JPH0478137A - Heat treatment device system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform heat treatment on an object to be treated without forming any natural oxide film on the surface of the object by providing a pre-processing chamber for a cleaning process and heat treatment chamber and connecting the two chambers to a carrying chamber having a function which allows the object to be treated to move. CONSTITUTION:This heat treatment device system is constituted of three rooms of a pre-processing chamber 1, heat treatment chamber 2, and spare chamber 3, one carrying chamber 4, and two load locking chambers 5a and 5b for putting and taking out wafer in and from the chambers. A double gate valve 6 is installed to the joining section of each chamber. In the first-stage load locking chamber 5a, a wafer is set and replacement with, for example, a drying nitrogen gas is performed and, in the second-stage load locking chamber 5b, the wafer is heated and impurity gas is removed from the wafer. The wafer is then carried to the preprocessing chamber l from the carrying chamber 4 so as to remove a natural oxide film formed on the surface of the wafer. Then the wafer is moved to the next heat treatment chamber 2 where an oxide film is formed or annealing treatment is performed. The final chamber after the heat treatment is kept as a spare chamber 3.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a heat treatment system used in the manufacturing process of semiconductor devices, etc., and more particularly, to a heat treatment system suitable for increasing the stability of processing and binding semiconductor devices, etc. .

[Conventional technology]

The conventional heat treatment equipment, f, is used, for example, in Kazuo Yuta's ``Latest LSI
As described in paragraphs 128, 152 and 154 of the document titled "Process Technology", Industrial Research Publication, 1983, a plurality of wafers are placed in a holder in the same direction and in a row, and a glass circular Insert the following multiple queha into the card,
Heat treatment is performed by placing a reactant gas around a cylinder in a flowing state and heating the substrate to be processed with a heater.
Setting the wafer is done with vacuum tweezers or in the atmosphere. (In this document, the tassels are arranged horizontally, but they may also be arranged vertically.) [Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Consider the formation of a thermal oxidation layer, which is a typical heat treatment step in the semiconductor manufacturing process. As the degree of integration of elements increases, the amount of tw to control decreases. In order to control this minute charge and achieve stable MM operation of the semiconductor, it is important that the surface 1 near the interface of the substrate, which serves as a flow path for the charge, is extremely stable. If there are crystal defects or impurities such as charged particles or metals in the vicinity of the interface, the gate voltage cannot be applied uniformly with good reproducibility, resulting in an increase in leakage current at t5. The cause of this characteristic deterioration is foreign matter or contamination before or during heat treatment. 95. A layer is deposited near the surface, and as a result, the atomic arrangement on the surface is disturbed and dislocation occurs.95. remaining t
Foreign matter (particularly charged particles) is fixed at the interface and shifts the electric field due to the gate electrode, causing an increase in leakage current. On the other hand, since the heat treatment process raises the temperature of the substrate to be processed, the diffusion of impurities is fast.For example, depending on the type of contamination, foreign matter and contamination may be deposited on the back surface and easily diffuse to the surface of the substrate. . Therefore, it is important that there are no foreign substances on the substrate during processing, and this is important. moreover. A: In addition to contamination, natural oxidation occurs on the i-plane of the treated substrate! s
Even compared to hot acid, I am possessed by the 9th place] Before starting, you will also need a #husband of the natural oxidation. The current line is % oxidized bruise-shaped bottom etc. Netsuyu 1 nK is acid washed,
By combining alkaline cleaning, water washing, etc., natural oxide film removal, contamination, and foreign matter are removed, and after surface treatment is completed,
