JP5633167B2 - Epitaxial growth system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an epitaxial growth system or the like having a plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses, and more particularly to a technique for treating various gases used in the epitaxial growth apparatus.

  An epitaxial growth apparatus for performing an epitaxial growth process on a wafer is supplied with a plurality of types of gases necessary for performing an epitaxial growth process and a process necessary for the epitaxial growth process. After the gas supplied to the epitaxial growth apparatus is exhausted from the epitaxial growth apparatus, it is purified and released to the atmosphere.

For example, the types of gas discharged in the epitaxial growth apparatus are broadly classified into a vent gas, a standby gas, and an exhaust gas. The vent gas is a growth gas (source gas (for example, SiHCl ₃ (trichlorosilane)) that is flown so as not to pass through the growth reaction chamber before the epitaxial growth process or during the adjustment operation until a predetermined gas flow rate is reached. H ₂ gas, HCl gas, dopant gas, etc.), and the standby gas is a gas (for example, N ₂₎ that flows into the growth reaction chamber during standby without performing hydrogen baking, epitaxial growth, hydrochloric acid gas etching, or the like. The exhaust gas is a gas discharged from the growth reaction chamber when the growth gas is supplied into the growth reaction chamber and hydrogen baking, epitaxial growth, hydrochloric acid gas etching, or the like is performed.

  As a system for processing a gas discharged from such an epitaxial growth apparatus, a technique for collecting and processing exhaust gases discharged from a plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses is known (for example, see Patent Document 1). Patent Document 1 further describes a technique for detecting the oxygen concentration in the exhaust gas discharged from the chamber for each epitaxial growth apparatus in order to prevent the combustion of hydrogen contained in the exhaust gas.

JP 2005-216911 A

  In a general system, the route of the vent system gas and the exhaust gas is combined into one and connected to the scrubber, and the scrubber is used to purify the vent system gas and the exhaust gas. In the scrubber, in order to clean byproducts generated in the gas purification process, it is necessary to stop the purification process by the scrubber and perform maintenance.

  For example, in the case of collecting exhaust gases discharged from a plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses and performing purification treatment with one scrubber as in the technique shown in Patent Document 1, the processes of the plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses are performed during scrubber maintenance. It must be stopped, reducing the productivity of the epitaxial wafer in the entire system.

  Further, in the case where the epitaxial growth apparatus is normally operated, when it is detected that the oxygen concentration in the chamber of any epitaxial growth apparatus is increased, it depends on all the epitaxial growth apparatuses that commonly use the scrubber. The epitaxial process must be stopped, reducing the productivity of the epitaxial wafer.

  This invention is made | formed in view of the said subject, The objective is to provide the technique which can improve the productivity of an epitaxial wafer.

  In the present invention, since the vent gas is flowed without being subjected to the epitaxial growth treatment, it contains a higher-concentration raw material gas than the exhaust gas and has a large load on the scrubber, that is, a large amount of by-product in the purification treatment. In this case, the vent gas and the exhaust gas are treated with different scrubbers.

  An epitaxial growth system according to a first aspect of the present invention is an epitaxial growth system having a plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses, and the epitaxial growth apparatus is supplied from a growth reaction chamber for performing epitaxial growth on a wafer and a predetermined gas supply source. A supply pipe for supplying gas into the growth reaction chamber, a first pipe for discharging the gas supplied from a predetermined gas supply source from the growth reaction chamber, and a gas supplied from the gas supply source are used for the growth reaction. A plurality of second pipes that discharge without passing through the chamber, and are connected downstream of the first pipe corresponding to each of the first pipes of the plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses, and perform a purification process of the inflowing gas. Of the first scrubber and the downstream of at least one second tube of the second tubes of the plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses. And a one or more second scrubber is processing.

  According to such an epitaxial growth system, the gas discharged from the growth reaction chamber is processed by the corresponding first scrubber, and the gas discharged without passing through the growth reaction chamber is processed by the second scrubber. For this reason, since the 1st scrubber does not need to purify the vent system gas discharged without passing through the growth reaction chamber, the frequency of maintenance can be reduced. Further, since the first scrubber purifies the gas discharged from one corresponding growth reaction chamber, for example, the gas discharged from the other growth reaction chamber does not flow into the first scrubber, The gas discharged from the growth reaction chamber is not affected by the flow rate of gas into the growth reaction chamber or fluctuations in pressure. For this reason, the quality of the epitaxial wafer can be maintained high. In addition, during the maintenance of the first scrubber, it is not necessary to stop the processing of another epitaxial growth apparatus not connected to the scrubber, so that the productivity of the epitaxial wafer is improved.

