JPH03157922A - Manufacture of semiconductor device and manufacturing apparatus thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce an irregularity in the thickness of a film by heat treating a semiconductor wafer while reciprocating a cantilever without contact with a quartz tube during a period in which the wafer is inserted into the tube of a heat treating furnace. CONSTITUTION:All information of a semiconductor heat treating apparatus is sent to a computer 8 for controlling a cantilever driver 6, and in addition information for reciprocating the cantilever 1 is sent at specified amplitude and speed. Thus, periodic change is generated in the speed of reaction gas in the periphery of a wafer 2, and variations in the quality, thickness of wafers among the wafers can be reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention particularly relates to a method and apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor device using a heat treatment apparatus equipped with a horizontally placed quartz tube for processing.

Conventional technology In conventional technology, when mass-produced heat treatment of semiconductor wafers is performed in gas, improvements have been made to reduce reaction products inside the heat treatment equipment and dust generated by friction between the quartz tube and the quartz port. was. For this purpose, cantilevered insertion and withdrawal of quartz ports has been widely adopted. In addition, regarding temperature uniformity inside the heat treatment equipment, analysis of the heat flow in the furnace body and temperature rise and fall inside the wafer was conducted.
Improvements have been made to reduce temperature differences within wafers.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, the boundary conditions for the gas flow inside the heat treatment equipment are too complex, making it impossible to perform accurate simulations, resulting in variations in film thickness and film quality within and between wafers. Little theoretical research has been done on improvements, and as a result, the only way to do so is to repeatedly perform optimization experiments on gas flow rates and compositions.

The above-mentioned variations in film thickness and film quality within and between wafers are
It can be assumed that the cause is that the gas flow within the quartz tube forms a nearly steady flow. That is, it is thought that this gas flow passes through the surface of the semiconductor wafer non-uniformly, resulting in variations in film thickness and film quality even if the wafer temperature is uniform.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and includes a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device that can reduce variations in film quality and thickness between wafers and within a wafer by providing disturbance to the above-mentioned almost steady gas flow. The purpose is to provide manufacturing equipment.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the semiconductor manufacturing method of the present invention supplies a semiconductor heat treatment gas to a heat treatment furnace equipped with a horizontally placed quartz tube, and processes a plurality of semiconductor wafers. When heat-treating a semiconductor by non-contactly inserting the mounted cantilever into the quartz tube, after inserting the cantilever into the quartz tube, at least the period during which the semiconductor wafer is inserted into the quartz tube For a part of the period, the cantilever is heat-treated while being reciprocated at a desired amplitude and speed without contacting the quartz tube.

Further, the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention includes a heat treatment furnace equipped with a horizontally placed quartz tube, a semiconductor heat treatment gas supply device, and a port for accommodating a plurality of semiconductor wafers.
a cantilever on which the port is placed; and a cantilever drive device for non-contactly inserting and pulling out the cantilever into a quartz tube, and for controlling the drive device, the cantilever is moved at a desired speed into a desired position within the quartz tube. and withdraw the cantilever at a desired speed to a desired position outside the quartz tube, while at least part of the period when the semiconductor wafer is inserted into the quartz tube, the cantilever is pulled at a desired amplitude. ,
A control device was installed to cause the quartz tube to reciprocate in parallel at a desired speed.

Effect: With the above configuration, the cantilever starts reciprocating motion almost parallel to the quartz tube from the time when the insertion of the cantilever into the quartz furnace tube of the heat treatment furnace and the rise of the furnace temperature is completed, and the supply of a prescribed gas begins, and the reciprocating motion of the cantilever is started almost in parallel to the quartz tube. This provides uniform turbulence to the gas flow, thereby reducing variations in film quality and thickness between and within wafers.

In addition, the reciprocating motion of the cantilever inside the quartz tube is
This can be easily implemented by simply incorporating information that causes the cantilever to reciprocate at a desired speed with a desired amplitude into a control device, such as a computer, for a cantilever drive device that non-contactly inserts and extracts the cantilever into and from a quartz tube.

Example An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a horizontal semiconductor heat treatment apparatus in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
The A' sectional view and FIG. 3 are configuration diagrams of the cantilever driving portion of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

1 and 2, reference numeral 1 designates a cantilever, on which a quartz port 3 containing a semiconductor wafer 2 is mounted, and is operated to be inserted into and pulled out of a quartz tube 4. 5 is a liner tube provided around the quartz tube 4.

In FIG. 3, a cantilever drive device 6 supports and drives the cantilever 1, and runs on a rail 7 to insert and pull out the cantilever 1 into the quartz tube 4. A control computer 8 controls the operation of the cantilever drive device 6.

The control computer 8 provides cantilever drive information including 1) predetermined position information outside the furnace, 2) predetermined position information in the furnace, 3) insertion start time information, 4) withdrawal start time information, 5) insertion speed information, and 6) withdrawal speed information. entered and remembered. Furthermore, the control computer 8 has added and stored the following information.

The information that must be input and stored in the control computer 8 is (7) amplitude information of the reciprocating motion, (8) one or more pieces of speed information if a motion similar to simple harmonic motion is adopted as the reciprocating motion, and (9) the start of the reciprocating motion. and end time information.

In this embodiment configured in this way, in addition to all the information of conventional semiconductor heat treatment equipment, information for reciprocating the cantilever at a specified amplitude and speed is added, and the speed of the reaction gas around the wafer is adjusted. It is configured to be able to create periodic disturbances. It is preferable that the cantilever reciprocates during the entire period that the wafer is in the furnace and that processing scum or oxidation protective gas is flowing, but it can also be expanded or contracted as necessary.

It is desirable that the speed of the reciprocating motion be equal to or higher than the gas flow speed in the quartz tube, or care must be taken to avoid causing distortion or chipping of the wafer by applying mechanical shock to the contact area between the wafer and the port.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, the velocity vector of the reactive gas in the vicinity of the semiconductor wafer changes constantly over time, and the physical properties and uniformity of the thickness of the film formed on the wafer are significantly improved. Ru.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a horizontal semiconductor heat treatment apparatus in a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA' in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a cantilever driving portion of the device. 1... Cantilever, 2... Semiconductor wafer, 3...
- Quartz port, 4... Quartz tube, 6... Cantilever drive device, 7... Rail, 8... Control computer.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Supplying semiconductor heat treatment gas to a heat treatment furnace equipped with a horizontally placed quartz tube, and non-contactly inserting a cantilever carrying a plurality of semiconductor wafers into the quartz tube. When performing heat treatment on a semiconductor wafer, after inserting the cantilever into the quartz tube, the cantilever is heated to a desired amplitude during at least part of the period during which the semiconductor wafer is inserted into the quartz tube.
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, in which heat treatment is performed while causing the quartz tube to reciprocate at a desired speed in a non-contact manner. 2. A heat treatment furnace equipped with a horizontally placed quartz tube and supplied with a gas for semiconductor heat treatment, a port for accommodating a plurality of semiconductor wafers, a cantilever on which the port is placed, and a cantilever that connects the cantilever to the quartz tube. a cantilever drive device for non-contact insertion and extraction into the quartz tube; the drive device is controlled to insert the cantilever at a desired speed into a desired position within the quartz tube, and a semiconductor wafer is inserted into the quartz tube; causing the cantilever to perform reciprocating motion parallel to the quartz tube at a desired speed and with a desired amplitude during at least a portion of the period;
and a control device for pulling out the cantilever at a desired speed to a desired position outside the quartz tube.