JP2018117103A - Substrate processing apparatus and cooling method of substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate processing apparatus capable of cooling a substrate mounted on a substrate holding jig with high efficiency and a cooling method of the substrate.SOLUTION: A thermal treatment equipment 10 includes: a processing container 41 in which a bottom surface is opened; a substrate holding jig 24 that can laminates a plural number of substrates in a vertical direction; a lifting mechanism 26 that lifts the substrate holding jig, and can unload the substrate holding jig from the opening from the processing container; a plurality of suction ducts 60 to 62 that is oppositely arranged in the circumference of the substrate holding jig in an unload state, and is obtained by dividing a height range of the substrate holding jig with a predetermined height region; discharging means 80 to 83 that commonly communicate with at least two of the plurality of ducts; a plurality of valves 70 to 72 which can individually open and close communication of the discharge means and the plurality of suction ducts; and a control part 50, when dropping and unloading the substrate holding jig, in which the plurality of valves corresponded to the plurality of suction ducts is sequentially changed from the closing to the opening in an order from an upper side to a lower side so as to be communicated with the dropping of the substrate holding jig.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate cooling method.

  Conventionally, in a loading area where a lateral airflow is formed from the front surface toward the airflow formation outlet on the rear surface, between the substrate support and the exhaust port at the unloading position on the lower side of the heat treatment furnace. There is known a heat treatment apparatus provided with an exhaust duct in which an exhaust port for heat exhaust for sucking and exhausting an atmosphere heated to a high temperature by unloading is provided (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  According to such a heat treatment apparatus, since the atmosphere in the vicinity of the unloaded high-temperature substrate support is exhausted from the exhaust duct, heat diffusion to the upper side is suppressed, and a lateral airflow is generated by the substrate support and the wafer group. The temperature of the wafer after the heat treatment can be quickly lowered.

JP 2012-169367 A

  However, since the exhaust port for thermal exhaust described in Patent Document 1 is formed in the entire length direction of the surface of the exhaust duct facing the substrate support, the loss of suction force is large, and sufficient thermal exhaust is not necessarily performed. There was a problem that could not be done.

  That is, in the first stage of unloading, the lower part of the substrate support is only opposed to the upper part of the exhaust port, but suction and exhaust are performed at the lower part of the exhaust port not facing the substrate support as well as the upper part. The suction force is wasted in the lower part of the exhaust port, and as a result, there is a problem that sufficient heat exhaust may not be performed in the upper part of the exhaust port.

  In addition, a member having a high thermal insulation property made of quartz called a thermal insulation unit may be provided at the lower end portion of the substrate support, and in such a case, it takes time to cool the wafer disposed under the substrate support. May cause a problem that the unloading of the wafer is delayed and the productivity is lowered.

  Accordingly, the present invention provides a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate that can efficiently cool a substrate loaded on a substrate holder and improve productivity even when such a heat retaining unit is provided. An object is to provide a cooling method.

In order to achieve the above object, a heat treatment apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a treatment container having an open bottom surface,
A substrate holder that holds a plurality of substrates horizontally and can be stacked vertically with a predetermined interval;
An elevating mechanism capable of lifting and lowering the substrate holder and loading and unloading the substrate holder into the processing container from the opening;
A plurality of intake ports that are arranged opposite to each other around the substrate holder in a state in which the substrate holder is unloaded from the processing container and that divides the range of the height of the substrate holder into a plurality of predetermined height regions. The air intake duct,
At least one exhaust means in common communication with the plurality of ducts;
A plurality of valves capable of individually opening and closing communication between the exhaust means and the plurality of intake ducts;
When the substrate holder is lowered and unloaded from the processing container, the plurality of valves corresponding to the plurality of intake ducts are opened from closed to closed in order from the top to the bottom in conjunction with the lowering of the substrate holder. And control means for sequentially changing them.

  According to the present invention, the substrate can be efficiently cooled.

1 is a longitudinal sectional view schematically showing a heat treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is an enlarged view of an example of the board | substrate support tool of the heat processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the structure regarding the airflow of the heat processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the heat processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view schematically showing a heat treatment apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the heat treatment apparatus 10 includes a mounting table (load port) 12, a housing 18, and a control unit 50.

