JPH0437700A - Rapid thermal annealing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make the occupied area of the device small by constituting this device so that the both a vessel for containing the material to be treated such as a semiconductor and the heating auxiliary load for heating this vessel are provided to the inside of a furnace body and eddy current clue to high-frequency current is generated. CONSTITUTION:A coil 2 is provided so as to surround the side periphery of a furnace body 1. A heating auxiliary load 5 is provided in the inner position for the coil 2 in the inside of the furnace body 1. Furthermore, a vessel 4 for containing the material to be treated is provided so that this vessel 4 is moved to the position brought into contact with the load 5 and to the outer position of the coil 2. The material to be treated such as a semiconductor is contained in the vessel 4. This vessel 4 is allowed to stand by to the outer position of the coil 2. High-frequency current is allowed to flow through the coil 2. Eddy current is generated in the load 5 and this load is heated. Then the vessel 4 is operated by a pulling-out rod 9 and brought into contact with the load 5. Eddy current is generated in both and the material to be treated is rapidly heated. Then the vessel 4 is moved to the outer position of the coil 2 and rapidly cooled.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <Industrial Application Field> The present invention is directed to rapid thermal annealing (Rapid T
her+++al Aneal Hhereinafter referred to as PTA. ) regarding equipment.

<Prior Art> The RTA method is generally known as a method for improving the crystallinity of a single crystal with poor crystallinity (including epitaxially grown thin films, etc.). This RTA method is a method of improving the crystallinity of a semiconductor crystal by sequentially repeating a heat treatment in which the semiconductor crystal, etc. is rapidly heated to a high temperature of, for example, about 900"C, and then cooled to about room temperature. It is said that the steeper the temperature gradient during cooling, the greater the effect. Conventionally, electric furnaces, lamp heating furnaces, etc. have been mainly used as furnaces for such RTA.

As shown in FIG. 4, for example, the lamp heating furnace is configured such that light from a plurality of halogen lamps 42 . There is also a structure in which the wafer W placed inside is heated by being guided into the interior and irradiated onto the wafer W placed inside.

Note that 44...44 are water cooling chambers.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> By the way, RTA furnaces are usually used in clean rooms, but the above-mentioned lamp heating furnaces require a large installation space, which makes them difficult to use in clean rooms where unit area costs are high. Another problem is that objects other than objects such as wafers, such as the furnace body itself, are also heated, so a cooling structure is required.

An object of the present invention is to provide a PTA device that requires a small installation space in a clean room and does not require a cooling structure such as a furnace body.

<Means for Solving the Problems> The configuration for achieving the above object will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 corresponding to the embodiments. The present invention has the following features:
It comprises a furnace body 1, a coil 2 surrounding the side periphery of the furnace body, and a power source 3 for passing a high frequency current through this coil,
Inside the furnace body 1, an auxiliary heating load 5 and a container 4 for accommodating the workpiece S to be annealed are arranged, and the auxiliary heating load 5 is located inside the coil 2. container 4
is configured so that it can be selectively moved to either a position in contact with the auxiliary heating load 5 or a position outside the coil 2, and when the container 4 is in contact with the auxiliary heating load 5, both of them are moved. It is characterized by its structure in which eddy currents are generated by high-frequency currents.

<Operation> First, the container 4 is placed outside the coil 2, and when a high frequency current is passed through the coil 2 in this state, an eddy current is generated in the heating auxiliary load 5, and the heating auxiliary load 5 heats up rapidly. Next, move the container 4 to the heating auxiliary load 5,
contact the surface. As a result, the auxiliary heating load 5 and the container 4 become integrated, and an eddy current is generated in both of them.
Further, due to heat conduction from the heating auxiliary load 5, the container 4, that is, the object to be processed S, is rapidly heated. Then, when the container 4 is moved to a position outside the coil 2, the generation of eddy currents disappears, the container 4 becomes a single body, its heat capacity decreases, and it is cooled quickly.

Here, as shown in FIG. 1, only the furnace body 1 and the coil 2 are installed in the clean room CR, and a high frequency current from a power source 3 placed outside is guided to the coil 2 through a waveguide 6. Therefore, the space occupied by the device in the clean room CR can be reduced. Furthermore, if the furnace body 1 is made of glass or the like that does not generate eddy currents due to high frequencies, the furnace body 1 will not be heated and its cooling structure will be unnecessary.

<Example> Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of the furnace body 1 cut into fir wood, and FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the container 4.

A coil 2 is wound around a glass furnace body 1, and this coil 2 is connected to a high frequency power source 3 through a waveguide 6. Further, a sweeping gas cylinder 7 is connected to the furnace body 1, and only the furnace body 1 and the coil 2 are arranged inside the clean room R.

