cool the lamp 22, an inert gas is supplied from the ventilation gas supply pipe 24 into the lamp chamber 21 and exhausted from the ventilation gas exhaust pipe 25.

 As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, in the conventional substrate processing apparatus, one circular transmission window 123 is arranged in the horizontal direction between the lamp 22 and the substrate 12, and the area of the transmission window 123. Is larger than the area of the substrate 12.

In the conventional substrate processing apparatus described above, when the processing substrate is enlarged, the following problems occur.
The first problem is that the thickness of the transmission window is increased by increasing the area of the transmission window. In general, when processing a semiconductor or the like, the pressure in the processing chamber is often set lower than the atmospheric pressure. On the other hand, the pressure in the lamp chamber is set at atmospheric pressure. Therefore, a difference is generated between the pressure in the lamp chamber and the pressure on the processing chamber side. As a result, the transmission window is pushed to the processing chamber side and receives a large mechanical stress. If this mechanical stress exceeds the mechanical strength limit of the transmissive window material, the shape of the transmissive window itself cannot be maintained, so it is necessary to increase the thickness of the transmissive window to provide strength.
When the transmissive window is thickened, the volume of the transmissive window material itself increases, and the problem that the material cost increases cannot be ignored. Whereas the processing substrate is mainly increased in size two-dimensionally (increase in area), the transmission window is increased in thickness at the same time as the area, and the increase rate is three-dimensional.

The second problem is that the irradiation light density of the light source must be increased due to the thick transmission window.
If the light transmittance of the transmission window material is 100% for any wavelength, the loss of illuminance experienced by the processing substrate is negligible while the transmission window becomes thicker. However, in reality, the transmission window material generates finite light absorption according to the wavelength. This means that as the transmission window becomes thicker, the proportion of effective illuminance received by the processing substrate decreases.
In order to compensate for this, the irradiation light density of the light source itself must be increased. In general, it is necessary to increase the number of lamps of the light source or to increase the input power to the light source.

The third problem is an increased risk of causing a reduction in the lifetime of the transmissive window material. Since the mechanical stress generated by the weight of the transmission window itself or the pressure pushed from the atmosphere side concentrates on the edge of the transmission window, there is an increased risk of reducing the lifetime of the transmission window material. The structural design of the window frame that supports the edge of the transmissive window to alleviate this is not easy.
.
For the reasons described above, the simple increase in the transmission window area with respect to the increase in the processing substrate area has significant problems in both performance and cost.

  The following Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for irradiating an organic silicon gas introduced into a substrate processing chamber with vacuum ultraviolet light through a transmission window and forming a silicon oxide film on the substrate by a CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) method. It is disclosed.

JP 2010-87475 A

  The objective of this invention is providing the technique which can respond to the enlargement of a process board | substrate in the substrate processing apparatus which processes a board | substrate using light.

A typical configuration of the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention for solving the above-described problems is as follows. That is,
A processing chamber for processing the substrate;
A substrate mounting portion that is provided in the processing chamber and rotates horizontally in a state where the substrate is mounted;
A light emitting unit that is provided outside the processing chamber so as to face the substrate mounted on the substrate mounting unit, and irradiates light into the processing chamber;
A partition provided between the processing chamber and the light emitting unit, and separating the processing chamber and the light emitting unit;
A processing gas supply unit for supplying a processing gas into the processing chamber;
A substrate processing apparatus including an exhaust unit configured to exhaust an atmosphere in the processing chamber;
The partition part is provided between a plurality of transmission windows that transmit light emitted from the light emitting unit to the processing chamber and the transmission windows that constitute the plurality of transmission windows, and fixes the transmission window. A window fixing part,
The substrate processing apparatus configured such that an area of at least one of the plurality of transmission windows is smaller than an area of the substrate.

  According to said structure, even if there exists a window fixing | fixed part (window frame), light can be uniformly irradiated on a board | substrate.

1 is a vertical sectional view of a substrate processing apparatus in a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the planar structure of the substrate processing apparatus in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the planar structure of the substrate processing apparatus in 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the planar structure of the substrate processing apparatus in 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a vertical sectional view of a substrate processing apparatus in a conventional example. It is a figure which shows the planar structure of the substrate processing apparatus in a prior art example.