  In the epitaxial growth system, a first oxygen concentration detector that detects the oxygen concentration of the gas that has passed through the first tube, and a second oxygen concentration detector that detects the oxygen concentration of the gas that has passed through the second tube; A control unit that stops the processing of the epitaxial growth apparatus or generates an alarm based on the oxygen concentrations detected by the first and second oxygen concentration detection units may be provided. According to such an epitaxial growth system, the inflow of oxygen including a range on the upstream side (gas supply side) from the growth reaction chamber can be determined based on the oxygen concentration of the gas that has passed through the second pipe. For this reason, it is possible to identify a location where oxygen inflow may occur with a relatively high probability based on the oxygen concentration of the gas passing through the second tube and the oxygen concentration of the gas passing through the first tube. it can. For example, when the oxygen concentration of the vent gas passing through the second pipe is not high and the oxygen concentration of the exhaust gas passing through the first pipe after that is high, the downstream side (gas discharge side) from the growth reaction chamber It is possible to specify that there is a high possibility that oxygen inflow has occurred.

  In the epitaxial growth system, the first oxygen concentration detection unit detects the oxygen concentration in the gas after the purification process by the first scrubber, and the second oxygen concentration detection unit detects the oxygen concentration after the purification process by the second scrubber. You may make it detect the oxygen concentration in gas. According to such an epitaxial growth system, since the oxygen concentration of the gas after the purification treatment by the first scrubber or the second scrubber is detected, for example, there is no configuration for reducing the influence of the gas contained in the growth gas (for example, TCS gas). In both cases, the oxygen concentration can be measured appropriately.

  Further, in the epitaxial growth system, a common pipe capable of communicating with the second pipe of the plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses, a valve for controlling shutoff or communication between the second pipe and the common pipe, and a second pipe And a third pipe that can communicate with a vacuum pump for discharging the gas. The second scrubber may be connected downstream of the common pipe. According to such an epitaxial growth system, when the second pipe and the upstream side including the second pipe are opened to the atmosphere with the second pipe shut off from the common pipe, the atmosphere can be appropriately excluded from the second pipe and the upstream side. It is possible to prevent the atmosphere from flowing into the common pipe when the second pipe and the common pipe are communicated with each other.

  In the epitaxial growth system, the second scrubber may be connected downstream of the plurality of second tubes. According to such an epitaxial growth system, the gas passing through the second pipe by the plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses can be purified by one second scrubber, and the equipment cost can be reduced.

  In the epitaxial growth system, a plurality of second scrubbers may be connected downstream of the plurality of second tubes so as to be selectively usable. According to such an epitaxial growth system, by selecting and using the second scrubber, for example, when maintaining one second scrubber, it is necessary to stop the processing of the epitaxial growth apparatus during maintenance by using another second scrubber. Therefore, the productivity of the epitaxial wafer in the system can be improved.

  A system management method according to a second aspect of the present invention is a system management method in an epitaxial growth system having a plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses, the epitaxial growth apparatus including a growth reaction chamber for performing epitaxial growth on a wafer, a predetermined reaction chamber, and a predetermined reaction chamber. There is a first pipe that discharges the gas supplied from the gas supply source from the growth reaction chamber, and a second pipe that discharges the gas supplied from the predetermined gas supply source without passing through the growth reaction chamber. The epitaxial growth system includes a plurality of first scrubbers that are connected downstream of the first pipe corresponding to each of the first pipes of the plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses and that purify the inflowing gas, and a plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses. One or more connected to the downstream of at least one second pipe of the second pipe for purifying the inflowing gas A second scrubber, a common pipe capable of communicating with the second pipes of the plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses, a valve for controlling blocking or communication between the second pipe and the common pipe, and exhausting the gas in the second pipe And a third pipe that can communicate with the vacuum pump, and the second pipe communicates with the third pipe in a state where the common pipe and the second pipe are shut off by the valve. A discharge step for discharging the gas in the tube by a vacuum pump, and a communication step for allowing a predetermined purge gas to flow through the second tube after the gas in the second tube is discharged and for allowing the common tube and the second tube to communicate with each other by a valve. And have. According to such a system management method, when the air flows into the second pipe due to maintenance or the like, the air in the second pipe can be appropriately discharged, and the air can be prevented from flowing into the common pipe.