Now, inside the furnace body 1, a heating auxiliary load 5 and a container 4 having the same shape as the stepped portion 5a thereof are arranged. Both the heating auxiliary load 5 and the container 4 are made of a material that easily generates eddy currents due to high frequencies, such as graphite.

The heating auxiliary load 5 is placed on a support base 8 such as a glass angle, and is located inside the coil 2. Further, the container 4 is supported by a glass pull-out rod 9 that is slidably attached to a Teflon joint 10 at the end of the furnace body 1. By operating this pull-out rod 9, the container 4 can be
can be positioned at the stepped portion 5a of the heating auxiliary load 5, and can also be moved to a position outside the coil 2.

As shown in FIG. 3, the container 4 is composed of a container body 4a and a lid 4b that fits into a recess thereof, and a semiconductor S, which is an object to be processed, is accommodated in the recess.

Next, the operation procedure and the operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

First, the semiconductor S is housed in the container 4, the container 4 is placed on standby outside the coil 2, and a sweeping gas is introduced into the furnace body 1. In this state, when a high frequency current is passed through the coil 2, an eddy current is generated in the auxiliary heating load 5, and the auxiliary heating load 5 is instantaneously heated. Next, when the drawer rod 9 is operated to move the container 4 to the heating auxiliary load 5 and place it on the stepped portion 5a, the container 4 comes into contact with the heating auxiliary load 5 and becomes an integral part. An eddy current is generated, and the container 4, that is, the semiconductor S, is rapidly heated by this eddy current and heat conduction from the heating auxiliary load 5, which is already heated. Next, when the drawer rod 9 is operated to move the container 4 to a position outside the coil 2, the container 4 becomes a single unit again, and its heat capacity becomes small (as well as the generation of eddy currents disappears, and the container 4 quickly moves out). By sequentially repeating the above operations, the semiconductor S can be subjected to RTA.

Here, there is no generation of eddy current due to high frequency in the glass furnace body 1 (the temperature of the furnace body 1 is almost the same as the outside air, and there is a considerable difference between the furnace body 1 and the heating auxiliary load 5 heated to a high temperature). Due to the temperature difference, if the heating auxiliary load 5 is installed directly on the furnace body 1,
Although there is a risk that the furnace body 1 may be damaged, this risk is eliminated by installing the heating auxiliary load 5 on the furnace body 1 via a support 8 having low thermal conductivity such as a glass angle.

Further, the container 4 needs to be constructed to be placed on the surface of the heating auxiliary load 5. This is because heating by high frequency heats the vicinity of the surface of the heating body to the highest temperature.

By the way, conventionally, a high frequency heating method has not been adopted in an RTA furnace because of the following problems. In other words, since the RTA method requires rapid temperature rise and fall, it is necessary to reduce the heat capacity, or volume, of the container that houses the semiconductor or other workpiece as much as possible. This is because, even though the generation of eddy currents due to high frequency is reduced and the power consumption of the high frequency power source is increased, sufficient heating cannot be obtained. In contrast, in the embodiment of the present invention, the heating auxiliary load 5 is provided, and the structure is such that sufficient heating can be obtained even if the volume of the container 1 is small due to its conductive heat. It became possible to realize a furnace.

The material for the container 4 is not particularly limited to graphite, as long as it has a low vapor pressure even at high temperatures, does not react with semiconductors, and is likely to generate eddy currents due to high frequency waves.

<Effects of the Invention> As explained above, according to the present invention, inside the furnace body,
In addition to the container that houses the objects to be processed, such as semiconductors, we installed an auxiliary heating load to heat this container and realized an RTA furnace using the high-frequency heating method. Only the heating coil needs to be placed, and the high-frequency power source and the like can be placed outside, making it possible to reduce the space occupied by the PTA device in the clean room. This makes it possible to effectively utilize a clean room with a high unit area cost. Further, there is a great effect in that nothing other than the container housing the semiconductor or the like and the heating auxiliary load is heated, and a cooling structure such as a furnace body is not required.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a vertically cut front view of the furnace body 1, and FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the container 4. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of a lamp heating furnace for RTA. 1...Furnace body 2...Coil 3...High frequency power source 4...Container 5...Heating auxiliary cargo 9...Drawer cup CR...Clean room S...Semiconductor (workpiece) ) Patent applicant: Shimadzu Corporation Agent
Patent Attorney Nishi 1) Arata

Claims (1)

[Claims] It is equipped with a furnace body, a coil surrounding the sides of the furnace body, and a power source for passing a high-frequency current through the coil. A container for accommodating the heating auxiliary load is disposed, and the heating auxiliary load is located at an inner position of the coil, and the container is located either at a position in contact with the heating auxiliary load or at a position outside the coil. 1. A rapid thermal annealing device configured to be able to selectively move the container to a heating auxiliary load, and configured to generate an eddy current due to the high frequency current in both of the containers when the container is brought into contact with a heating auxiliary load.