(First embodiment)
A configuration example of the substrate processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a substrate processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a planar structure of the substrate processing apparatus according to the first embodiment.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes a substrate processing chamber (hereinafter referred to as a processing chamber) in which a substrate is processed. The inside of the processing chamber 11 can be depressurized to a low pressure state of less than 1 Pa by a vacuum pump 15c described later. Reference numeral 12 denotes a substrate to be processed. In the first embodiment, a silicon wafer is processed, and one substrate is processed in one process. Reference numeral 13 denotes a substrate mounting portion for mounting the substrate 12 when the substrate 12 is processed. The substrate platform 13 includes a temperature detector (not shown) that detects the temperature of the substrate 12 and a heater unit (not shown) that heats the substrate 12, and includes a rotation shaft 16 and a rotation drive unit 17. The rotating mechanism is configured to rotate in the horizontal direction.

Reference numeral 22 denotes a light source lamp (hereinafter referred to as a lamp) that supplies light energy for heating the substrate 12 (annealing) or for decomposing a material gas introduced into the processing chamber 11 by the CVD process. The lamp 22 is a lamp that emits vacuum ultraviolet light to excite and decompose the material gas, but emits infrared light having a wavelength longer than that of the vacuum ultraviolet light to heat the substrate 12. A lamp is used.
For example, in order to decompose the material gas, light energy of a certain value or more is required, and ultraviolet light having a wavelength range of 100 nm to 400 nm is used. In this case, an excimer lamp is provided as a light source of the lamp 22, and a rare gas such as argon (Ar), krypton (Kr), xenon (Xe), or the like is enclosed in the lamp 22. By sealing these rare gases in the light source lamp 22, the wavelength of the ultraviolet light can be set. For example, when Ar is sealed, ultraviolet light having a wavelength of 126 nm, and when Kr is sealed, ultraviolet light having a wavelength of 146 nm is set. When light and Xe are enclosed, ultraviolet light having a wavelength of 172 nm can be generated.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in the first embodiment, nine cylindrical (rod-shaped) lamps 22 are arranged in the lamp chamber 21 in a horizontal direction so as to face the substrate 12. The nine lamps 22 constitute a light emitting unit.
The shape of the lamps 22 can be a spherical shape such as a light bulb, and the number of the lamps 22 can be appropriately changed depending on the shape and size of the lamps 22 or the size of the substrate. It is.

An inert gas such as helium (He) gas, nitrogen (N 2) gas, neon (Ne) gas, or argon (Ar) is supplied into the lamp chamber 21 from a ventilation gas supply pipe 24, and a ventilation gas exhaust pipe 25 is provided. To the outside of the processing chamber 11. As described above, the inside of the lamp chamber 21 is maintained at atmospheric pressure, and the atmosphere around the lamp 22 is ventilated by the inert gas, so that the lamp 22 is cooled.
The ventilation gas supply pipe 24 is provided with an inert gas source 24c for supplying an inert gas, an MFC (mass flow controller) 24b as a flow control device, and an opening / closing valve 24a in order from the upstream of the gas flow. The MFC 24b and the opening / closing valve 24a are electrically connected to a control unit 30 described later. The control unit 30 controls the MFC 24b and the open / close valve 24a so that the flow rate of the inert gas flowing into the lamp chamber 21 becomes a predetermined flow rate at a predetermined timing.
The ventilation gas supply section is mainly composed of the ventilation gas supply pipe 24, the inert gas source 24c, the MFC 24b, and the opening / closing valve 24a, and the ventilation gas exhaust section is composed of the ventilation gas exhaust pipe 25.

Reference numeral 23a denotes a transmission window that transmits the light emitted from the lamp 22 into the processing chamber 11, and is made of, for example, quartz. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in the first embodiment, three rectangular plate-shaped (cuboid) transmission windows 23 a are arranged in a horizontal direction between the lamp 22 and the substrate 12. The area of the transmission window 23 a is smaller than the area of the substrate 12.
Thus, by making the surface shape of the transmission window 23a rectangular, the stress applied to the short side is reduced, and the proof stress against the stress strain caused by the pressure difference between the processing chamber 11 and the lamp chamber 21 is improved. Therefore, the thickness of the transmission window 23a can be reduced, and the light transmittance is improved. Since the light transmittance is improved, the number of lamps 22 can be reduced.