  In the system management method, in the discharging step, a predetermined purge gas is allowed to flow from the gas supply source into the second pipe, and then the second pipe and the third pipe are communicated with each other so that the gas in the second pipe is vacuum pumped. The discharging may be repeatedly performed a predetermined number of times. According to such a system management method, the air flowing into the second pipe can be discharged more effectively.

It is a lineblock diagram of an epitaxial growth system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart of the epitaxial wafer manufacturing process which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart of the vent side pipe preparation process which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiments described below do not limit the invention according to the claims, and all the elements and combinations described in the embodiments are essential for the solution of the invention. Is not limited.

  An epitaxial growth system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an epitaxial growth system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The epitaxial growth system 1 includes a plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses 10 (10A, 10B,...) That perform an epitaxial growth process, and a gas supply source S that supplies a plurality of types of gases used for the process of the epitaxial growth apparatus 10.

The gas supply source S includes, for example, a TCS gas (SiHCl ₃ (trichlorosilane)) that is an example of a source gas, an H ₂ gas that is used as a carrier gas, an N ₂ gas that is an example of a purge gas, and a dopant. B ₂ H ₆ (diborane) gas as an example of a doping gas for doping, and HCl (hydrogen chloride) gas as an example of an etching gas for etching or etching gas are supplied to the epitaxial growth apparatus 10 To do.

  The epitaxial growth apparatus 10 is supplied from a gas supply source S and a growth reaction chamber 12 for placing a silicon wafer inside, performing an epitaxial growth process on the wafer to form an epitaxial layer, and manufacturing the epitaxial wafer. A plurality of gas flow rate adjusting units 13 to 20 for controlling the flow rate of the gas, pipes 21, 22, 23 and 26 through which the gas flows, valves 24, 25, 33 and 41 for opening and closing the pipes, And a control unit 11 that performs overall control of the operation of the epitaxial growth apparatus 10.

  The gas output from the gas flow rate adjusting units 13 to 18 is collected in one gas supply pipe 21 for gas supply. The gas supply pipe 21 branches into a reaction chamber side pipe 22 connected to the growth reaction chamber 12 and a vent side pipe 23 (second pipe) used for flowing a vent gas without passing through the growth reaction chamber 12. Is done. The side not passing through the growth reaction chamber 12 is referred to as the vent side.

  The gas supply pipe 21 and the reaction chamber side pipe 22 are connected via an on-off valve 25 that can communicate or block both pipes. The gas supply pipe 21 and the vent side pipe 23 are connected via an open / close valve 24 that can communicate or block both pipes.

The reaction chamber side pipe 22 is connected upstream of the growth reaction chamber 12 to the gas flow rate adjusting unit 19 connected to the H ₂ gas supply source of the gas supply source S and to the N ₂ gas supply source of the gas supply source S. The gas flow rate adjusting unit 20 is connected to supply H ₂ gas and N ₂ gas. The growth reaction chamber 12 is connected to a discharge pipe 26 (first pipe) for discharging the gas supplied from the reaction chamber side pipe 22 into the growth reaction chamber 12. The discharge pipe 26 is connected to a common pipe 31 for discharging the standby gas and a scrubber side pipe 28 via a switching valve 27. The switching valve 27 can communicate the discharge pipe 26 by switching to either the common pipe 31 or the scrubber side pipe 28. One scrubber side tube 28 is connected to one hermetic scrubber 29 (first scrubber). Thus, in this embodiment, one scrubber 29 is connected corresponding to the discharge pipe 26, that is, one scrubber 29 is provided corresponding to one growth reaction chamber 12. . For this reason, the scrubber 29 is not shared with the other growth reaction chambers 12, and the gas flow into the growth reaction chambers 12 due to the gas discharged from the other growth reaction chambers 12 and the influence of fluctuations in pressure are affected. In addition, the quality of the epitaxial wafer manufactured in the growth reaction chamber 12 can be maintained high. Moreover, since it is not necessary to stop the process of the other epitaxial growth apparatus 10 at the time of the maintenance of the scrubber 29, the productivity of the epitaxial wafer is improved.

