JPH0234915A - Semiconductor heat treatment device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent generation of crystal defects and to elevate the temperature uniformly as a whole by providing a plurality of gas ejection ports from which the pressurized gas is ejected at a wafer platen where a semiconductor wafer is placed, and supporting the wafer in the floated condition. CONSTITUTION:This is constituted such that a semiconductor wafer W is supported in the floated condition by pressurized gas G ejected from a plurality of gas ejection ports 5 which are formed at a wafer platen 3, and that the semiconductor wafer W to be heated and the wafer platen 3 are put in mutually noncontact condition. Accordingly, the low temperature part ceases to exist at this semiconductor wafer W. Hereby, it ceases to invite the generation of crystal defects such as a slip line, and at the same time the temperature of the semiconductor can be elevated uniformly as a whole.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a semiconductor heat treatment apparatus used in a process for manufacturing semiconductor devices, and more particularly to a structure for supporting a semiconductor wafer to be heat treated.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, a lamp annealing apparatus as shown in the schematic cross-sectional view of FIG. 3 has been known as an example of a semiconductor heat treatment apparatus. And, this lamp annealing device has chamber 1
, a heating lamp 2 as a heater disposed at an upper position in a chamber 1, and a wafer platen 3 disposed at a lower position.A plurality of support pins 4 are mounted on this wafer platen 3. ．． A semiconductor wafer W to be heat-treated is placed thereon. Note that the chamber 1 is provided with an inlet and an outlet for a gas sealed therein to serve as an atmospheric gas, but neither of these are shown.

When performing heat treatment on the semiconductor wafer W using the lamp annealing apparatus configured as described above, the semiconductor wafer W is first placed in the support bin 4 disposed on the wafer platen 3 . . . . is placed above, and the atmospheric gas inside this child chamber 1 is replaced with a gas consisting of the required components. Thereafter, the heating lamp 2 is turned on to heat the semiconductor wafer W for a required period of time, and the temperature of the semiconductor wafer W is maintained until the temperature reaches the required temperature. Note that as such a heating lamp 2, one having a wavelength that is easily absorbed by the semiconductor wafer W is generally selected.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

By the way, the support pin 4 constituting the lamp annealing device. The seal is generally made of quartz, but since quartz has the property of being difficult to heat up, the semiconductor wafer W heated by the heating lamp 2 and the support pin 4. There will be a temperature difference between... and,
Based on the existence of such a temperature difference, only the portions of the semiconductor wafer W that are in contact with the support pins 4° are lower in temperature than other non-contact portions, and as a result, the peripheral area of the semiconductor wafer W is , crystal defects as typified by the slip line shown in FIG. 4 occur.

In addition, such a slip line is used for semiconductor wafer W.
The larger the diameter of the sea urchin halo, the more likely it is to occur, which has been an obstacle to increasing the diameter.

This invention was devised in view of the current situation, and is a semiconductor wafer that does not cause crystal defects such as slip lines and that can uniformly heat the semiconductor wafer as a whole. The purpose is to provide heat treatment equipment.

[Means to solve the problem]

The present invention provides a semiconductor heat processing apparatus including a heater disposed at an upper position in a chamber to heat a semiconductor wafer, and a wafer platen disposed at a lower position thereof on which a semiconductor wafer is placed. The structure is characterized in that a plurality of gas ejection holes are formed in which pressurized gas is ejected to support the semiconductor wafer in a floating manner.

[Effect]

In this invention, the semiconductor wafer is supported in a floating manner by pressure gas ejected from a plurality of gas ejection holes formed in the wafer platen, so that the semiconductor wafer to be heated and the wafer platen are not in contact with each other. It consists of Therefore, this semiconductor wafer no longer has low-temperature areas like in the conventional example, which eliminates the occurrence of crystal defects such as slip lines, and at the same time, it is possible to uniformly raise the temperature of the semiconductor wafer as a whole. becomes.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be applied to a lamp annealing apparatus as an example of a semiconductor heat treatment apparatus and will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing the configuration of the lamp annealing apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the wafer platen taken along line 1--2 in FIG. The overall configuration of the lamp annealing apparatus in this embodiment is basically the same as that of the conventional example described above, so parts and parts in FIGS. 1 and 2 that are the same or equivalent to those in FIG. with
The explanation will be omitted.