  The mounting table (load port) 12 is provided in the front part of the housing 18. The housing 18 has a loading area (working area) 20 and a heat treatment furnace 40. The loading area 20 is provided below the housing 18, and the heat treatment furnace 40 is provided inside the housing 18 and above the loading area 20. A base plate 19 is provided between the loading area 20 and the heat treatment furnace 40.

  The heat treatment furnace 40 is a processing furnace for heat-treating the substrate (wafer W), and may be configured to have a vertically long shape as a whole, for example. The heat treatment furnace 41 includes a reaction tube 41 and a heater (heating device) 42.

  The reaction tube 41 is a processing container for storing the wafer W and performing heat treatment on the stored wafer W. The reaction tube 41 is made of, for example, quartz, has a vertically long shape, and has an opening 43 at the lower end. The heater (heating device) 42 is provided so as to cover the periphery of the reaction tube 41, and the inside of the reaction tube 41 can be controlled to be heated to a predetermined temperature, for example, 100 to 1200 ° C.

  In the heat treatment furnace 40, for example, a processing gas is supplied to the wafer W accommodated in the reaction tube 41, and film formation processing such as CVD (Chemical Vapor deposition) or ALD (Atomic Layer Deposition) is performed.

  The base plate 19 is a base plate made of, for example, SUS for installing a later-described reaction tube 41 of the heat treatment furnace 40, and has an opening (not shown) for inserting the reaction tube 41 from below to above.

  The mounting table (load port) 12 is for carrying the wafer W into and out of the housing 18. A storage container 13 is mounted on the mounting table (load port) 12. The storage container 13 is a sealed storage container (FOUP) that includes a plurality of, for example, about 25 wafers at a predetermined interval, and a front cover (not shown) is detachably provided on the front surface.

  An alignment device (aligner) 15 for aligning notches provided on the outer periphery of the wafer W transferred by a transfer mechanism 27 described later in one direction may be provided below the mounting table 12. .

  The loading area (working area) 20 transfers the wafer W between the storage container 13 and a substrate support 24 described later, and loads (loads) the substrate support 24 into the heat treatment furnace 40. 24 for unloading 24 from the heat treatment furnace 40. In the loading area 20, a door mechanism 21, a shutter mechanism 22, a lid 23, a substrate support 24, bases 25 a and 25 b, an elevating mechanism 26, and a transfer mechanism 27 are provided.

  The door mechanism 21 is for removing the lids of the storage containers 13 and 14 to open the communication between the storage containers 13 and 14 into the loading area 20.

  The shutter mechanism 22 is provided above the loading area 20. The shutter mechanism 22 covers the opening 43 in order to suppress or prevent the heat in the high-temperature furnace from being released to the loading area 20 from the opening 43 of the heat treatment furnace 40 described later when the lid 23 is opened. (Or plug).

  The lid body 23 has a heat retaining cylinder 28 and a rotation mechanism 29. The heat retaining cylinder 28 is provided on the lid body 23. The heat retaining cylinder 28 is for keeping the substrate support 24 warm by preventing the substrate support 24 from being cooled by heat transfer with the lid 23 side. The heat insulation cylinder 28 is made of quartz and has a very high heat insulation effect. Therefore, when the wafer W is placed on the substrate support 24 and heat treatment is performed in the reaction tube 41, the wafer W immediately above the heat retaining cylinder 28 may be at the highest temperature. In the heat treatment apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention, when the temperature of the wafer W placed under the substrate support 24 is highest, the heat treatment for efficiently cooling the lower wafer W is performed. The apparatus 10 will be described. A detailed description of the mechanism for efficiently cooling the wafer W under the substrate support 24 will be given later.

  The rotation mechanism 29 is attached to the lower part of the lid body 23. The rotation mechanism 29 is for rotating the substrate support 24. A rotation shaft of the rotation mechanism 29 is provided so as to penetrate the lid body 23 in an airtight manner and rotate a rotary table (not shown) disposed on the lid body 23.

  The elevating mechanism 26 drives the lid 23 up and down during loading and unloading from the loading area 20 of the substrate support 24 to the heat treatment furnace 40. When the substrate support 24 raised by the elevating mechanism 26 is carried into the heat treatment furnace 40, the lid body 23 is provided so as to contact the opening 43 and seal the opening 43. The substrate support 24 placed on the lid 23 can hold the wafer W in the heat treatment furnace 40 so as to be rotatable in a horizontal plane.

  FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the substrate support 24. The substrate support 24 is a wafer holding unit that holds and holds each wafer W in a horizontal direction with a predetermined interval. The substrate support 24 is made of, for example, quartz, and is configured to mount wafers W having a large diameter, for example, 300 mm in a horizontal state at a predetermined interval (pitch width) in the vertical direction. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the substrate support 24 includes a plurality of, for example, three support columns 32 interposed between the top plate 30 and the bottom plate 31. The support column 32 is provided with a claw portion 33 for holding the wafer W. In addition, auxiliary pillars 34 may be appropriately provided together with the pillars 32.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration relating to airflow of the heat treatment apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, in the loading area 20, the upper duct 60, the middle duct 61, the lower duct 62, the merging ducts 63 and 64, the blowing ducts 65 and 66, the on-off valves 70 to 72, and the exhaust Fans 80 to 83, heat exchangers 90 to 92, FFU (fan filter unit) 100, mass flow controller 110, regulating valves 120 to 123, valve 130, differential pressure gauges 140 and 141, and oxygen concentration A total 150 and an exhaust duct 160 are provided. Further, similarly to FIG. 1, an elevating mechanism 26, a rotating mechanism 29, a heat insulating cylinder 28, a substrate support 24, and a wafer W are shown.

  Around the position where the substrate support 24 in the loading area 20 is unloaded and lowered, the upper duct 60, the middle duct 61, and the lower duct 62 (hereinafter abbreviated as " May be referred to as ducts 60-62 "). The ducts 60 to 62 divide the range of the height of the substrate support 24 in the unloaded and lowered state, and are divided into an upper stage, a middle stage, and a lower stage so as to cover the respective height regions. The suction ports 60a, 61a, 62a of the middle duct 61 and the lower duct 62 are provided, respectively. The ducts 60 to 62 are all configured as intake ducts, communicate with the exhaust fans 81, 82, 83, and 101, and are sucked from the ducts 60 to 62 by the exhaust of the exhaust fans 81, 82, 83, and 101. The ducts 60 to 62 function as a cooling mechanism for sucking heat of the heated wafer W and quickly cooling the wafer W.

  It is possible to cool the wafer W by blowing cool air from the ducts 60 to 62, but if the cool air is blown, particles may rise and be placed on the wafer W. Therefore, in order to cool the wafer W in a clean state without causing particles to rise, the ducts 60 to 62 are configured as intake ducts.

  The upper duct 60, the middle duct 61, and the lower duct 62 are all provided around the unloading position of the substrate support 24 so that the intake ports 60a to 62a face each other, as long as they are provided in the vicinity of the substrate support 24. The arrangement position on the horizontal plane is not limited. In the example of FIG. 3, the intake port 60a of the upper duct 60 and the intake port 61a of the middle duct 61 are provided at the same position when viewed from above, but the intake ports 62a of the lower duct 62 are provided with the intake ports 60a and 61a. It is provided in the position on the opposite side. Thus, the planar positions of the intake ports 60 a to 62 a of the ducts 60 to 62 are not limited as long as they are provided at positions close to the substrate support 24. Therefore, unlike FIG. 3, the inlet 61a of the middle duct 61 and the inlet 62a of the lower duct 62 are arranged at the same plane position, and the inlet 60a of the upper duct 61 is arranged at different positions. There may be.

  The upper duct 60, the middle duct 61, and the lower duct 62 are provided so as to divide and cover the range of the height of the substrate support 24, but there may be overlapping regions in the height direction. For example, since the intake port 60a of the upper duct 60 and the intake duct 61a of the middle duct 61 are provided so as to overlap at the same plane position, they are clearly separated in height region, but are arranged facing each other. The lower duct 62 may be provided so as to partially overlap the height region covered by the inlet 61 a of the middle duct 61. That is, there is no problem even if the lower portion of the intake port 61a of the middle duct 61 and the upper portion of the intake port 62a of the lower duct 62 partially overlap each other in the height direction.

