JPH01292816A - Heat treatment method of semiconductor and apparatus therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve efficiency of operation, by providing jig supporting mechanisms for heat treatment to carry wafers at a high temperature after completion of heat treatment, in the vicinity of a wafer taking in and/or taking out device used for a reaction tube. CONSTITUTION:There are provided with soft landings 4, an elevator 3 having an elevator arm 31, and jig supporting mechanisms for heat treatment (cooling liner) 6 provided in front of the respective soft landings 4 and receiving boats in parallel in the respective stages. The elevator arm 31 is moved up and down with respect to each stage by the elevator 3, and further it transfers a boat held by an arm 32 to the position, such as the cooling liner 6, an arm 41 of the soft landing 4, or a boat supporting section 22 of a wafer transfer device 2. In the case where the elevator arm 31 transfers the boat to the arm 41 of the soft landing 4, the arm 31 moves on a rail 61 to the position where the cooling liner 6 may not be an obstacle. Thereafter, when completion of the operation, the arm 31 returns to the position in the front of the arm 41. As a result, efficiency of operation is effectively improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a heat treatment method and apparatus for the process of manufacturing semiconductor integrated circuit elements.

[Prior art and problems to be solved by the invention] The heat treatment equipment used for manufacturing semiconductor integrated circuit devices, such as wafer diffusion, oxidation, and CVD processing, is a three- or four-stage multi-stage furnace type in order to save space. Multi-stage furnace heat treatment equipment, which is often used in multistage furnaces, is a furnace in which each furnace body is equipped with various gas systems and exhaust systems, and the wafer is supported by a quartz boat (hereinafter referred to as a boat), which is a heat treatment jig, and the reaction is carried out. The boat is inserted into the reactor using transport devices such as an elevator that moves the boat up and down and a boat loader that inserts the boat into the furnace, and the gas concentration is controlled by computer control in the high-temperature furnace at 800℃ to 1000℃. and P type.

N-type impurities are diffused into the wafer and an oxide film is formed on the wafer. It is possible to accurately and stably control film thicknesses up to 100A or less.

The reduction in the dielectric strength of the oxide film due to the adhesion of particles caused by the friction between the quartz tube of the reactor and the quartz boat during insertion cannot be ignored.

Therefore, a soft landing is used to move the boat in and out of the reaction tube without contact. Figure 4 shows a perspective view of the conveyance device for a multi-stage furnace heat treatment apparatus using soft landing.
The reactor 5 has four reactors inside, and a soft landing 4, which is a device for inserting a boat B into the reactor, is provided corresponding to each reactor to support the boat of the soft landing 4. Elevator 3 with elevator arm 31' for supplying boat B to arm 41
A wafer transfer device 2 including a wafer transfer 21 and a boat holding section 22 for transferring wafers from the carrier 1 to the boat B is provided. elevator arm 3
Reference numeral 1' indicates four arms forming a parallelogram, and the boat can be placed on the boat holding section 22 of the wafer transfer device 2 and the soft landing arm 41 depending on the angle.