The process is controlled by performing heat treatment within a certain period of time to prevent the natural oxide film from re-forming as much as possible. For example, in the case of materials that are easily oxidized and contain 1% Sl and Al, if they are exposed to an oxygen-containing atmosphere such as air after GJR treatment, the cleaned surface may become highly activated. The first purpose of the present invention is to realize heat treatment without forming a natural oxide film on the surface of the workpiece in order to form highly reliable atoms. It is an object of the present invention to provide a heat treatment apparatus system. The following points are important in this method: (1) After the treatment is completed, the I20 is kept at a low concentration and buried in the atmosphere. (2) Pre-treatment!After completion of the heat treatment, the waiting time t-≦ should be kept as low as possible and heat sensing should be carried out.Also, if post-embedding is involved, the waiting time S should be reduced as much as possible. By using the processes (1) and (2), the rate at which 02°I20 is absorbed and forms IIIt-oxide on the surface of the substrate to be processed can be made very small, resulting in a thin film of 31%. This prevents defects such as deterioration and contact failure.To achieve this, conventionally, the substrate to be processed is taken out into the atmosphere after each treatment such as pretreatment and heat treatment, and then transferred to the next processing equipment. The substrate to be processed is transferred through a vacuum space filled with a certain amount of vacuum or inert gas, etc. When using this inert gas, the pressure is set slightly higher than atmospheric pressure so that it is not controlled from outside air. Prevent the atmosphere from getting mixed in. Or intentionally let the metal flow into the space. At this time, even if foreign matter gets into the space, make sure that the foreign matter does not float in the space. Similar to a clean room, for example, the atmospheric gas should flow from above to below against the substrate to be processed, which is the same as fR. Use IF or a material that is difficult to absorb, and remove sufficient gas from the surface by baking etc. before use.In order to minimize the waiting time from the end of pre-heating to heat treatment. , the processing chambers should be placed as close together as possible, and each process TR1111I of multiple processes should be brought close to a certain time.If it is not possible to align the four processing times based on the nine-dimensional structure, it is necessary to install multiple devices with long processing times. By installing 1ii1, what is the apparent result? This can be handled by keeping the interval constant. The approximate time and atmosphere for G&J11 at this time are as follows. A gas with a molecular weight of M1 partial pressure has a molecular weight of M1'c per unit area and a unit # of gas [the number of molecules N is N-LSI Xl]
0 ”XPX(TM)-05(/cm's'sa) (
1). T indicates the gas temperature. Here, for simplification, it is assumed that t I20 and 0□ gold gas. Therefore, it becomes M-15. Attach based on the above formula (
What is the number of molecular layers of III20+O□)? = 300, L-itxloxp(pa)xz(sea)
I2). The conditions when attempting to form a single crystal entirely depend not only on the partial pressure of the impurity, but also on the type of impurity, ambient temperature, etc., but the lowest conditions are W & (when the impurity is 10- It must be less than or equal to 3yti. Therefore, (2
) formula is P(Pa)Xt(sea)≦t7x1o-'
(5) 0 For example: *If the sending time is 10 s·0, the partial pressure of (I20+02) must be i,7×10 Pa or less. In order to satisfy the above conditions, in addition to the gas supply system, seven independent Shinomi yarns or heimes for baking will be installed at each 31m length. Each chamber has a very smooth surface foreshadowing so that there is little absorption and absorption of gas D, and furthermore, the *g in the room is single, and the l@ is ij! It is important to keep the area as small as possible. Furthermore, each room is provided with an opening/closing a# at the inlet which is spatially clamped. [Operation] In the above flag a, by the pre-treatment cleaning step: Foreign matter, contamination, and natural stratification S on the surface of the object to be treated O are removed, and!
The surface of the 1fi31 substrate is in a highly active state. Therefore, if impurities in the atmosphere are deposited on the surface, they are likely to chemically cause KM, especially 02. llI
20 is easily converted into SiO when deposited on 81 or a metal surface.