Downstream of the scrubber 29, an oxygen concentration meter 30 (first oxygen concentration detection unit) that measures the oxygen concentration in the gas purified by the scrubber 29 is connected. The oxygen concentration meter 30 measures the oxygen concentration in the purified gas, and the oxygen concentration is equal to or higher than a predetermined concentration (a concentration lower than the oxygen concentration at which H ₂ in the gas burns (for example, 1.0 percent). In the case of)), the controller 11 of the epitaxial growth apparatus 10 connected to the immediately preceding scrubber 29 is notified that an abnormality in the oxygen concentration has occurred. The gas purified by the scrubber 29 is released to the atmosphere. In the present embodiment, since the exhaust gas and the vent system gas are purified by different scrubbers, the frequency of maintenance of the scrubber 29 can be reduced.

  The common pipe 31 of the standby system gas is connected to an open system scrubber 32, and the standby system gas that has flowed through the common pipe 31 flows into the scrubber 32, is purified by the scrubber 32, and is released to the atmosphere.

  The vent side pipe 23 is connected to an evacuation pipe 42 (third pipe) communicating with a vacuum pump (not shown) via an on-off valve 41.

  The vent-side pipe 23 is connected to a connection pipe 34 that communicates with a common pipe 35 for vent gas via an on-off valve 33. The common pipe 35 is connected to a plurality of closed scrubbers 37 via a switching valve 36 such as a two-way valve. By the switching by the switching valve 36, the vent system gas flowing through the common pipe 35 can be selectively introduced into one of the scrubbers 37 (second scrubber). As described above, since the vent system gas can be selectively introduced into any of the scrubbers 37, the vent system gas is introduced into the other scrubbers 37 during the maintenance process of any of the scrubbers 37. It is not necessary to stop the processing of each epitaxial growth apparatus 10 of the epitaxial growth system 1. Therefore, the productivity of the epitaxial wafer of the epitaxial growth system 1 can be improved. Further, since the vent gas of the plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses is processed by the common scrubber 37, the equipment cost can be reduced as compared with the case where the scrubber is provided for each of them.

  Each of the plurality of scrubbers 37 is connected to an opening pipe 39 for opening to the atmosphere via a switching valve 38 such as a two-way valve. An oxygen concentration meter 40 (second oxygen concentration detector) for measuring the oxygen concentration in the gas purified by the scrubber 37 is connected to the opening tube 39. The oxygen concentration meter 40 measures the oxygen concentration in the purified gas, and when the oxygen concentration is equal to or higher than a predetermined concentration, the oxygen concentration meter 40 determines the oxygen concentration of all the epitaxial growth apparatuses 10 connected to the scrubber 37. Notify that an abnormality has occurred.

  When the control unit 11 of the epitaxial growth apparatus 10 receives a notification of an abnormality in the oxygen concentration from the oxygen concentration meter 30 provided corresponding to the scrubber 29 connected to its own growth reaction chamber 12, The processing of the epitaxial growth apparatus 10 is stopped and / or an alarm is generated to notify the operator of the epitaxial growth system 1 that an abnormality in the oxygen concentration has occurred.

  In addition, when the control unit 11 of the epitaxial growth apparatus 10 receives a notification of an abnormality in oxygen concentration from the oxygen concentration meter 40 provided corresponding to the scrubber 37, the control unit 11 supplies the vent gas in its own epitaxial growth apparatus 10. If the process to output is performed, the said process will be stopped and / or the alarm for notifying the operator of the epitaxial growth system 1 that the abnormality of oxygen concentration has generate | occur | produced will be generated. On the other hand, if the epitaxial growth apparatus 10 does not perform the process of outputting the vent gas, the control unit 11 does not stop the process because it does not relate to the oxygen concentration abnormality in the oximeter 40. Thereby, the epitaxial growth process is not stopped, and the productivity in the system is not lowered.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an epitaxial wafer manufacturing process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, the gas flow rate adjusting unit 20 is adjusted, and N ₂ gas (standby gas) is supplied from the gas supply source S to the growth reaction chamber 12 via the reaction chamber side supply pipe 22, so that the inside of the growth reaction chamber 12. Is purged (step S1). At this time, the N ₂ gas discharged from each growth reaction chamber 12 passes through a discharge pipe 26 connected to each growth reaction chamber 12, and is a standby gas that is switched so as to be communicated via a switching valve 27. The scrubber 32 flows through the common pipe 31. The scrubber 32 purifies the standby gas and releases the treated gas to the atmosphere.