The operation of the transport device of the heat treatment apparatus configured as above will be explained. When the carrier 1 containing a plurality of wafers W, for example 25 wafers W, is manually set in the wafer transfer device 2, the wafer transfer 21 transfers the wafers W from the carrier 1 to the boat B held by the boat holding part 22. . Boat B can store, for example, 100 wafers, and when the transfer is completed, the elevator arm 31' of the elevator 3 holds the boat B, ascends to the target reactor, and transports it to the arm 41 of the soft landing 4. do. A cross-sectional view of the soft landing is shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, the arm 41 of the soft landing 4 is placed inside the reactor 51.
The boat B is held at and inserted without contact, the soft landing 4 is lowered, and the boat touches the reactor at position B'.
Further, the arm 41 is lowered and the support is released, and the soft landing 4 moves backward and returns to its original position. After the reaction treatment, the boat B is again supported by the soft landing 4 by the above operation in reverse and transported out of the reactor. However, since the treatment is carried out at a high temperature of 800℃ to 1000℃ in the 1 reactor, 1
Immediately after the reaction, the wafers are at a high temperature and cannot be stored in the carrier without a certain natural cooling period.During this time, the boat B is supported on the soft landing 4, and after the cooling period is over, the wafer is moved to the wafer transfer device by the elevator 31. When a 4-stage furnace is used to transport 0 or more wafers, which are transported to the boat holding section 22 of No. 2 and stored in the reaction-completed carrier by the wafer transfer 21, the movement of the elevator arm is as shown in FIG. become. FIG. 6 shows a case where the reaction treatment is carried out for the same period of 50 minutes, including the insertion and removal time, in a four-stage furnace. When empty boats are set on the four soft landing arms 41-1 to 41-4, the elevator arm 31' transfers the empty boats of 41-1 to the wafer transfer bag! ! The boat filled with wafers is transferred to the arm 41-1 for about 5 to 6 minutes, after which the unreacted wafers are transferred from the carrier to the boat for about 5 to 6 minutes. A soft landing 4 transports the boat into the reactor. The boat of arm 41-2.3.4 is also transported at the same time. After 15 minutes of cooling time has elapsed after the reaction process, the boat of arm 41-1 is transported to the wafer transfer device, the reacted wafer is transferred to the carrier, and it is emptied. The now-removed boat is transported again to arm 41-1. At the same time, the boats 41-2.3.4 are emptied and placed on the arms 41-2.3.4 to complete one process.

This step takes 2 hours and the reactor remains dormant for about 70 minutes before starting the next step. The wafers are easily damaged and the transfer is slow, and the transfer time is longer than the reaction processing time, resulting in a significant drop in the operating efficiency of one reactor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks and provide a semiconductor manufacturing heat treatment method and apparatus that can perform heat treatment with high operational efficiency.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, a transport method for a semiconductor manufacturing heat treatment apparatus of the present invention includes inserting a wafer supported by a heat treatment jig into a reaction tube of a multi-stage semiconductor manufacturing heat treatment apparatus. The wafer is heat treated, and after the treatment, the heat treatment jig is taken out of the reaction tube and then temporarily placed on a heat treatment jig holding mechanism to cool the wafer, and then the wafer is transferred to a carrier, The semiconductor manufacturing heat treatment apparatus that realizes the semiconductor manufacturing heat treatment method is provided with a wafer transfer device that transfers the wafer from the carrier to the heat treatment jig, and a wafer transfer device corresponding to each furnace repair, and the heat treatment jig is connected to each of the furnaces. In a multi-stage semiconductor manufacturing heat treatment apparatus, the multi-stage semiconductor manufacturing heat treatment apparatus includes an insertion/extraction device provided to insert and take out the heat treatment jig into the insertion/extraction device, and a conveyance device for conveying the heat treatment jig to the insertion/extraction device. It is characterized by providing a holding mechanism for holding a heat treatment jig.

[Example] An example of the method and apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the perspective view of FIG. In FIG. 1, the same symbols and symbols as in FIG. 4 represent the same things. 4 in Figure 1
The conveyance device of the staged furnace type semiconductor manufacturing heat treatment equipment includes software that is an insertion and removal device for a boat, which is a heat treatment jig that supports the wafer, and is provided corresponding to each stage of the conventional four-stage wafer heat treatment equipment 5. Landing 4 and elevator arm 31
A heat treatment jig holding mechanism (hereinafter referred to as a cooling liner) on which a boat can be placed parallel to the side, for example, the front, of an elevator (hereinafter referred to as an elevator) 3, which is a vertical conveyance device having a ) 6 is provided at each stage.

The elevator arm 31 is driven vertically between each stage by the elevator 3, and is further moved horizontally to move the boat supported by the arm 32 between the cooling liner 6, the arm 41 of the soft landing 4, the boat holding part 22 of the wafer transfer device 2, etc. Transfer.

When the elevator arm 31 transports the boat onto the arm 41 of the soft landing 4, the cooling liner 6
is moved on the rail 61 by a drive device (not shown) to a position where it does not get in the way, and when the operation of the elevator arm 31 is completed, it returns to the position in front of the arm 41 of the soft landing 4.