Forms oxide IIt such as □. However, unlike the invention, the surface a of each chamber is made as small as possible, and the adsorption of impurity gas is reduced by baking with a heater. Heat treatment in an atmosphere with low partial pressure of Me0□, I20 and in a short waiting time from the end of the pre-heat treatment! l
can be started. On the other hand, at the start of heat treatment, 11
You can ensure a clean surface for things and heat them up! 1 is ideally performed with good reproducibility. As a result, factors that reduce yield or reliability, such as deterioration caused by overexposure and defective contact conduction, are eliminated. In particular, the impact is large when the area where semiconductor performance is important, such as the heat treatment process in the semiconductor manufacturing process, is located nearby. [Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing 11g of the first embodiment of the thermal aW device system of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus 1 of this embodiment includes a pretreatment chamber 1,
Heat treatment chamber 2, preliminary chamber 3 royal room, transfer chamber 4 room, covered, @
Load lock for moving physical wafers into and out of the chamber: i
It consists of two groups, 5a and 5b. Further, a double gate valve 6t is installed at the joint of each chamber. FIG. 2 shows one feeding direction of the wafer within the apparatus system of this embodiment. 31st A: Entirely enlarged explanatory view of the gate valve. The processing space is connected to two sets of thin gate valves 6゜7; the space iC heated by the gate pulp is heated by a vacuum boat 8a, a gas introduction boat abl.
Throwing σ, O heate 9 for baking is #! Inside the plane, electric f
ilo is connected. Each room is equipped with a baking heater or lamp, and each room is equipped with an independent vacuum system and other accessories. The metal support rack 8yc is attached to form a single frame, and each chamber can be easily separated from the equipment/system by removing the IE source scrap, control wiring, exhaust and gas supply piping t'Ri. ! 7a You can be proud by doing something. Generally, an arbitrary number of wafers to be processed are stored in a wafer-dedicated case in block units, and the processing step IW is carried out.
Move Uft. During this movement, the B side of the sea urchin is either physically absorbed by 820,0 □ in the atmosphere or chemically adsorbed to form natural oxide ate. Although the natural oxide film is in a stable state, there is always a possibility that the gases adsorbed and desorbed. Therefore, gas plaster! Heating the wafer at a controlled rate! &jt' Stem O (taken inside the room)
As I put it in. There is a risk that the temperature of fake gas in the room or the suction gas on the wall will increase. Therefore, load lock chamber 5
fI: As a double load lock chamber 51 in the front stage, t wafers t- are stored in a cassette case, and for example, the entire replacement process with dry mulberry nitrogen gas is 9f&, so a certain XA is 1
Thoroughly perform vacuum evacuation to suppress the gas atL taken in from the atmosphere as low as possible. After this process, the wafers are transferred one by one or several wafers as a unit to the subsequent load lock chamber 5b. Here, the wafer is heated by a lamp and gases adsorbed onto the surface are desorbed. After completion of such processing in the load lock chamber 5, the wafer can be introduced into the transfer chamber 5. Transport! ! The wafer is transported to the preprocessing chamber 1 via transport means such as a transport arm 4. In the pre-processing chamber 1, natural oxidation aO ray removal is carried out. However, this process requires that foreign matter and contamination be removed when the wafer is introduced into the system. If there are any foreign matter or contamination left on the wafer at the time t, a foreign matter/contamination removal process s11 must be added in #processing chamber 1.The wafer transferred to the next heat treatment chamber 2 is heated by a lamp. etc., to form oxidized S, or perform annealing treatment i2.At the start of the heat treatment, there should be no foreign matter or contamination deposited on the surface of the surface, and natural oxidation and J1 should be removed and cleaned. :Since the 1R surface is obtained, contamination diffuses during the heat treatment process, and the interface characteristics change, resulting in fF-9 and insulation characteristics deteriorating.