The lamp annealing apparatus according to this embodiment includes a chamber 1, a heating lamp 2 as a heater disposed at an upper position within the chamber 1, and a wafer platen 3 disposed at a lower position. In the mounting area of the semiconductor wafer W on the wafer platen 3, a plurality of gas ejection holes 5. . . are arranged radially with respect to the center position of the upper surface, and the gas ejection holes 5. are unified inside the wafer platen 3. ... are connected to a pressurized gas supply device (not shown) via an air supply pipe 6 disposed in close contact with the lower surface of the chamber 1. In addition, the gas jet hole 5.
The arrangement of ... does not necessarily have to be radial, but may be set arbitrarily.

Next, a procedure for heat-treating the semiconductor wafer W using the lamp annealing apparatus configured as described above will be described.

First, the semiconductor wafer W is placed on the wafer platen 3, and the atmospheric gas in the chamber 1 is replaced with a gas containing the required components. Thereafter, a pressurized gas G having the same composition as the atmospheric gas is supplied from the pressurized gas supply device through the air supply pipe 6, and this pressurized gas G is supplied to the gas jet holes 5 formed in the wafer platen 3. Make it erupt from...

Note that this pressure gas G is supplied to the gas outlet 5. It may be arranged so that it is always ejected from ....

As a result, the semiconductor wafer W is pushed up by the pressure of the pressure gas G, and is supported in a floating manner away from the upper surface of the wafer platen 3. Next, the heating lamp 2 is turned on to heat the semiconductor wafer W supported on the wafer platen 3 in a non-contact manner for a required period of time, and is maintained until the temperature of the semiconductor wafer W reaches a required temperature.

By the way, in the above description, the heater that heats the semiconductor wafer W is used as the heating lamp 2, but the heater as a heat source is not limited to this, and may have another structure.

Further, in this embodiment, the present invention has been explained by applying it to a lamp annealing apparatus, but it goes without saying that it is not limited to this and can be similarly applied to other semiconductor heat treatment apparatuses. do not have.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the wafer platen on which the semiconductor wafer is placed has a plurality of gas ejection holes through which pressurized gas is ejected, so that the semiconductor wafer is lifted up by the pressure gas. The semiconductor wafer and the wafer platen, which are supported and heated, are out of contact with each other. Therefore, this semiconductor wafer does not have a low-temperature area due to the temperature difference between the semiconductor wafer and the support bottle as in the conventional example, which not only eliminates the occurrence of crystal defects such as slip lines, but also eliminates the occurrence of crystal defects such as slip lines. It is easy to uniformly raise the temperature of the entire wafer.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 relate to the present invention; FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a lamp annealing device, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the wafer platen taken along the line ■-■ in FIG. be. Further, FIGS. 3 and 4 relate to a conventional example, with FIG. 3 being a schematic sectional view showing a lamp annealing apparatus, and FIG. 4 being a plan view showing a semiconductor wafer after heat treatment. In the figure, numeral 1 is a chamber, 2 is a heating lamp (heater), 3 is a wafer platen, 5 is a gas ejection hole, W is a semiconductor wafer, and G is a pressurized gas. Note that the same reference numerals in the figures indicate the same or corresponding parts. Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a semiconductor heat treatment apparatus comprising a heater disposed at an upper position in a chamber to heat a semiconductor wafer, and a wafer platen disposed at a lower position thereof on which a semiconductor wafer is placed, the wafer platen . A semiconductor heat processing apparatus, characterized in that a plurality of gas ejection holes are formed from which pressurized gas is ejected to support the semiconductor wafer in a floating manner.