  The air inlet 62 a of the lower duct 62 may be provided so as to cover not only the region where the wafer W is held by the substrate support 24 but also the portion of the heat retaining cylinder 28. Although the object to be cooled is not the substrate support 24 but the wafer W, the heat insulating cylinder 28 made of quartz retains a considerable amount of heat even if it is unloaded and comes out of the reaction tube 41. Therefore, even if only the portion of the wafer W is cooled, the lower wafer W immediately above the heat retaining cylinder 28 may generate heat, and the wafer W may not be efficiently cooled. In addition, the air inlet 62a may be provided in a portion facing the heat retaining cylinder 28. However, it is not essential to provide the air inlet 62a so as to cover the heat retaining cylinder 28, and it may be adopted according to the application.

  Opening / closing valves 70 and 71 are provided inside the middle duct 61 and the lower duct 62. The on-off valves 70 and 71 are opening / closing means for closing the flow paths of the ducts 61 and 62. At the start of unloading, the on-off valves 70 and 71 are closed, the substrate support 24 is lowered, and the intake air in the middle duct 61 is sucked. The on-off valve 70 is opened when reaching the range where the suction force of the port 61a reaches, and the on-off valve 71 is opened when the substrate support 24 descends and reaches the range where the suction force of the suction port 62a of the lower duct 62 reaches. Control to open. As a result, the suction operation of the middle duct 71 and the lower duct 72 can be performed when the substrate support 24 reaches a range having a cooling effect without using the suction force of the exhaust fans 80 to 83 wastefully. The details of the control and operation method will be described later.

  Moreover, you may provide the on-off valve 73 inside the upper duct 60 as needed. The on-off valve 73 in the upper duct 60 may be provided as necessary, and may or may not be provided. Moreover, in FIG. 3, although the on-off valve 73 is provided in the upper part in the upper stage duct 60, it can be provided in various positions according to a use.

  As the on-off valves 70 and 71, various on-off means including general valves can be used as long as the flow paths of the ducts 61 and 62 can be switched between blocking and opening. The opening / closing operation of the opening / closing valves 70, 71 is performed by the control unit 50 controlling the opening / closing valves 70, 71.

  The exhaust fans 80 to 83 are exhaust means for exhausting heat through the ducts 60 to 62. The exhaust fans 80 to 83 are provided in communication with the ducts 60 to 62, but the exhaust ranges differ depending on the exhaust fans 80 to 82.

The exhaust fan 80 effectively exhausts N ₂ in the loading area 20 and puts the inside of the loading area 20 into an atmospheric state. When the inside of the loading area 20 is replaced with the atmosphere, the regulating valves 120, 121, and 122 are set to OPEN (open).

  The exhaust fan 81 is provided in the junction duct 63 similarly to the exhaust fan 80, but is provided on the downstream side of the exhaust fan 80. When the air is replaced by the exhaust fan 80, the adjustment valves 120, 121, 122 are opened (OPEN), and the exhaust fans 81, 82 are stopped.

  A heat exchanger 91 is provided in the ducts 62 and 63 as necessary. The heat exchanger 90 cools the sucked heat and supplies the cooled gas to the exhaust fans 81 and 82. Thereby, the effect of heat absorption and cooling can be further enhanced. In addition, the heat exchanger 90 can select and use various heat exchangers 90 according to a use.

  The exhaust fan 82 is an exhaust unit for exhausting the lower duct 62. The exhaust fan 82 may be operated for the first time when the substrate support 24 reaches the range where the suction force of the suction port 62a of the lower duct 62 reaches, or the exhaust fan 82 is operated from the beginning and the on-off valve 71 is closed. The on-off valve 71 may be configured to open when the substrate support 24 approaches the suction port 62a. The exhaust fan 82 may be an exhaust fan having the same configuration and function as the exhaust fan 81, or may be an exhaust fan 82 different from the exhaust fan 81 depending on the size of the lower duct 62. You may make it provide the heat exchanger 91 in the upstream of the exhaust fan 82 as needed. Since the function is the same as that of the heat exchanger 90, description thereof is omitted.

