JPH05291269A - Heat treatment device for semiconductor wafer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a heat treatment device for semiconductor wafers which are capable of preventing open air from penetrating a reaction tube as much as possible when carrying collectively a plurality of semiconductor wafers into the reaction tube. CONSTITUTION:There is installed an inactive gas spray means 26 which has a large number of nozzles 24 near an opening section 20 on the lower side of a reaction tube 10. N2 gas is sprayed from the large number of nozzles 24. The nozzles are horizontally oriented so that the sprayed N2 gas forms a current parallel to a large number of wafers 14 loaded horizontally. The N2 gas is sprayed from the large number of tubes 24 when housing the semiconductor wafers 14 into the reaction tube 10 by lifting-up a loading mechanism 18. This construction makes it possible to eliminate the air prevailing between the wafers by the get current of the N2 and replace a wafer to wafer space with the N2 consecutively.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer heat treatment apparatus for performing heat treatment on a semiconductor wafer in a semiconductor manufacturing process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As one of semiconductor manufacturing processes, there is a process of heat-treating a semiconductor wafer. For example, a heat treatment apparatus for performing such a treatment is used to load a large number of semiconductor wafers mounted on a boat into a reaction tube through a loading opening provided on the lower side of a vertical cylindrical reaction tube. It is configured to be loaded into. In such a heat treatment apparatus, if oxygen in the air is mixed in the reaction tube during the heat treatment, the quality of the semiconductor wafer deteriorates.Therefore, nitrogen gas, which is an inert gas, is used as a process gas before the semiconductor wafer is loaded. (N ₂ ) is introduced into the reaction tube, and when the semiconductor wafer is further loaded, the N ₂ gas injected into the reaction tube is positively discharged to the outside from the opening for loading the semiconductor wafer. By releasing, the outside air is prevented from entering the inside of the reaction tube.

[0003]

As described above, when the semiconductor wafer is loaded, the N injected into the reaction tube is also injected.
_By positively releasing the ₂ gas from the opening for loading the semiconductor wafer to the outside, it is possible to prevent outside air from entering the inside of the reaction tube. However, since semiconductor wafers are placed on a boat and a large number of wafers are loaded into the reaction tube at once, it is difficult to completely remove the air originally present between the wafers in the conventional apparatus. And this air is brought into the reaction tube as it is. When the heat treatment is performed in the state where the external air is mixed in this way, there is a problem that oxygen or the like adheres to the semiconductor wafer during the heat treatment and the quality of the semiconductor deteriorates.

The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and it is possible to prevent external air from entering the reaction tube as much as possible even when a plurality of semiconductor wafers are collectively transferred into the reaction tube. It is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor wafer heat treatment apparatus capable of performing the above.

[0005]

The present invention for achieving the above object provides a reaction tube for accommodating a plurality of semiconductor wafers, and conveying the plurality of semiconductor wafers into the reaction tube from an opening of the reaction tube. In the heat treatment apparatus for semiconductor wafers, which has a transporting means for heating the reaction tube and a heating means for heating the reaction tube, holding means for holding the plurality of semiconductor wafers in substantially parallel to each other so that gas can pass therethrough, and the reaction tube And an inert gas injection means for injecting an inert gas, which is disposed in the vicinity of the opening and is held by the holding means and is substantially parallel to the semiconductor wafer carried by the carrying means. is there.

[0006]

According to the present invention, when the semiconductor wafer held by the holding means is conveyed into the reaction tube, the inert gas is jetted substantially parallel to the semiconductor wafer so that the air existing between the semiconductor wafers is discharged. Are eliminated by a jet of inert gas, and the space between the semiconductor wafers is replaced by this inert gas.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A semiconductor wafer heat treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Figure 1
FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a heat treatment apparatus for a semiconductor wafer which is an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the reaction tube 10 has a vertical cylindrical shape, and a resistance heating heater 12 as a heating means is provided around the side wall. By the resistance heating heater 12, the inside of the reaction tube 10 is
It can be heated to a high temperature of about 00 ° C. A large number of semiconductor wafers 14 are placed in parallel on an insertion jig 16 which is a holding means while keeping a constant space therebetween. The semiconductor wafer 14 can be moved up and down together with the insertion jig 16 by a loading mechanism 18 as a transfer means. As a result, the semiconductor wafer 14 is loaded into the reaction tube 10 through the opening 20 on the lower side, and the semiconductor wafer 14 that has been heat-treated is placed in the reaction tube 1.
It can be taken out from 0.

An inert gas injection pipe 22 for injecting an inert gas, such as N ₂ gas, into the reaction tube 10 is provided above the reaction tube 10. Before loading the semiconductor wafer into the reaction furnace 10, N ₂ gas is introduced from the inert gas injection pipe 22 to fill the inside of the reaction pipe 10 with N ₂ gas. In addition, the loading mechanism 18
The N ₂ gas is jetted from the inert gas jetting pipe 22 also when the semiconductor wafer 14 is housed in the reaction pipe 10 by raising the pressure. As a result, the N ₂ gas is constantly released from the lower opening 20 of the reaction tube, so that it is possible to prevent external air from entering the reaction tube 10. However, from the inert gas injection pipe 22 to N
_If only ₂ gases are jetted, the air that originally exists between the semiconductor wafers and is carried into the reaction tube 10 together with the semiconductor wafers cannot be sufficiently removed.

Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a large number of nozzles 2 are provided in the vicinity of the lower opening 20 of the reaction tube 10.
Inert gas injection means 26 having No. 4 is provided, and N ₂ gas is also injected from the large number of nozzles 24. Since this nozzle is oriented in the horizontal direction, the jetted N ₂ gas becomes a jet stream parallel to the semiconductor wafer 14. The loading mechanism 18 is raised to move the semiconductor wafer 14 to the reaction tube 10.
By ejecting N ₂ gas from a large number of nozzles 24 during the operation of storing the semiconductor wafer inside, the air existing between the semiconductor wafers is eliminated by the jet of N ₂ , and the semiconductor wafers and the semiconductor wafers are removed. The space between them is sequentially replaced with N ₂ gas.

In this way, from the inert gas injection pipe 22 to N
_When the semiconductor wafer 14 is completely housed and the reaction tube 10 is sealed by loading the semiconductor wafer 14 into the reaction tube 10 while injecting ₂ gases and further ejecting N ₂ gas from the nozzle 24 as well. There is almost no outside air inside the reaction tube 10, and the reaction tube 1
The inside of 0 is kept in a clean atmosphere.

[0011]

As described above, according to the present invention, by providing the inert gas injection means for injecting the inert gas in parallel with the semiconductor wafer in the vicinity of the opening of the reaction tube,
When the semiconductor wafer is transferred to the reaction tube, the air existing between the semiconductor wafer and the semiconductor wafer is removed and replaced with an inert gas, so that the inside of the reaction tube can be maintained in a clean atmosphere, and therefore the heat treatment can be performed. In this case, it is possible to provide a heat treatment apparatus for a semiconductor wafer which does not have a problem that air adheres to the semiconductor wafer.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a heat treatment apparatus for a semiconductor wafer which is an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Reaction tube 12 Resistance heating heater 14 Semiconductor wafer 16 Insertion jig 18 Loading mechanism 20 Opening 22 Inert gas injection pipe 24 Nozzle 26 Inert gas injection means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A reaction tube for accommodating a plurality of semiconductor wafers, a conveying means for conveying the plurality of semiconductor wafers into the reaction tube from an opening of the reaction tube, and a heating means for heating the reaction tube. In a semiconductor wafer heat treatment apparatus, holding means for holding the plurality of semiconductor wafers substantially parallel to each other so as to allow gas to pass therethrough, and the holding means arranged near the opening of the reaction tube and held by the holding means. A heat treatment apparatus for a semiconductor wafer, which is provided with an inert gas injection means for injecting an inert gas substantially parallel to the semiconductor wafer conveyed by the means.