It can be prevented. (9) (The heat treatment process is completed, but
In the hot smoking l system, a reserve room S remains. The last chamber after heat treatment can be used in two ways. One is how it can be used as a spare room. It is a fantasy that the processing chamber will not break down and that cleaning will not be necessary, but it is far from being fully realized. Therefore, in the case of this system, one of the two processing chambers with a higher failure rate or cleaning rate is prepared and used as a spare chamber. However, in the case of this system, only one pre-sl room can be set up for two processing rooms due to the fact that the chamber is a Sg that can only be installed in the royal family, but if mass production is considered, two pre-fa It is necessary to provide a room. In order to increase the number of processing chambers, Figure 4 shows 4 KJI conveyors arranged in series. In the embodiment, the portion for loading and unloading the wafer (load lock chamber) is the same, but the loading chamber and unloading chamber may be provided separately depending on the situation. Another way to use it is to use the preliminary chamber as a film-forming processing chamber. For example, when forming a thick oxide film, heat treatment alone generally takes a long time, compared to thermal oxidation and CVD.
(Chwioal Vapor Depoiiiitio
n) is formed into a St-layered structure. This is 5M
This enables production that balances improvements in characteristics and productivity. Here, each space is provided with double gate pulp, but when performing normal wafer tin salting, the processing chamber 1lI
Open and close only the gate near K and transport it.
Gate pulp near /C remains open, :l
[Only when KA 臠 occurs, both gates pulp and close,
It is now possible to replace the pond chamber without exposing it to dogs*. (In equipment systems such as the present invention, which require low JR with impurity gas a degree, it is impossible to expose the impurities to a level of 200 ml at the time of repair and immediately reduce the impurities to a level that allows for quenching in the laboratory. (Since the processing chamber alone requires vacuum evacuation, it is necessary to replace one chamber in case of failure.)
However, even if double gate pulp is installed, it is not possible to start the quefer processing session immediately after changing the chamber. This is because the space between the double gate pulps is large.
! If the pulp is left open in this state, the impurity gas will contaminate the processing chamber and the like. @maromono xt
- To remove the adsorbed gas from the walls, after replacing the chamber, perform baking in a vacuum or in an atmosphere flowing dry gas to remove the adsorbed gas from the walls. By starting heating after the treatment is completed, highly reliable treatment can be started. @6 Decoy, feeling the heat! ! This figure shows an equipment system in which only the batch processing (badge) method of wafers can be adopted as a fast heat treatment method. The wafers in the washing room 1 in the fIrIs laboratory 1 are carried to the transfer room 14 via a boat 13t.
A heated processing room for 92 badges installed in the transfer room 14 (2 m)
+ 2 Write to b. For example, heat treatment i! Fully heated at 21! While performing [Pre-process], the wafers that have been eaten are sequentially carried into the heat treatment J13i2b. After this infiltration is completed, the hot tin salt chamber 2b starts aSS, while the wafers that have finished the heat treatment in the heat S1 chamber 2& pass through the boat 13t, pass through the transfer chamber 4, and are transferred to the preliminary chamber 3 or , and transport it to loadlock room 5. This configuration can also be used in conjunction with badge processing! It is possible to perform continuous processing without exposing the wafer, which is a physical object, to 9CK. FIG. 7 shows a schematic diagram of a system in which wafers are transferred to the apparatus system of the present invention through a clean tunnel 14, which is a tunnel with a controlled atmosphere. In this case, it is difficult to remove the adsorbed gas in the load lock chamber 5, since the wafer is surrounded by an atmosphere from the beginning. Therefore, the S phase t of ff#L, which receives the wafer from the clean tunnel 14 via the gate pulp, is also directed to the Claude lock chamber 5. The structure of the pond is similar to the structure shown in FIG. In Fig. 3, the atmosphere is controlled for one wafer transfer as in Fig. 7.
An explanatory diagram of the system in the case where = 9 rows and t is shown in the clean tunnel 14 which is a door panel.However, in this system, the transfer chamber is transferred to the clean tunnel 14 via the load lock chamber to I11! f! [Process] The room is pseudo-continued. [Effects of the invention] (1) Preliminary section] After completion - in a controlled atmosphere throughout, KO□,
H2O1 low concentration [K Zeneyu atmosphere to manage the salt substrate pipe. (2) After the pretreatment is completed, the aging time should be kept as short as possible to carry out the aging process II. ′ is followed by 1 and the *ai time is similarly shortened. For treatment of (1) and (2): 0 on the surface of the heat-treated substrate.