  The exhaust fan 83 is a dedicated exhaust fan for the upper duct 60 provided in the upper duct 60. The exhaust fan 83 is provided as an auxiliary fan for the exhaust fan 81. Since the upper duct 60 operates from the beginning to the end of unloading and is required to maintain a large exhaust force for a long time, an exhaust fan 83 that exhausts only the upper duct 60 is provided as necessary. May be. In addition, the point which may provide the heat exchanger 92 as needed is the same as that of the other heat exchangers 90 and 91. FIG. Moreover, since the function is the same as that of the heat exchangers 90 and 91, the detailed description is abbreviate | omitted.

  The arrangement of the exhaust fans 80 to 83 shown in FIG. 3 is an example, and one or more exhaust fans communicating with all of the ducts 60 to 62 may be provided. The exhaust fans 80 to 83 can be variously arranged as long as the common exhaust fans 80 to 83 communicating with at least two of the ducts 60 to 62 are provided.

  In addition, the ducts 60 to 62 are not limited to the three-stage configuration divided into three stages, and the two-stage configuration in which the upper duct 60 and the lower duct 62 cover the entire range of the height of the substrate support 24. It may be a structure of four or more stages in which the middle duct 61 is further divided into a plurality of parts. The number of divisions of the ducts 60 to 62 can also be changed as appropriate according to the application.

  Further, if necessary, a blowing duct 65 communicating with the upper duct 60, a ball screw, and a guide storage duct 66 may be provided. In FIG. 3, an airflow flowing from the ball screw / guide housing duct 66 to the blowout duct 65 is generated, and further flows from the blowout duct 65 into the upper duct 60. As described above, the blowing duct 65, the ball screw, and the guide storage duct 66 communicating with the upper duct 60 may be provided as necessary. Note that an opening / closing valve 72 for opening and closing the communication flow path may be provided between the blowing duct 65 and the upper duct 60 as necessary. Thereby, the communication between the blowing duct 65 and the upper duct 60 can be freely set according to the situation.

  The merge duct 63 and the lower duct 62 finally merge at the merge duct 64. The junction duct 64 is connected to the FFU 100. The FFU 100 is a unit in which a fan and a filter are integrated. The gas sucked by the fan 101 is cleaned by a filter 102 provided inside the FFU 100 and further blown out by the fan 101 to the outside. That is, the fan 101 forms an air flow that cleans the sucked gas and supplies it horizontally into the loading area 20.

  Further, a mass flow controller (flow controller) 110 and adjusting valves 121 and 122 are provided at the ends of the lower duct 62 and the merging duct 63 in order to adjust the exhaust flow rates of the exhaust fans 80 to 83 and 101. In this way, means for controlling the exhaust flow rate may be provided as necessary.

  Further, in order to control exhaust of the entire loading area 20, an adjustment valve 123, a valve 130, a differential pressure gauge 140, 141, an oxygen concentration meter 150, an exhaust duct 160, and the like may be provided as necessary. The pressure and oxygen concentration in the loading area 20 are measured by the differential pressure gauge 140 and the oxygen concentration meter 150, the exhaust amount of steady exhaust is determined by the valve 130, and the exhaust amount is adjusted by the adjusting valve 123. The exhausted gas is exhausted to the exhaust duct 160, the pressure is controlled by the differential pressure gauge 141, and the exhaust gas is exhausted to the exhaust facility.

  The control of each of these devices is performed by the control unit 50. The controller 50 also performs opening / closing control of the opening / closing valves 70 to 72 and driving of the exhaust fans 80 to 84 and 101 when the substrate support 24 is unloaded.

  Next, operation | movement of the heat processing apparatus 10 which concerns on embodiment of this invention is demonstrated.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the heat treatment apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 4, the exhaust fans 84 and 85 are configured as exhaust fans 84 and 85 that communicate with all of the ducts 60 to 62 and exhaust all of them in common. It may be a simple configuration. Since other configurations are the same as those in FIG. 3, the same reference numerals are given to the same components, and description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating an example of the operation of the heat treatment apparatus 10 at the start of unloading of the substrate support 24. FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating an example of the operation of the heat treatment apparatus 10 during the unloading of the substrate support 24. FIG. 4C is a diagram illustrating an example of the operation of the heat treatment apparatus 10 when the substrate support 24 is unloaded. 4A corresponds to Step 1 at the start of unloading, FIG. 4B corresponds to Step 2 during unloading, and FIG. 4C corresponds to Step 3 at the end of unloading.