26a is a window frame for supporting and fixing the transmission window 23a, and is a window fixing part. The window fixing portion 26a is made of, for example, stainless steel. As shown in FIG. 2, among the three transmission windows 23 a, the central transmission window 23 a is supported by the window fixing portion 26 a at the long side and supported by the housing 18 at the short side. The long sides of the transmission windows 23 a at both ends are supported by the window fixing portion 26 a and the casing 18, and the short sides thereof are supported by the casing 18.
The transmission window 23a and the window fixing portion 26a are configured as a part of a partition wall that separates the inside and outside of the processing chamber 11, that is, a partition portion that partitions the processing chamber 11 and the lamp chamber 21, and can withstand a low pressure of less than 1 Pa. Mechanical strength.

  As described above, the light emitted from the lamp 22 passes through the transmission window 23 a and is supplied into the processing chamber 11. The processing chamber 11 and the lamp chamber 21 are hermetically separated by a transmission window 23a. Therefore, the gas in the lamp chamber 21 does not flow out into the processing chamber 11. Even if the lamp 22 is damaged, the components constituting the lamp 22 are not exposed to the processing chamber 11, and the rare gas sealed in the lamp 22 does not flow into the processing chamber 11. . Further, the material gas or the like in the processing chamber 11 does not flow into the lamp chamber 21.

Next, a processing gas supply unit that supplies a processing gas into the processing chamber 11 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, a processing gas supply pipe 14 for supplying a processing gas into the processing chamber 11 includes a processing gas source 14c for supplying a processing gas, an MFC 14b as a flow control device, An open / close valve 14a is provided. As the processing gas, for example, nitrogen gas or the like is used when annealing treatment is performed, and for example, monosilane (SiH ₄ ) gas or the like is used when CVD processing is performed.
A processing gas supply unit is mainly configured by the processing gas supply pipe 14, the processing gas source 14c, the MFC 14b, the open / close valve 14a, and the like.

  The MFC 14 b and the opening / closing valve 14 a are electrically connected to the control unit 30. The control unit 30 controls the MFC 14b and the open / close valve 14a so that the flow rate of the processing gas supplied into the processing chamber 11 becomes a predetermined flow rate at a predetermined timing.

Next, an exhaust unit that exhausts an atmosphere (gas) such as processing gas or air in the processing chamber 11 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, a processing gas exhaust pipe 15 for exhausting the atmosphere in the processing chamber 11 includes, in order from the upstream of the gas flow, a pressure gauge 15a, an APC (Auto Pressure Controller) valve 15b as a pressure adjusting valve, and a vacuum. A vacuum pump 15c is provided as an exhaust device. The vacuum pump 15c includes a pump for roughing from the atmospheric pressure and a turbo molecular pump for exhausting to a high vacuum, and the processing chamber 11 is set so that the pressure in the processing chamber 11 becomes a predetermined pressure (degree of vacuum). The inside is evacuated.

The APC valve 15 b and the pressure gauge 15 a are electrically connected to the control unit 30. The control unit 30 is configured to control the opening degree of the APC valve 15b based on the pressure value detected by the pressure gauge 15a so that the pressure in the processing chamber 11 becomes a predetermined pressure at a predetermined timing. ing.
An exhaust section is mainly constituted by the processing gas exhaust pipe 15, the pressure gauge 15a, the APC valve 15b, and the vacuum pump 15.

  A substrate transfer chamber (not shown) is provided adjacent to the processing chamber 11. In the substrate transfer chamber, a substrate transfer robot (not shown) for loading the substrate 12 into the processing chamber 11 and unloading the substrate 12 from the processing chamber 11 is provided. The substrate transfer robot includes a transfer arm and a substrate holder, and can hold the substrate 12 in the substrate transfer chamber for a predetermined time. The substrate transfer chamber is connected to a vacuum pump (not shown) for the substrate transfer chamber and can be depressurized from atmospheric pressure to about 100 Pa. In addition, an inert gas such as nitrogen can be supplied to adjust to an arbitrary pressure.

  The control unit 30 includes an operation unit, a display unit, an input / output unit, and the like (not shown), and is electrically connected to each component of the substrate processing apparatus, and controls each component. The control unit 30 performs pressure control in the processing chamber 11, flow control of each processing gas, and mechanical drive control such as loading of the substrate into the processing chamber 11 based on a recipe (a control sequence such as a film forming process). Do. Moreover, the control part 30 is provided with CPU (central processing unit) and the memory which stores an operation program, a recipe, etc. of CPU as a hardware structure.

  Next, the substrate processing operation of the substrate processing apparatus in this embodiment will be described. The substrate processing of this embodiment constitutes one process among a plurality of processes for manufacturing a semiconductor device. This substrate processing operation is controlled by the control unit 30.