The time chart showing the movement of the elevator arm 31 in FIG. 2 and the time chart in FIG. This will be explained with reference to the system flowchart.

Operator soft-landing 8 empty boats 4
Set it on the arm 41 (this boat is designated as Y) and on the Gooring liner 6 (this boat is designated as X),
After setting the carrier containing the wafer to be subjected to the reaction in the wafer transfer device M2, the transfer device is turned on. The elevator arm 31 transports the empty boat X of the cooling liner 6-1 to the boat holding section 22 of the wafer transfer device 2.
-1) It takes 5 to 6 minutes to transfer the wafers to boat
The boat Y on the arm 41-1 of the soft landing 4 is transported onto the cooling liner 6 by the arm 31 (
P-2). During this time, the wafer transfer device transfers the boat
3) After inserting into the reaction tube 5 by soft landing, reaction treatment is performed. This operation is performed sequentially for the boats X on the other three cooling liners 6 (D-
1). When the remaining reaction time in the first furnace reaches 2 minutes (D-
2) Elevator arm 31 is cooling liner 6-1
Transport the empty boat Y above to the wafer transfer device P-4)
, the reaction-treated boat X, taken out from the reactor during transfer of the wafers to the boat, is moved from the arm 41-1 to the cooling liner 6-1 (P-5) and cooled. and,
The boat Y in which the wafers have been transferred is transferred to the arm 41-1 (P-6), and reaction processing is performed. three other boats Y
The same is carried out in the same manner (D-3).

During this time, the boat
), the empty boat X is transported to the cooling liner 6-1 (p-s).

And cooling liners 6-2, 6-3 and 6-4
Regarding the other boats above, the cooled boat X is transported to the wafer transfer device, and after waiting for the boat X to become empty, it is transported onto the cooling liner 6 (D-4). An empty boat is placed on the cooling liner 6, and the judgment box D
-2, but since the reaction process of boat Y has already finished, it is possible to immediately move on to the next batch.
The idle time of the reactor becomes 20 minutes, and whereas the 50-minute process could only be performed twice in about 240 minutes, the same process can now be performed three times in about 240 minutes.

The conveying device described above is one embodiment of the present invention, and a plurality of cooling liners 6 may be provided.

Further, if the elevator arm is movable in three directions, the same effect can be obtained even if the cooling liner is not provided with a rail.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, since the heat treatment jig holding mechanism in a high temperature state after processing is provided near the device for inserting and extracting wafers into the reaction tube, heat treatment in the reactor can be performed continuously. In addition, it is possible to safely transport wafers without causing damage, while increasing operating efficiency.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a semiconductor heat treatment apparatus for explaining the method and apparatus of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a time chart using the apparatus of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a system flowchart of the present invention, and Fig. 4 is a FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a conventional conveying device, FIG. 5 is a sectional view of soft landing, and FIG. 6 is a time chart using the conventional device. 1...Carrier 2...Wafer transfer device 3...Vertical transfer device (elevator) 31...
...Elevator arm 4...Insertion and extraction device (soft landing)
41... Arm 5... Reactor 6... Heat treatment jig holding mechanism (cooling liner) 61... Rail B... Heat treatment jig (boat) W・■・Proboscis・
-Wafer agent Patent attorney Moritani -Yo Figure 1 to Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A wafer supported by a heat treatment jig is inserted into a reaction tube of a multi-stage semiconductor manufacturing heat treatment apparatus and subjected to heat treatment, and after the treatment, the heat treatment jig is taken out of the reaction tube. A semiconductor manufacturing heat treatment method characterized by cooling a wafer by temporarily placing it on a heat treatment jig holding mechanism, and then transferring the wafer to a carrier. 2. A wafer transfer device for transferring wafers from a carrier to a heat treatment jig, and an insertion/extraction device provided for each furnace to insert and take out the heat treatment jig into each furnace. A multi-stage semiconductor manufacturing heat treatment apparatus comprising a device and a transport device for transporting the heat treatment jig to the insertion/extraction device, wherein a holding mechanism for holding the heat treatment jig is provided near each of the insertion/extraction devices. A semiconductor manufacturing heat treatment apparatus characterized by: