JPH05175138A - Semiconductor vapor-phase epitaxy apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a breakage, which occurs sometimes in a conventional apparatus by dropping, etc., at the time of housing a substrate in a susceptor, by equipping the title apparatus with the susceptor arranged vertically in a reaction vessel, a substrate holder for retaining a semiconductor substrate and a substrate holder-inserting recess provided in the susceptor. CONSTITUTION:At the time housing a substrate 16 in a susceptor 1 in a barrel- type vapor-phase epitaxy apparatus, the substrate 16 is mounted by the use of e.g. vacuum pincette in a state where a jig 21 is inserted into a groove 5 attached to a part of substrate holder-housing groove 4 to remove a substrate holder 2 once from the susceptor 1 and to make the holder level. After that, the substrate holder 2 is caught again by the jig 21 and inserted into the susceptor 1 to house the substrate 16. Further, the jig 21 is equipped with three pawls 21a for catching the peripheral edge of the substrate holder 2. Because the substrate can be mounted when it is merely dropped into the recess of the substrate holder in the manner of matching the recess while it is held in the level position by one pincette, a dropping accident at the time of mounting the substrate can be prevented and workability is improved remarkably.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in the structure of a substrate housing portion of a susceptor in a mass production type semiconductor vapor phase growth apparatus capable of growing a large number of wafers simultaneously.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a mass production type semiconductor vapor phase growth apparatus capable of simultaneously growing a large number of semiconductor thin films, a so-called barrel type apparatus for holding a substrate on a side surface of a bell-shaped susceptor and performing crystal growth while rotating. Is often used. An example thereof is shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, the reaction container 11 is provided with a gas inlet 11a in the upper part and an exhaust port 11b in the lower part, and forms a downward flow of the raw material gas in the reaction container. Next, in the center of the reaction container 11, a susceptor 12 holding a semiconductor substrate (not shown) is arranged on the peripheral side surface, and the susceptor 12 is provided with a rotation support shaft 14 extending downward from the bottom surface thereof. It penetrates the bottom of the and is connected to the power source.

The feature of the above conventional apparatus is that the substrate is mounted on the susceptor 12 vertically, that is, at an angle close to parallel to the gas flow, so that more substrates can be used in the reaction vessel of the same diameter than when the substrates are mounted horizontally. There is a point that can be attached. For example, when considering a reaction part with a diameter of 25 cm, the maximum number of substrates that can hold a substrate horizontally is 7 inches with a diameter of 3 inches, whereas in the barrel type, two lines are arranged in the gas flow direction, for example. Thus, it is possible to mount 18 substrates having a diameter of 3 inches.

However, a drawback of the barrel type vapor phase growth apparatus which is excellent in mass productivity is that it is difficult to take in and out the substrate because the substrate is mounted almost vertically. Usually, tweezers are used for handling the substrate, but in the barrel-type vapor phase growth apparatus, as shown in FIG. 4, the substrate 16 is hung by the tweezers 15 to hold the substrate (about 600 μm).
m) is leaned against the substrate storage recess 13 having the same depth as that of m), and then the entire substrate is fitted into the recess to complete the mounting.

The process of holding the substrate vertically and fitting it into the shallow groove as in the above process is poor in workability and often causes the substrate to be damaged. There is also a drawback in that the part sandwiched by the tweezers stains the substrate.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION As described above, the conventional vapor phase growth apparatus has a drawback in that the susceptor has a problem in insertion for accommodating the substrate, resulting in poor workability.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a structure of a semiconductor vapor phase epitaxy apparatus suitable for mass production by improving the substrate storage portion of the susceptor in view of the above conventional problems.

[0009]

A semiconductor vapor phase growth apparatus according to the present invention comprises a reaction vessel, a susceptor vertically arranged in the reaction vessel, a substrate holder for holding a semiconductor substrate, and It is characterized in that the substrate holder loading recess provided on the susceptor is provided.

[0010]

In the semiconductor vapor phase epitaxy apparatus of the present invention, the substrate holder is detached by the jig when the substrate is housed in the susceptor, and the substrate is placed in the groove of the holder in a nearly horizontal state. After that, the substrate holder is attached to the substrate holder housing groove of the susceptor with a jig. Therefore, when the substrate is stored in the susceptor like the conventional device, it is possible to prevent damage due to dropping or the like. Further, when the substrate is attached to the substrate holder, vacuum tweezers for holding the back surface in vacuum can be used, so that contamination of the substrate surface can be prevented.

[0011]

(Embodiment 1) One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawing of the barrel type vapor phase growth apparatus according to the present invention shown in FIG.

In order to carry out vapor phase growth of a semiconductor crystal by the vapor phase growth apparatus shown in FIG.
It is introduced into the reaction container 11 from 1a, decomposed by heating, and grown as a single crystal on the semiconductor substrate mounted in the substrate storage recess 3 of the substrate holder 2 provided in the susceptor body 1. The remaining gas that contributed to the growth is the exhaust port 11b at the bottom of the reaction vessel 11.
Discharged from.

Storage of the substrate in the crystal growth step will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b). This Figure 2
(A) is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of the barrel type vapor phase growth apparatus of FIG. 1 and shows a state in which a substrate is attached during crystal growth. (B) shows the state of the substrate holder 2 when the substrate is placed. In the present invention, when the substrate is housed in the susceptor 1, the jig 21 (FIG. 2C) is inserted into the mounting groove 5 provided in a part of the substrate holder housing groove 4 so that the substrate holder 2 is temporarily removed from the susceptor 1. The substrate 16 is detached and mounted in a horizontal state as shown in FIG. 2B using, for example, vacuum tweezers. After this, the substrate is held by the jig 21 again and inserted into the susceptor to store the substrate. Note that FIG.
An example of the jig 21 shown in (c) is provided with three claws 21 a for grasping the peripheral edge of the substrate holder 2. Then, at least one of the three (in the figure, one is exemplarily movable) is movable outwardly from the peripheral edge of the substrate holder, and a command is issued to hold, convey, and separate the substrate holder. It can be implemented.

Therefore, unlike the conventional example, the complicated work of suspending the substrate with one tweezers and supporting it from below with another tweezer is not necessary.

That is, in the apparatus of the present invention, the substrate can be attached by simply dropping it in line with the recess of the substrate holder while holding the substrate horizontally with a single tweezer, so that a fall accident when attaching the substrate can be prevented. The workability is significantly improved. Furthermore, by using vacuum tweezers as in this embodiment, it is possible to prevent contamination of the peripheral portion of the substrate surface.

As a result of the above-mentioned improvement, mass productivity can be expected to be improved, and the effect is remarkable as the size of the substrate is increased.

[0017]

As described above, according to the apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to prevent a substrate dropping accident due to a complicated work at the time of substrate loading and unloading, which is a drawback of the barrel type growth apparatus excellent in mass productivity. Efficiency and yield are improved,
An apparatus suitable as a mass-production type semiconductor vapor phase growth apparatus can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an outline of a semiconductor crystal growth apparatus according to the present invention.

2A is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1, FIG.
Is a sectional view showing a state where the substrate is mounted on the substrate holder,
(C) is a perspective view of a jig.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing an outline of a semiconductor crystal growth apparatus of a conventional example.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view for explaining mounting of a substrate on a susceptor in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 susceptor 2 substrate holder 3 substrate storage recess 4 substrate holder storage groove 5 substrate holder storage groove mounting groove 11 reaction vessel 11a gas inlet 11b exhaust port 12 susceptor 13 substrate storage recess 14 susceptor rotation support shaft 15 tweezers 16 semiconductor substrate

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A reaction container, a susceptor vertically arranged in the reaction container, a substrate holder for holding a semiconductor substrate, and a substrate holder loading recess provided in the susceptor. Characteristic semiconductor vapor deposition equipment.