(Substrate loading process)
In the substrate loading process for loading the substrate 12 into the processing chamber 11, first, the gate valve between the processing chamber 11 and the transfer chamber is opened to allow the processing chamber 11 and the transfer chamber to communicate with each other. Next, one substrate 12 to be processed is carried into the processing chamber 11 from the transfer chamber by the substrate transfer robot. The substrate 12 carried into the processing chamber 11 is placed on the upper end of the substrate platform 13 by the substrate transport robot. Next, when the transfer robot returns from the processing chamber 11 to the transfer chamber, the gate valve is closed.

(Nitrogen gas replacement process)
Next, the inside of the processing chamber 11 is replaced with an inert gas atmosphere so as not to adversely affect the substrate 12 in a heat treatment process described later. In this example, nitrogen (N ₂ ) gas is used as the inert gas. The atmosphere in the processing chamber 11 is discharged from the processing gas exhaust pipe 15 by the vacuum pump 15 c, and N ₂ gas is introduced into the processing chamber 11 from the processing gas supply pipe 14. At this time, the pressure in the processing chamber 11 is adjusted to a predetermined value, 1 Pa in this embodiment, by the APC valve 15b.

(Heat treatment process)
Next, the substrate mounting unit 13 on which the substrate 12 is mounted is rotated by the rotation driving unit 17 to reach a predetermined rotation number, and after the rotation number of the substrate 12 reaches a constant state, the lamp 22 is caused to emit light. The surface of the substrate 12 is irradiated with light emitted from the lamp 22 for a predetermined time. If the lamp 22 is caused to emit light before the substrate 12 is rotated or before the substrate 12 reaches a predetermined number of rotations, the light irradiation intensity varies depending on the region in the substrate 12, so that the substrate 12 is heated uniformly. This is not preferable.
In this embodiment, by this light irradiation, the substrate 12 is heated to, for example, 300 ° C., and a modification process for the insulating film or the like formed on the substrate 12, that is, a process for reforming to a dense and stable insulator thin film is performed. . Thus, the substrate 12 can be heated more uniformly by rotating the substrate 12.
In the present embodiment, the substrate is not heated by the heater unit built in the substrate platform 13, but the heater unit is used in combination with the lamp 22 as necessary to bring the substrate 12 to a predetermined temperature. The temperature may be raised.

In the heat treatment step, the control unit 30 opens the opening / closing valve 14a to introduce N ₂ gas into the processing chamber 11 from the processing gas supply pipe 14, and the APC valve 15b sets the pressure in the processing chamber 11 to a predetermined value. The N ₂ gas in the processing chamber 11 is discharged from the processing gas exhaust pipe 15 while adjusting the value. In this way, in the heat treatment step, the inside of the processing chamber 11 is maintained at a predetermined pressure value. In this example, the heat treatment was performed for 3 minutes with the pressure in the treatment chamber 11 set to 1 Pa.

  As described above, the substrate 22 is heated by irradiating light from the lamp 22 for a predetermined time, and then the light emission of the lamp 22 is stopped. After the light emission of the lamp 22 is stopped, the rotation of the substrate 12 is stopped. If the rotation of the substrate 12 is stopped before the light emission of the lamp 22 is stopped, the irradiation intensity of the light from the lamp 22 varies depending on the region in the substrate 12, which is preferable for heating the substrate 12 uniformly. Absent.

In this embodiment, since the area of one transmission window 23 a is smaller than the area of the substrate 12, the window frame 26 a generates a portion where the light irradiated on the substrate 12 is blocked. By regularly moving the positional relationship in the horizontal direction, for example, by rotating the substrate 12, the light irradiated on the substrate 12 can be averaged.
In the case of a circular substrate, it is effective to rotate the substrate in order to prevent the light-shielded portion on the substrate from being biased, but in the case of a square or rectangular substrate, X By repeating the parallel operation in which the component in the Y direction perpendicular to the direction and the X direction is repeated, it is possible to prevent the light-shielded portion on the substrate from being biased.

(Substrate unloading process)
When the heat treatment step is completed, N ₂ gas is introduced into the processing chamber 11 to return the inside of the processing chamber 11 to the atmospheric pressure, and then the heat treatment is performed by a procedure reverse to the procedure shown in the substrate loading step described above. The substrate 12 is unloaded from the processing chamber 11 into the transfer chamber.

