JP3864572B2 - Reactor gas supply pipe breakage detector - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a breakage detection apparatus capable of detecting breakage of a reaction gas supply pipe made of quartz disposed in a reaction furnace of a reduced pressure semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.
[0002]
[Prior art]
First, with reference to FIG. 1 which is a drawing according to the present invention, the configuration and operation of a reaction furnace F of a reduced pressure semiconductor manufacturing apparatus will be briefly described. A cylindrical outer tube 2 and an inner tube 3 that are also cylindrical are arranged concentrically in a cylindrical heater 1 that constitutes the reaction furnace F. The heater 1 and the inner and outer tubes 2 and 3 are supported by the manifold 4 at their lower ends. A reaction gas supply pipe 6 is disposed inside the inner tube 3, and the lower end portion of the reaction gas supply pipe 6 is supported by the manifold 4.
[0003]
Then, a wafer boat 7 storing a large number of wafers in a multi-stage shape is inserted into the inner tube 3 through the opening at the lower end of the manifold 4, and a manifold cap 8 provided at the lower end portion of the wafer boat 7 is attached. The inside of the reaction furnace F is sealed by closely contacting the lower end surface of the manifold 4. In this state, when the inside of the reaction furnace F is vacuum-evacuated by a vacuum suction device (not shown), the reaction gas supplied from the reaction gas supply pipe 6 is heated in the state where the reaction furnace F is heated by the heater 1. By being sucked and passed around the wafer, chemical processing (chemical vapor deposition) of the wafer is performed. After the chemical treatment, the wafer boat 7 is lowered and taken out from the inner tube 3. This operation is repeated to continuously chemically process the wafer. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 5 denotes an exhaust pipe for exhausting residual gases between the outer tube 2 and the inner tube 3 to depressurize the inner tube 3.
[0004]
The reaction gas supply pipe 6 and the outer and inner tubes 2 and 3 are each formed of a quartz pipe. In particular, the reaction gas supply pipe 6 is composed of a thin quartz pipe and is also referred to as a “quartz nozzle”. The thermal stress accompanying the temperature change in the reaction furnace F, the change in the pressure of the reaction gas, aging, etc. May cause damage or breakage. When the reaction gas supply pipe 6 is broken during the processing, the flow of the reaction gas in the reaction furnace F is changed, which adversely affects the chemical processing of the wafer itself. Further, during the fall of the broken piece, the wafer may be damaged by coming into contact with the wafer being processed stored in the wafer boat.
[0005]
Conventionally, the breakage of the reaction gas supply pipe 6 has been found for the first time when the operator finds that the breakage piece has fallen on the upper surface of the manifold cap 8. For this reason, it has not been known at all which stage in the entire flow of the chemical processing of the wafer has occurred, and it has been difficult to investigate the cause, and it has not been possible to deal with it immediately.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The present invention makes it possible to detect the breakage of the reaction gas supply pipe disposed in the reaction furnace against the background described above, and contribute to the investigation of the cause, and at the same time, the reaction gas supply pipe can be replaced immediately. The challenge is to do so.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve this problem, the means employed by the present invention is a wafer in which one or a plurality of reaction gas supply pipes are arranged in a reaction furnace, the lower ends thereof are supported by a manifold, and a large number of wafers are stored. A boat is inserted into the reaction furnace, and the manifold cap on which the wafer boat is mounted is brought into close contact with the lower end surface of the manifold and the reaction furnace is hermetically sealed. However, in the reduced pressure semiconductor manufacturing apparatus configured to perform chemical processing on the wafer by the reaction gas supplied from the reaction gas supply pipe, the reaction gas supply pipe is broken and dropped onto the manifold cap. In order to detect the vibration caused by the acceleration sensor, the acceleration sensor attached to the cap, and the output value from the acceleration sensor are continuously calculated, During breakage of response gas supply pipe, and a sensor controller which emits a detection signal, the display device and which displays continuously the output state of the acceleration sensor is that which constitutes the breakage detection device of the reaction gas supply pipe.
[0008]
The output value of the acceleration sensor attached to the manifold cap is calculated by the sensor controller and continuously displayed on the display device. Therefore, when the reaction gas supply pipe is broken and the broken piece falls on the manifold cap, a force acts on the cap, and a corresponding vibration is generated, and the acceleration sensor attached to the cap When this is detected, the output value changes greatly. This output value is input to the sensor controller and output as a detection signal for displaying the breakage of the reaction gas supply pipe, and displayed on the display device. As a result, the breakage of the reaction gas supply pipe is immediately determined, and at the same time, the reaction gas supply pipe includes the detection information of the breakage, and all the states with respect to time changes are stored in the display device. Even when the display device is viewed at a later time, it is immediately determined at which stage of the wafer processing process the breakage has occurred.