Next, the gas flow rate adjusting unit 20 is adjusted to stop the supply of N ₂ gas from the gas supply source S, and the switching valve 27 is switched so that the exhaust pipe 26 and the scrubber side pipe 28 communicate with each other. Thereafter, the gas flow rate adjusting unit 19 is adjusted to start the supply of H ₂ gas from the gas supply source S to the growth reaction chamber 12 via the reaction chamber side supply pipe 22 (step S2). At this time, the H ₂ gas discharged from the growth reaction chamber 12 was supplied to the scrubber 29 through the discharge pipe 26 connected to the growth reaction chamber 12, the scrubber side pipe 28 via the switching valve 27. After that, it is opened to the atmosphere. Here, the oxygen concentration of the gas discharged from the scrubber 29 is measured by the oxygen concentration meter 30. For example, if the oxygen concentration is equal to or higher than a predetermined concentration at this time, the oxygen concentration meter 30 has an abnormal oxygen concentration in the control unit 11 of the epitaxial growth apparatus 10 corresponding to the scrubber 29 arranged immediately before. Make a notification. Upon receiving the notification that the oxygen concentration is abnormal, the control unit 11 stops the processing of its own epitaxial growth apparatus 10 and / or informs the operator of the epitaxial growth system 1 that an abnormality in the oxygen concentration has occurred. Generate an alarm.

  After step S2, a wafer to be subjected to epitaxial growth processing is put into the growth reaction chamber 12 (step S3). Next, among the gas flow rate adjusting units 13 to 18, the growth gas is supplied to the gas supply pipe 21 by adjusting the gas flow rate adjusting unit that adjusts the flow rate of the gas that is a component of the growth gas used in the epitaxial growth process. Start (step S4). At this time, the on-off valve 25 is closed and the on-off valve 24 is opened. Therefore, the growth gas supplied to the gas supply pipe 21 flows into the vent side pipe 23 that is not supplied to the growth reaction chamber 12. The growth gas that is not supplied to the growth reaction chamber 12 is a vent gas. The vent system gas that flows to the vent side pipe 23 passes through the on-off valve 33, passes through the connection pipe 34 and the vent system gas common pipe 35, and then flows to one of the scrubbers 37 via the switching valve 36. The scrubber 37 purifies the vent gas and releases the purified gas to the atmosphere. By arranging a plurality of scrubbers 37, it is possible to purify the vent gas from another epitaxial growth apparatus without stopping the operation of the epitaxial growth apparatus during the operation of the epitaxial growth process. Here, the oxygen concentration of the gas purified by the scrubber 37 is measured by the oxygen concentration meter 40. For example, when the oxygen concentration is equal to or higher than a predetermined concentration at this time, the oxygen concentration meter 40 notifies all the epitaxial growth apparatuses 10 connected to the abnormality of the oxygen concentration. As a result, in the epitaxial growth apparatus 10 that has exhausted the vent gas, the process is stopped and / or an alarm indicating an abnormality in the oxygen concentration is output.

  Next, the control unit 11 determines whether or not the gas flow rate output by the gas flow rate adjustment unit (any one of 13 to 18) that adjusts the flow rate of the gas that is a component of the growth gas is stabilized at a predetermined flow rate. A determination is made based on information from the corresponding gas flow rate adjustment unit (step S5). As a result, when it is determined that the flow rate of the output gas is not stable at the predetermined flow rate (step S5: NO), the flow waits until the flow rate is stabilized, while it is determined that it is stable (step S5: YES), the on-off valve 24 is closed and the open valve 25 is opened to start the supply of the growth gas from the gas supply pipe 21 to the reaction chamber side supply pipe 22 (step S6). Thereby, in the growth reaction chamber 12, the growth process of the epitaxial layer is started. In this epitaxial growth process, the exhaust gas used in the epitaxial growth process discharged from the growth reaction chamber 12 passes through the discharge pipe 26 connected to the growth reaction chamber 12 and is switched to communicate with the switching valve 27. The scrubber 29 is passed through the existing scrubber side pipe 28. The scrubber 29 purifies the exhaust gas and releases the treated gas to the atmosphere. Here, the oxygen concentration of the gas purified by the scrubber 29 is measured by the oxygen concentration meter 30. For example, if the oxygen concentration is equal to or higher than a predetermined concentration at this time, the oxygen concentration meter 30 notifies the control unit 11 of the epitaxial growth apparatus 10 corresponding to the immediately preceding scrubber 29 that the oxygen concentration is abnormal. . Upon receiving the notification that the oxygen concentration is abnormal, the control unit 11 stops the processing of its own epitaxial growth apparatus 10 and / or informs the operator of the epitaxial growth system 1 that an abnormality in the oxygen concentration has occurred. Generate an alarm.