According to the first embodiment described above, at least the following effects (1) to (4) can be obtained.
(1) Since the area of one transmission window is smaller than the area of the substrate, the thickness of the transmission window can be made thinner than that of the conventional apparatus, and the light transmittance is improved.
(2) Since the substrate is rotated, the intensity of light irradiated on the substrate can be averaged.
(3) After the number of rotations of the substrate reaches a predetermined constant state, the substrate surface is irradiated with light to perform heat treatment. After the heat treatment, the light irradiation is stopped, and then the substrate is rotated. Since it stops, the inside of a substrate surface can be heated uniformly.
(4) Since the surface shape of the transmission window is rectangular and the stress applied to the short side is reduced, the thickness of the transmission window can be reduced.

Here, the improvement effect of the illuminance when the thickness of the transmission window is reduced will be described.
For example, when the thickness of the transmission window is halved and the transmittance per cm at a certain wavelength is about 80%, the transmittance 80% is converted to absorbance, and the absorbance A is as follows.
A = −Log (80/100) = 0.09691
Since the total absorbance is given by the product of absorbance A and thickness of unit thickness, the absorbance of the entire transmission window having a thickness of 4 cm is A × 4 = 0.38764, and the entire transmission window having a thickness of 2 cm is obtained. The absorbance of A is 2 × 0.19382.
When these are converted again into transmittance, the transmittance of the transmission window having a thickness of 4 cm is 1 × 10 ^(−0.38764) × 100 = 40.96%, and the transmission of the transmission window having a thickness of 2 cm is obtained. The rate is 1 × 10 ^(−0.19382) × 100 = 64%.
That is, the illuminance is improved by 24% only by making the window half the thickness. Therefore, even if 10% of the illuminance on the substrate is shielded by the window frame, the illuminance on the substrate is improved by 24−10 = 14%.
Note that the amount of improvement in illuminance varies depending on the material of the transmission window used and the wavelength of light. Generally, a light transmission window made of an expensive material is required for light having a short wavelength. For example, MgF (magnesium fluoride) that can transmit light having a wavelength of 126 nm is very expensive. Therefore, the technique of the present invention is useful for suppressing the thickness of the transmission window, that is, the cost.

(Second Embodiment)
A configuration example of the substrate processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a planar structure of the substrate processing apparatus in the second embodiment.
The substrate processing apparatus of the second embodiment is different from that of the first embodiment in the shapes of a transmissive window and a window frame (window fixing portion). Since the configuration other than the transmission window and the window frame (window fixing portion) and the operation of the substrate processing apparatus are the same as those in the first embodiment, description thereof will be omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 3, in the second embodiment, nine square plate-shaped (cuboid) transmission windows 23b are horizontally arranged between the lamp 22 and the substrate 12, and one transmission window 23b The area is smaller than the area of the substrate 12. The material of the transmission window 23b is the same as that of the transmission window 23a of the first embodiment.

Moreover, the window fixing | fixed part 26b is formed in the grid | lattice form, and supports and fixes the transmissive window 23b. The material of the window fixing part 26b is the same as that of the window fixing part 26a of the first embodiment.
Similarly to the first embodiment, the transmission window 23b and the window fixing portion 26b are configured as part of a partition wall that separates the inside and outside of the processing chamber 11, that is, as a partition portion that partitions the processing chamber 11 and the lamp chamber 21. And has a mechanical strength that can withstand a low pressure of less than 1 Pa.

According to the second embodiment described above, at least the following effect (5) can be obtained in addition to the effects (1) to (4) of the first embodiment.
(5) By making the surface shape of the transmission window square, the stress applied to the side becomes smaller than the stress applied to the long side of the first embodiment, and the stress generated by the pressure difference between the processing chamber 11 and the lamp chamber 21. The strain resistance is improved as compared with the first embodiment. Therefore, the thickness of the transmission window can be made thinner than that of the first embodiment, and the light transmittance is improved.