  In FIG. 4A, the temperature of the substrate support 24 and the heat insulating cylinder 28 is about 500 to 700 ° C. immediately after the start of unloading. Since the upper, middle, and lower ducts 60, 61, and 62 finally merge with the merge duct 64, the intake valves 70 and 71 are closed to prevent intake from the middle duct 61 and the lower duct 62. The amount of intake air from the upper duct 60 can be increased.

  As shown in FIGS. 4B and 4C, intake from the middle duct 61 is started at the stage shown in FIG. 4B, and intake from the lower duct 62 is started at the stage shown in FIG. 4C. . As shown in FIGS. 4A to 4C, by switching the intake air from the ducts 60 to 62 from closed to open in steps, the wafer W can be efficiently cooled and the cooling time is shortened. can do.

  Next, operation | movement of the heat processing apparatus 10 for every step is demonstrated in detail. As shown in FIG. 4A, the lower end portion of the substrate support 24 descends from the reaction tube 41 when unloading is started. Therefore, the heat insulating cylinder 28 reaches the suction port 60 a of the upper duct 60. At this time, the on-off valves 70 and 71 are closed, and exhaust is performed only from the upper duct 60. Since the on-off valves 70 and 71 are closed, the exhaust power of the exhaust fans 84 and 85 can be concentrated on the upper duct 60, and the high temperature portion H of the wafer W can be cooled with a large exhaust amount at first. . Thereby, the wafer W of the high temperature part H arrange | positioned under the board | substrate support tool 24 can be cooled rapidly.

  As shown in FIG. 4B, when the unloading progresses, the substrate support 24 further descends, and the lower part of the wafer W reaches the air inlet 61 a of the middle duct 61. At this time, the on-off valve 70 is opened and exhaust from the middle duct 61 is started. Thereby, the wafer W under the substrate support 24 is further continuously cooled. The upper duct 60 continuously performs a suction operation. Thereby, the wafer W newly exposed from the reaction tube 41 is also cooled by the upper duct 60.

  As shown in FIG. 4C, when the unloading further proceeds, the substrate support 24 is further lowered and moved to the lowermost part. At this time, the lower portion (lower end region) of the wafer W loaded at the position facing the air inlet 62a of the lower duct 62 arrives. At this time, the on-off valve 71 is opened and the exhaust from the lower duct 61 is started. Thereby, the wafer W under the substrate support 24 is further continuously cooled. Further, the on-off valve 70 is left open, and the upper duct 60 and the middle duct 61 continuously perform a suction operation. Accordingly, the wafer W newly exposed from the reaction tube 41 is also cooled by the upper duct 60, and the middle wafer W cooled by the upper duct 60 is continuously cooled by the middle duct 61. When a dummy wafer made of quartz is loaded below the substrate holder 24, the dummy wafer W portion faces most of the air inlet 62a, and at least at the lower end region of the wafer W to be processed thereon. A part is in a state of facing the air inlet 62a. The air inlet 62a is disposed so as to face a position immediately above the heat retaining cylinder 28 of the wafer W stacked and held on the substrate support 24, whether it is a wafer W to be processed or a dummy wafer W made of quartz. The wafer W at the facing position is cooled.

  As described above, according to the heat treatment apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the wafer W under the substrate holder 24 that has approached the heat retaining cylinder 28 is cooled for the longest time. The wafer W under the substrate holder 24 close to the cylinder 28 can be quickly cooled. Thereby, the wafer W under the substrate holder 24 approaching the heat retaining cylinder 28 can be actively cooled, and the cooling time can be shortened. Further, the cooling as a whole can be balanced, and the occurrence of a situation where the cooling of the high temperature portion H is delayed and the wafer W cannot be discharged can be prevented. Furthermore, the temperature rise in the loading area 20 can be reduced, and the thermal load on each component can be reduced.

  Note that the cooling start timing of the middle duct 61 and the lower duct 62 can be set to various timings as long as it is linked to the lowering of the substrate support 24 during unloading. For example, the exhaust of the middle duct 61 and the lower duct 62 may be started immediately after reaching the range where the suction force of each of the middle duct 61 and the lower duct 62 reaches, or the high temperature portion H of the wafer W Exhaust may be started when the air intake 61a faces the air intake 62a of the lower duct 62.