[0009]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to examples. FIG. 1 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a portion of a reaction furnace F, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a reaction gas supply pipe breakage detection apparatus according to the present invention. It should be noted that only parts unique to the present invention will be described while avoiding duplication with the parts described in the section “Prior Art”. In the present invention, when the reactive gas supply pipe 6 is broken, the acceleration sensor S for detecting that the broken piece has fallen on the manifold cap 8 of the wafer boat 7 has an obstacle in raising and lowering the back surface of the cap 8. It is attached to the part that does not become. It has been experimentally found that the acceleration sensor S can be used for the above purpose as long as it can detect acceleration larger than (0.1 G). Since the wafer boat 7 moves up and down, the manifold cap 8 receives a force corresponding to the change in speed (acceleration occurs) at the start and stop of the lift. It has been experimentally confirmed that this force is much smaller than the force based on the fall of the broken piece of the reaction gas supply pipe. For this reason, the breakage of the reaction gas supply pipe 6 can be detected regardless of the raising / lowering operation of the wafer boat 7.
[0010]
Further, as shown in the block diagram of FIG. 2, the output value from the acceleration sensor S attached to the manifold cap 8 is continuously input to the sensor controller C as an electric quantity and is calculated by the controller C. When the output value from the acceleration sensor S exceeds the set value, it is determined that a damaged piece of the reaction gas supply pipe has dropped on the manifold cap 8, and a detection signal (abnormal signal) to that effect is generated. It is emitted from the sensor controller C. The output signal from the sensor controller C is sequence-controlled by the sequencer K, and is input to the display device D to be stored and displayed. Further, the operation of other parts of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus including the reaction furnace F is sequence-controlled by the sequencer K and stored and displayed on the display device D. In the present invention, the operation is performed on the manifold cap 8. Since the physical quantity acting force (vibration) is read by the acceleration sensor S and continuously output, the broken state of the reaction gas supply pipe 6 is related to the operation of other parts of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. Prove.
[0011]
For this reason, when the reactive gas supply pipe 6 is damaged and the damaged piece falls on the manifold cap 8, the output value of the acceleration sensor S suddenly increases and the reactive gas supply pipe is damaged from the sensor controller C. A detection signal to that effect is issued and stored and displayed on the display device D. Thus, the operator can immediately know that the reaction gas supply pipe is broken, and at the same time, the display device D receives an output signal from the sensor controller C corresponding to the output value from the acceleration sensor S. Since it is stored, it is possible to know at which stage of the wafer processing process the breakage has occurred by reading the history even after the reaction gas supply pipe breakage has occurred.
[0012]
In addition, although the reaction furnace F of the said Example is an example in which one reaction gas supply pipe | tube is arrange | positioned inside, the several reaction gas supply pipe | tube which may differ in length is arrange | positioned. In some cases, the greater the number, the higher the frequency of breakage. Therefore, when the number of reaction gas supply pipes arranged in the reaction furnace is large, the effect of the present invention is particularly large. Become.
[0013]
【The invention's effect】
According to the reaction gas supply pipe breakage detecting device according to the present invention, since the reaction gas supply pipe breakage can be detected, the operator can know the fact of the reaction gas supply pipe breakage by the display device and stop the operation of the apparatus. Thus, it is possible to immediately take action such as replacement of the reaction gas supply pipe. Even after the reaction gas supply pipe is broken, the vibration information of the manifold cap stored in the display device is read to determine at which stage of the wafer processing process the reaction gas supply pipe is broken. Since it can, it can contribute to the investigation of the cause of breakage.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a reactor F showing a state where an acceleration sensor S is attached to the back surface of a manifold cap 8. FIG.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a reaction gas supply pipe breakage detection apparatus according to the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
C: Sensor controller D: Display device F: Reactor S: Acceleration sensor 4: Manifold 6: Reaction gas supply pipe 7: Wafer boat 8: Manifold cap

Claims (3)

One or a plurality of reaction gas supply pipes are arranged in the reaction furnace, the lower ends thereof are supported by the manifold, a wafer boat containing a large number of wafers is inserted into the reaction furnace, and the wafer boat is With the mounted manifold cap in close contact with the lower end surface of the manifold and sealing the inside of the reaction furnace, the reaction gas supplied from the reaction gas supply pipe is sucked and exhausted by a vacuum exhaust device. In the reduced pressure semiconductor manufacturing apparatus configured to perform chemical processing of the wafer,
In order to detect vibrations caused by the reaction gas supply pipe breaking and falling on the manifold cap, an acceleration sensor attached to the cap and an output value from the acceleration sensor are continuously calculated. A breakage of the reaction gas supply pipe, comprising: a sensor controller that generates a detection signal when the reaction gas supply pipe is broken; and a display device that continuously displays the output state of the acceleration sensor. Detection device. 2. The breakage detection device for a reaction gas supply pipe according to claim 1, wherein the acceleration sensor is attached to a back surface of the manifold cap. 3. The reaction gas supply pipe breakage detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the minimum acceleration that can be detected by the acceleration sensor is approximately 0.1 G.

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