  Here, in the present embodiment, in the configuration range for supplying the growth gas, that is, in the range upstream of the on-off valve 25, the portion is used in common with the vent-system gas flow path. If the oxygen concentration meter 40 does not detect that the oxygen concentration is abnormal at the time of execution of step S4, it is assumed that the possibility of being involved in the oxygen concentration abnormality is considerably low in this range. For this reason, when the oxygen concentration meter 30 detects that the oxygen concentration is abnormal, the cause of the oxygen concentration abnormality is identified with a fairly high probability by simply inspecting the on-off valve 25 and the downstream range. be able to.

Next, the control unit 11 determines whether or not it is time to end the epitaxial growth process (step S7). If it is determined that it is not time to end the growth process (step S7: NO), the time when the growth process is ended. When it is determined that it is time to end the growth process (step S7: YES), the control unit 11 adjusts the flow rate of the gas that is a component of the growth gas. The gas supply by the unit (any one of 13 to 18) is stopped (step S8). As a result, the growth reaction chamber 12 is not supplied with the growth gas and is supplied with the H ₂ gas adjusted by the gas flow rate adjusting unit 20. Thereafter, the wafer subjected to the epitaxial growth process, that is, the epitaxial wafer manufactured by the epitaxial growth process is taken out from the growth reaction chamber 12 (step S9), and the series of processes is completed.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart of vent side pipe preparation processing according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In this vent side pipe preparation process, the vent side pipe 23 or the atmosphere contained upstream thereof is flowed to the vent pipe common pipe 35 containing H ₂ gas and the scrubber 37 for processing the vent gas. , A process for preventing the combustion of H ₂ gas, for example, the vent-side pipe 23 after the epitaxial growth process 10 is newly installed or the maintenance process is performed, or the upstream side thereof is open to the atmosphere. This process is performed before the epitaxial wafer manufacturing process is performed.

Specifically, in the vent-side pipe preparation process, first, the on-off valve 24 is opened, the on-off valves 25, 33 and 41 are closed, and the gas flow rate adjusting unit 14 is adjusted to adjust the N from the gas supply source S. Supply of _two gases is started (step S11). Thus, in the vent side pipe 23, the state of mix of air and N ₂ gas.

Next, the supply of N ₂ gas from the gas supply source S is stopped, the on-off valve 41 is opened, and the vent-side pipe 23 and its upstream atmosphere and the N ₂ gas are evacuated by a vacuum pump, and then Then, the on-off valve 41 is closed (step S12).

If necessary, it is desirable to perform the operations of step S11 and step S12 a plurality of times to reliably exhaust the air remaining in the vent-side pipe 23 or upstream thereof. Thereafter, the gas flow rate adjusting unit 14 is adjusted to supply N ₂ gas from the gas supply source S (step S13), and the on-off valve 33 reaching the common pipe 35 of the vent gas is opened (step S14).

After supplying N ₂ gas into the vent gas common pipe 35 for a predetermined period, the on-off valves 24 and 33 are closed (step S15).

Thus, even by flowing N ₂ gas to a common pipe 35 from the vent side pipe 23, the air, i.e., without an oxygen-containing gas flows through the common pipe 35, so that the N ₂ gas flows. Therefore, when the subsequent vent system gas is flown, or even if another epitaxial growth apparatus is flowing the vent system gas containing hydrogen, the gas containing oxygen does not flow in the common pipe 35 and the downstream thereof, Hydrogen combustion can be prevented. Further, the oxygen concentration meter 40 does not detect an abnormality in the oxygen concentration.