  If the operation is accelerated, the start of the cooling operation itself is accelerated, but the exhaust power of the exhaust fans 84 and 85 is dispersed and the exhaust amount per one duct 60 to 62 becomes small. It is preferable to start the cooling operation of the middle duct 60 and the lower duct 61 at an appropriate timing.

  Further, the position of the substrate support 24 may be grasped from the rotation speed of the rotation mechanism 29 or may be detected by providing a separate sensor. The control unit 50 grasps the position of the substrate support 24, particularly the position of the high temperature part H, opens the on-off valves 70 and 71 at predetermined positions, and starts the exhaust operation of the middle duct 61 and the lower duct 62. The high temperature part H can be efficiently cooled.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and substitutions can be made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention. Can be added.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Heat processing apparatus 20 Loading area 24 Substrate support 26 Elevating mechanism 28 Insulating cylinder 29 Rotating mechanism 40 Heat treatment furnace 41 Reaction tube 42 Heater 50 Control part 60-62 Duct 60a-62a Inlet 70-72 On-off valve 80-85 Exhaust fan 90-92 Heat exchanger W Wafer H High temperature part

Claims (14)

A processing container having an open bottom;
A substrate holder that holds a plurality of substrates horizontally and can be stacked vertically with a predetermined interval;
An elevating mechanism capable of lifting and lowering the substrate holder and loading and unloading the substrate holder into the processing container from the opening;
A plurality of intake ports that are arranged opposite to each other around the substrate holder in a state in which the substrate holder is unloaded from the processing container and that divides the range of the height of the substrate holder into a plurality of predetermined height regions. The air intake duct,
At least one exhaust means in common communication with at least two of the plurality of ducts;
A plurality of valves capable of individually opening and closing communication between the exhaust means and the plurality of intake ducts;
When the substrate holder is lowered and unloaded from the processing container, the plurality of valves corresponding to the plurality of intake ducts are opened from closed to closed in order from the top to the bottom in conjunction with the lowering of the substrate holder. And a control means for sequentially changing the heat treatment apparatus.   2. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit changes the valve of the corresponding intake duct from closed to open when the substrate holder reaches one of the predetermined plurality of height regions. . The substrate holder has a heat insulating cylinder made of quartz immediately below a region where the plurality of substrates are vertically stacked.
3. The intake port according to claim 1, wherein the intake port disposed at a lower end of the plurality of intake ports is disposed to face at least a part of a lower end region of the plurality of substrates immediately above the heat insulating cylinder. Heat treatment equipment.   The heat treatment apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the intake port disposed at an upper end of the plurality of intake ports is disposed to face an upper end region of the plurality of substrates.   5. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of intake ports include at least three intake ports arranged at an upper end, a lower end, and an intermediate portion.   6. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of air inlets is disposed at a different horizontal position from the others.   The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of intake ducts merge at a predetermined location to form a merge duct.   The heat processing apparatus of Claim 7 with which the heat exchanger was provided in the predetermined location in the said some intake duct and the said confluence | merging duct.   The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 8, wherein a chemical filter is provided in the merging duct.   The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the at least one exhaust means includes auxiliary exhaust means provided corresponding to the heat exchanger.   The heat treatment apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the at least one exhaust means is an exhaust fan. From the opening at the bottom of the processing vessel, holding a plurality of substrates horizontally, lowering and unloading the substrate holder loaded in the vertical direction with a predetermined interval; and
A plurality of air intake ducts arranged opposite to each other around the substrate holder and having a plurality of air inlets that cover a range of heights of the substrate holder divided by a plurality of predetermined height regions; And a step of sequentially operating from above in conjunction with lowering of the substrate. The plurality of intake ducts communicated with a common exhaust means;
Between the plurality of intake ducts and the common exhaust means, a plurality of valves for individually opening and closing the plurality of intake ducts are provided,
The substrate cooling method according to claim 12, wherein the plurality of intake ducts are sequentially operated from above by sequentially opening the plurality of valves.   14. The substrate cooling method according to claim 12, wherein the timing at which each of the plurality of intake ducts is operated is a timing at which the substrate holder reaches each of the predetermined plurality of height regions.