(Third embodiment)
A configuration example of the substrate processing apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a planar structure of the substrate processing apparatus in the third embodiment.
The substrate processing apparatus of the third embodiment is different from that of the first embodiment in the number of lamps and the shapes of the transmission window and window frame (window fixing portion). Other configurations and operations of the substrate processing apparatus are the same as those in the first embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

As shown in FIG. 4, in the third embodiment, eleven cylindrical (rod-shaped) lamps 22 are arranged side by side in the lamp chamber 21 so as to face the substrate 12. The lamp 22 itself is the same as in the first embodiment.
In addition, 49 circular plate-shaped (thin columnar) transmission windows 23c are horizontally arranged between the lamp 22 and the substrate 12, and the area of one transmission window 23c is larger than the area of the substrate 12. small. The material of the transmission window 23c is the same as that of the transmission window 23a of the first embodiment.
Moreover, the window fixing | fixed part 26c is formed so that the clearance gap between several circular transmission windows 23c may be filled, and it supports and fixes the transmission windows 23c similarly to other embodiment. The material of the window fixing part 26b is the same as that of the window fixing part 26a of the first embodiment.
The transmission window 23c and the window fixing portion 26c are configured as part of a partition wall that separates the inside and outside of the processing chamber 11, that is, a partition portion that partitions the processing chamber 11 and the lamp chamber 21, and can withstand a low pressure of less than 1 Pa. Mechanical strength.

According to the third embodiment described above, in addition to the effects (1) to (3) of the first embodiment, at least the following effects (6) to (8) can be achieved.
(6) By arranging a large number of small transmission windows 23c, not only can the thickness of the transmission window 23c be reduced, but also the difference in density of light on the substrate due to light shielding by the window fixing portion 26c is reduced. It is possible to average the illuminance.
(7) Since the transmission window 23c is circular, it is possible to improve the processing dimension accuracy when manufacturing the window, and the yield rate (yield rate) is improved.
(8) Since the transmission window 23c is circular, the distance from the center to the end of the window is equal. Therefore, the state in which a large stress is applied to the corner of the rectangular window in other embodiments can be improved. Can relieve the stress applied to the edges of

In the third embodiment, the transmission window 23c is circular so that the distance from the center to the end of the transmission window is equal. However, the transmission window 23c may be a regular polygon that is a regular pentagon or more. In this case, since the distance from the center of the transmission window to the apex becomes equal, the stress applied to the transmission window can be distributed more than the quadrangle of the first and second embodiments.
If the transmission window 23c is a regular hexagon, the stress applied to the transmission window can be dispersed, and a large number of transmission windows 23c can be efficiently arranged in a certain area.

In addition, this invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, It cannot be overemphasized that it can change variously in the range which does not deviate from the summary.
In the embodiment, the substrates are processed one by one, but a plurality of substrates may be processed simultaneously.
Although the substrate annealing process has been described in the above embodiment, the present invention can also be applied to other processes such as a process for forming an insulating film on the substrate.
In the embodiment, the lamp is fixed and the substrate is rotated in the horizontal direction. However, the substrate may be fixed and the lamp may be rotated in the horizontal direction. In short, the positional relationship in the horizontal direction between the substrate and the lamp is moved. do it.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Processing chamber, 12 ... Substrate, 13 ... Substrate placing part, 14 ... Processing gas supply pipe, 14a ... Open / close valve, 14b ... MFC, 14c ... Processing gas source, 15 ... Processing gas exhaust pipe, 15a ... Pressure gauge, 15b ... APC valve, 15c ... vacuum pump, 16 ... rotating shaft, 17 ... rotation drive unit, 18 ... housing, 21 ... lamp chamber, 22 ... lamp, 23a, 23b, 23c ... permeation window, 24 ... ventilation gas supply pipe 24a ... Open / close valve, 24b ... MFC, 24c ... inert gas source, 25 ... ventilation gas exhaust pipe, 26a, 26b, 26c ... window frame (window fixing part), 30 ... control part, 123 ... transmission window.

Claims (2)

A processing chamber for processing the substrate;
A substrate mounting portion that is provided in the processing chamber and rotates horizontally in a state where the substrate is mounted;
A light emitting unit that is provided outside the processing chamber so as to face the substrate mounted on the substrate mounting unit, and irradiates light into the processing chamber;
A partition provided between the processing chamber and the light emitting unit, and separating the processing chamber and the light emitting unit;
A processing gas supply unit for supplying a processing gas into the processing chamber;
A substrate processing apparatus including an exhaust unit configured to exhaust an atmosphere in the processing chamber;
The partition part is provided between a plurality of transmission windows that transmit light emitted from the light emitting unit to the processing chamber and the transmission windows that constitute the plurality of transmission windows, and fixes the transmission window. A window fixing part,
The substrate processing apparatus configured such that an area of at least one of the plurality of transmission windows is smaller than an area of the substrate. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The substrate processing apparatus, wherein the transmission window is configured such that a distance from a center point to an end of the transmission window is equal.

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