JPH05144759A - Semiconductor manufacturing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a heat treatment apparatus so structured that it may uniformly heat semiconductor wafers in impurity diffusion and so on. CONSTITUTION:A semiconductor manufacture equipment is constituted of a horizontal furnace 11; a cylindrical reaction tube 12 inserted into the horizontal furnace 11; a first and a second half-cylindrical holder 14 and 15 which are mated into a cylinder. The holders 14 and 15 hold wafers in standing position by supporting a plurality of points on the circumference of wafers 1 through the inside surface thereof; and a means 16 for rotating the cylinder, or the first and second holders 14 and 15 mated, in the reaction tube 12.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus field structure for subjecting a semiconductor wafer to heat treatment such as impurity diffusion.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional horizontal diffusion apparatus comprises a horizontal furnace, a reaction tube, a wafer holder, etc., and the wafer holder is provided with a spacer having a large number of grooves wider than the thickness of the wafer at equal intervals at the bottom and both sides. Therefore, a large number of wafers are held upright at substantially equal intervals. Therefore, the upright wafer was in contact with the wafer holder at a plurality of positions on the lower half of the peripheral edge and was heated in this state.

[0003]

When a wafer is processed by such a conventional apparatus, the temperature rise of the wafer is delayed at the contact portion with the wafer holder as compared with other portions, and this contact portion is the peripheral portion of the upright wafer. Since it is limited to the lower half circumference, there is a problem that a temperature distribution is generated in the wafer and the characteristics of the semiconductor device vary.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which a wafer is uniformly heated.

[0005]

According to the present invention, an object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus for processing a wafer 1 at a high temperature, which comprises a horizontal furnace 11 and a cylindrical furnace inserted in the horizontal furnace 11. When combined with the reaction tube 12, it becomes a cylindrical shape, and each has a semi-cylindrical shape and its inner surface is in contact with a plurality of positions on the peripheral portion of the wafer 1 to hold the wafer 1 upright and the second holder 14 and the second holder 14. The reaction tube including the holder 15, the first holder 14 and the second holder 15 combined in a cylindrical shape,
This is achieved by providing a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus characterized by having a rotating means 16 that rotates within 12.

[0006]

According to the present invention, the contact point between the wafer and the wafer holder occurs not only in the lower half of the peripheral edge of the wafer but also in the upper half thereof, and the contact point changes due to the rotation of the wafer holder. Therefore, the temperature distribution in the wafer is reduced and the uniformity is improved.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of a diffusion device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1A and 1B are explanatory views of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1A is a sectional view showing an outline of a main part of the apparatus, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view of a wafer holder. In the figure, 1 is a wafer to be treated, 11 is a horizontal furnace, 12 is a reaction tube, 13 is a cap, 14 is a first wafer holder, 15 is a second wafer holder, and 16 is a rotating means including a motor or the like. Is.

The horizontal furnace 11 has a cylindrical space inside a horizontally arranged tubular heater, and the reaction tube 12 is placed in this space.
Has been inserted. The reaction tube 12 is made of quartz and has one end opened and a gas inlet 12a and an overhanging portion 12b at the other end. The cap 13 closes the open end of the reaction tube 12 and has a gas outlet 13a.

The dimensions and shapes of the main parts of the first wafer holder 14 and the second wafer holder 15 are the same, both have a semi-cylindrical shape, and by combining them, they have a cylindrical shape. Both of them are made of quartz, and the bottom and both sides of this semi-cylinder are constituted by spacers 14a or 15a.
The spacers 14a, 15a are provided with a large number of grooves wider than the thickness of the wafer 1 toward the inside of the cylinder at equal intervals.
A large number (for example, 20 to 30) of wafers 1 can be held upright at substantially equal intervals.

It should be noted that these grooves are arranged so that the bottoms of the grooves of the upper wafer holder do not come into contact with the outer periphery of the wafer 1 held upright by the lower wafer holder in a state where both the wafer holders are vertically combined. ing. In addition, in order to prevent mutual displacement after the first wafer holder 14 and the second wafer holder 15 are combined, a concave portion and a convex portion which are fitted to each other are provided on the contact surfaces of the both (illustration is not shown. Omitted).

These are axes 14b or 15b extending from one end face of the semi-cylindrical portion along an extension of the center line of the cylinder.
And also has a shaft 14c or 15c extending from the other end face along the extension of the center line of the cylinder.

In order to process the wafer 1 with this diffusing device, first, the wafer 1 is housed in either one of the first wafer holder 14 and the second wafer holder 15, and the other is covered to be assembled into a cylindrical shape. Next, these are inserted into the reaction tube 12 in the horizontal furnace 11, the shafts 14c and 15c are fitted into the overhanging portion 12b of the reaction tube 12, and the shafts 14b and 15b are rotated.
Stick to. Next, when the rotating means 16 is started, the first wafer holder 14 and the second wafer holder 15 rotate at a low speed with the center line of the cylinder constituted by them as the rotation axis.
At this time, the wafer 1 hardly rotates and is heated while changing the contact position with the first wafer holder 14 and the second wafer holder 15.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but can be implemented with various modifications.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus capable of uniformly heating a wafer, which contributes to improving the yield of semiconductor device manufacturing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an example of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Wafer 11 Horizontal furnace 12 Reaction tube 12a Gas inlet 12b Overhang 13 Cap 13a Gas outlet 14 First wafer holder 14a, 15a Spacers 14b, 14c, 15b, 15c Shaft 15 Second wafer holder 16 Rotation means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus for treating a wafer (1) at high temperature, comprising: a horizontal furnace (11); and a cylindrical reaction tube (12) inserted in the horizontal furnace (11). It becomes a cylindrical shape by each, and each has a semi-cylindrical shape and its inner surface is in contact with a plurality of peripheral portions of the wafer (1) to hold the wafer (1) upright and hold the first holder (14) and the second holder (14). A holder (15); and a rotating means (16) for rotating the first holder (14) and the second holder (15) combined in a cylindrical shape in the reaction tube (12). Characteristic semiconductor manufacturing equipment.