JPH0232531A - Semiconductor processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow a wafer to be shifted from one reaction room to another without exposing the wafer to the air and prevent inactive gas in one reaction room from entering another by providing a separation room which has a means for introducing and discharging inactive gas at a transport path connecting reaction spaces. CONSTITUTION:Reaction rooms 1A and 1B under each reaction gas environment are connected by transport paths 4A and 4B and these transport paths 4A and 4B are separated by a separation room with an introduction pipe 11 and a discharge pump 13 of an inactive separation gas 12. With this configuration, improved treatment is performed without exposing the wafer 3 to the air and mixture of reaction gas among reaction rooms can be prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus that performs multiple processes on a wafer.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a lamp annealing apparatus as an example of a conventional semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. In the figure, 1 is a reaction chamber made of quartz glass, 2 is a tungsten lamp that heats the reaction chamber 1, 4 is an arm that carries a wafer 3 to be heat-treated, 5 is a lid of the reaction chamber 1, and 6 is a lid of the lid 5. This is a gas introduction pipe provided in the reaction chamber on the opposite side.

Next, the operation will be explained. The lid 5 of the reaction chamber 1 is opened, the wafer 3 is transferred into the reaction chamber 1 by the arm 4, and the lid 5 is placed on the reaction chamber 1. Next, a reaction gas 7 is introduced into the reaction chamber 1 through the gas introduction pipe 6, and at the same time, the reaction chamber 1 is heated by the tungsten lamp 2, so that a film 8 is formed on the surface of the wafer 3.
deposit.

When the lid 5 is opened while the reaction gas 7 is present in the reaction chamber 1, the reaction gas 7 reacts with the outside air and the wafer 3
Afterwards, reaction chamber 1
The inside of the wafer 3 is replaced with nitrogen gas N2, which is an inert gas, and the wafer 3 is cooled. Then, the lid 5 is opened and the wafer 3 is taken out from the reaction chamber 1.

At this time, a natural oxide film 9 is formed on the surface of the wafer 3. In order to deposit yet another film, the wafer 3 is processed using another lamp annealing device and changing the reaction gas.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

A semiconductor manufacturing device such as a conventional lamp annealing device is configured as described above, and in order to form a multilayer film on the wafer 3, the wafer 3 is taken out of the reaction chamber 1 and exposed to the outside air for each film formation, so that the deposited film is There was a problem that a natural oxide film was deposited in between.

Another problem is that the processing takes time because the wafer 3 is taken out of the reaction chamber 1 after each processing.

The present invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus that can perform a plurality of processes on a wafer in a short time without exposing the wafer to the outside air.

[Means to solve the problem]

A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a plurality of reaction chambers that house wafers to be processed and between the plurality of reaction chambers, and allows the wafer to be moved between the plurality of reaction chambers without being exposed to the outside air. and a separation chamber provided in the middle of the transport path, having an inert gas introduction means and an inert gas exhaust means, and separating the plurality of reaction chambers by the inert gas. It is structured as follows.

[Effect]

The transport path in this invention moves the wafer from one reaction chamber to another without exposing it to the outside air, and the separation chamber uses an inert gas to prevent gas from one reaction chamber from mixing into another reaction chamber. do.

[Implementation M] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

In the semiconductor manufacturing equipment according to this embodiment, a separation chamber is provided between each reaction chamber, and the separation chamber is filled with separation gas (inert gas), and this separation gas prevents other reaction gases from entering other reaction chambers. I have to. In the figure, 4A and 4B are transport paths for moving the wafer 3 from reaction 'JIA to 1B without exposing it to the outside air, 10 is a separation chamber, and 11 is a separation gas introduction for introducing separation gas 12 into the separation chamber 10. tube,
13 is an exhaust pump for evacuating the reaction chambers IA, IB and the separation chamber 10. Other configurations are similar to the conventional example.

Next, the operation will be explained. First, the separation gas introduction pipe 11
A separation gas curtain (nitrogen gas curtain) is provided in the separation chamber 10 to separate the reaction gas by introducing a separation gas 12 (for example, nitrogen gas N2) at a predetermined temperature into the separation chamber 10 and exhausting it with the exhaust pump 13. Next, the lid 5 is opened, the wafer 3 to be processed is placed on the arm 4 in the reaction chamber 1A, and the lid 5 is closed.Then, each reaction gas is introduced into the reaction chambers IA and IB from the reaction gas introduction pipe 6. 7A.

7B is introduced and the exhaust pump 13 performs exhaustion.

At this time, since the reaction chambers IA and 1B are separated by the separation gas curtain (nitrogen gas curtain) as described above, the reaction gases 7A and 7B do not mix. Furthermore, since the separation gas is an inert gas, the separation gas will not react with the reaction gases 7A and 7B.Next, the reaction chamber 1A is heated with the tungsten lamp 2A to form the first layer on the wafer 3. do.

Thereafter, the wafer 3 is transferred to the transfer path 4A by the arm 4.

4B and the separation chamber 10 to the reaction chamber 1B. and,
The reaction chamber 1B is heated by the tungsten lamp 2B to form a second layer on the wafer 3.

When forming a multilayer film of three or more layers, the number of reaction chambers and separation chambers may be increased and the above operations may be repeated.

As mentioned above, the reaction chambers IA and IB are separated by a separation gas curtain (nitrogen gas curtain) to prevent the reaction gases 7A and 7B from mixing, and the wafer 3 is moved through the transport paths 4A and 4B without being exposed to the outside air. Since a multilayer film is formed on the wafer 3 in each reaction chamber, there is no need to take the wafer 3 out of the reaction chamber as in the conventional case.

Therefore, a multilayer film can be formed in a short time without forming a natural oxide film between the multilayer films.

In the above embodiment, nitrogen gas was used as the separation gas 12, but other inert gases may be used.

Furthermore, although the above embodiment describes the case where a multilayer film is formed on the wafer 3, a combination of annealing or diffusion of impurities within the wafer 3 and film formation may also be used. Another advantage is that diffusion or annealing time and temperature history can be delicately controlled.

Further, although the above embodiments have been described in the case of annealing processing, the present invention can also be applied to semiconductor manufacturing equipment that performs other processing on wafers.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a transfer path that allows wafers to be moved between a plurality of reaction chambers without exposing them to the outside air, and an inert gas introduction means and an inert gas exhaust means provided in the middle of the transfer path. Since we have installed a separation chamber with a
Further, gas in one reaction chamber does not mix into other reaction chambers, and as a result, a wafer can be subjected to multiple processes in a short time without forming a native oxide film on the wafer.

In addition, when a wafer is processed by a combination of annealing or diffusion of impurities within the wafer and film formation, the diffusion or annealing time and temperature history can be delicately controlled by controlling the temperature of the separation gas.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a conventional semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. In the figure, 1A and 1B are reaction chambers, 3 is a wafer, and 4 is a reaction chamber.
A and 4B are conveyance paths, 10 is a separation chamber, 11 is a separation gas introduction pipe, 12 is a separation gas, and 13 is an exhaust pump. Note that the same reference numerals in each figure indicate the same or corresponding parts.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) a plurality of reaction chambers that house wafers to be processed; a transport path provided between the plurality of reaction chambers and for moving the wafer between the plurality of reaction chambers without exposing the wafer to the outside air; an inert gas introduction means provided in the middle of the conveyance path;
A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprising: a separation chamber having an inert gas exhaust means and separating the plurality of reaction chambers using an inert gas.