The probability that 2°f12o is adsorbed and belongs to the oxidized Xt type can be made very small. Therefore, especially conventional natural oxidation, I! ■When an insulator is formed on a native oxide film, which is induced by the formation of a defective yt-11IAIA element, the breakdown voltage deteriorates (the phenomenon is caused by a special 4C
Aljilization #dog! lJ[K:+ru. ), etc. are prevented by 1,
As a result, the (Pi type property and yield i) of products such as semiconductors are improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is an illustration showing the configuration of the first embodiment of the heat treatment system of the present invention, and Figure 2 is a diagram showing the structure of the first embodiment of the heat treatment system of the present invention. Figure 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the structure of the gate valve installed between the chambers in the first embodiment, and Figure 44 shows the structure of the heat treatment equipment system O of the second embodiment of the present invention. Explanatory diagrams, Figure 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of a third embodiment of the heat treatment equipment system of the present invention, and Figure 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the fourth embodiment of the heat treatment equipment system of the present invention. , FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the fifth embodiment of the heat treatment equipment system O of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the sixth embodiment Oa of the heat treatment equipment system of the present invention. In the diagram: o3 1... Cut S chamber, 2... Heat@'x'M, s... Pre-chamber, flea feeding chamber, 5... Load lock chamber, 6... Way... Gate valve, i3m, 8b... intake/exhaust bow 9
-・Heater, 1 piece...tri, 11...mine transport chamber,
1st place M presentation, 13...Boat, 14...-Flea delivery room, 15
Lean tunnel 4... 7... t, 2... 〜...ri

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. By raising the temperature near the surface of the substrate to be processed using light, a heater, etc., cleaning processing can be performed before heat processing, for example, in a heat processing equipment system for oxidation, diffusion, annealing, etc. What is claimed is: 1. A heat treatment apparatus system, comprising a pretreatment chamber for performing heat treatment and the heat treatment chamber, and further connected to a transfer chamber having a function of allowing movement of the object to be treated between the two chambers. 2. In the heat treatment apparatus system according to claim 1, the time from the end of the pretreatment to the start of the heat treatment is T (sec), during which time the partial pressure tP of (H_2O+O_2) in the atmosphere with which the object to be treated is in contact is A heat treatment apparatus system characterized in that control is performed so that the relationship of P×T≦1.5×10^-^6 holds when (Pa). 3. The heat treatment system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the transfer chamber has a structure that allows transfer to a plurality of pretreatment chambers. 4. The heat treatment apparatus system according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein a second transfer chamber to which a plurality of the heat treatment chambers can be connected is connected to the transfer chamber. 5. The heat treatment apparatus system according to claim 1, 2, 3, or 4, wherein gate pulp is provided at each of the openings of the processing chamber and the transfer chamber through which the object to be processed is taken in and taken out. 6. The heat treatment apparatus system according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, wherein the processing chamber and the transfer chamber all have independent exhaust systems or gas supply systems. 7. In the heat treatment apparatus system according to claim 5 or 6, the gate pulp provided between the processing chambers, between the transfer chambers, or between the processing chamber and the transfer chamber is double, and the gate A heat treatment system with a built-in exhaust or gas supply boat and a baking heater in the space between the pulps. 8. The heat treatment apparatus system according to claim 7, wherein only one of the double gate pulps is driven in a normal heat treatment process. 9. The heat treatment system according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8, wherein the heat treatment is performed by continuously flowing an inert gas into at least one of the processing chamber or the transfer chamber. equipment system. 10.Claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9
The heat treatment apparatus system according to 1, wherein at least one of the processing chamber or the transfer chamber has a vacuum evacuation device, and the chamber has a vacuum structure. 11. The heat treatment apparatus system according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10, wherein at least one of the processing chamber or the transfer chamber includes a heater as a baking means for the chamber. Heat treatment equipment system installed.