  As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described, this is an illustration for description of this invention, and is not the meaning which limits the scope of the present invention only to this embodiment. The present invention can be implemented in various modes different from the above-described embodiments without departing from the gist thereof.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the vent system gases of the plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses 10 are purified by the same scrubber 37, but the vent system gases of the respective epitaxial growth apparatuses 10 are purified by different scrubbers 37, respectively. It may be.

  In the above embodiment, the oxygen concentration meters 30 and 40 are provided on the downstream side of the scrubbers 29 and 37. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the oxygen concentration meter is provided on the upstream side of the scrubbers 29 and 37. May be provided.

  Moreover, although the example which provided the one growth reaction chamber 12 in the one epitaxial growth apparatus 10 was shown in the said embodiment, this invention is not limited to this, The epitaxial growth apparatus 10 is provided with the several growth reaction chamber 12. FIG. In this case, a different scrubber 29 may be connected to each discharge pipe 26 connected to each growth reaction chamber 12.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Epitaxial growth system, 10 Epitaxial growth apparatus, 11 Control part, 12 Growth reaction chamber, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 Gas flow control part, 21 Gas supply pipe, 22 Reaction chamber side supply pipe, 23 Vent side pipe, 26 Discharge pipe, 34 Connection pipe, 24, 25, 33, 41 On-off valve, 27, 36, 38 Switching valve, 29, 32, 37 Scrubber, 30, 40 Oxygen concentration meter, 31 Standby system gas common pipe , 35 Vent gas common tube, 39 Open tube, 42 Vacuum exhaust tube.

Claims (4)

An epitaxial growth system having a plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses,
The epitaxial growth apparatus comprises:
A growth reaction chamber for epitaxially growing the wafer;
A supply pipe for supplying a gas supplied from a predetermined gas supply source into the growth reaction chamber;
A first pipe for discharging the gas supplied from the gas supply source from the growth reaction chamber;
A second pipe branched from the supply pipe and discharging the gas supplied from the gas supply source without passing through the growth reaction chamber;
A plurality of first scrubbers connected to the downstream of the first pipe and performing a purification process of the inflowing gas, corresponding to each of the first pipes of the plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses;
One or more second scrubbers that are connected downstream of at least one second tube of the second tubes of the plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses and that purify the inflowing gas ;
A common pipe capable of communicating with the second pipes of the plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses;
A valve for controlling blocking or communication between the second pipe and the common pipe;
A third pipe capable of communicating with a vacuum pump for discharging the gas in the second pipe;
Further comprising
The epitaxial growth system , wherein the second scrubber is connected downstream of the common pipe . Downstream of the plurality of the second tube, the epitaxial growth system according to claim 1 which is selectively available to a plurality of second scrubber is connected. A system management method in an epitaxial growth system having a plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses,
The epitaxial growth apparatus comprises:
A growth reaction chamber for epitaxially growing the wafer;
A supply pipe for supplying a gas supplied from a predetermined gas supply source into the growth reaction chamber;
A first pipe for discharging the gas supplied from the gas supply source from the growth reaction chamber;
A second pipe branched from the supply pipe and for discharging the gas supplied from the predetermined gas supply source without passing through the growth reaction chamber;
The epitaxial growth system includes:
A plurality of first scrubbers connected to the downstream of the first pipe and performing a purification process of the inflowing gas, corresponding to each of the first pipes of the plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses;
One or more second scrubbers that are connected downstream of at least one second tube of the second tubes of the plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses and that purify the inflowing gas;
A common pipe capable of communicating with the second pipes of the plurality of epitaxial growth apparatuses;
A valve for controlling blocking or communication between the second pipe and the common pipe;
A third pipe capable of communicating with a vacuum pump for discharging the gas in the second pipe;
A discharge step of allowing the second pipe to communicate with the third pipe in a state where the common pipe and the second pipe are blocked by the valve, and discharging the gas in the second pipe by the vacuum pump. When,
A system management method comprising: a communication step of causing a predetermined purge gas to flow through the second pipe after exhausting the gas in the second pipe and causing the common pipe and the second pipe to communicate with each other by the valve. In the discharging step, a predetermined purge gas is allowed to flow from the gas supply source into the second pipe, and then the second pipe and the third pipe are communicated with each other, and the gas in the second pipe is discharged by a vacuum pump. The system management method according to claim 3 , wherein the discharging is repeatedly executed a predetermined number of times.

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