JPH06310432A - Seal structure for opening part of manifold in semiconductor manufacturing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To so improve a seal structure for the opening part of a manifold which serves as the gas feeding means for a reactive furnace in a semiconductor manufacturing equipment that the alignment required in case of mounting and demounting the seal structure is made easy. CONSTITUTION:A seal structure for the opening part of a manifold 11 comprises a seal plate 22 provided horizontally on the outside of the outer peripheral surface of the opening part. The seal plate 22 has in its inner peripheral part a seal member for sealing the clearance between the outer peripheral surface of the opening part of the manifold 11 and itself, and it is so configured that an intermediate room 24 which is isolated in a sealing way from a heater part 3 including a reactive furnace and from a processing room 2 is formed. In this case, the seal plate 22 is formed in an annular shape, and is so configured desirably that as a seal member an O-ring 23 is mounted in the groove provided in its inner periphral part.

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 such as a CVD apparatus for forming a semiconductor single crystal on a wafer made of a material, and more specifically, a manifold for supplying a gas to a reaction furnace of the apparatus. Of the seal structure of the mouth of

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional front view showing the structure of a conventional CVD apparatus, which shows an inner process chamber 2 surrounded by a frame 1.
In the figure, a heater portion 3 is provided on the upper right side and a cleaner unit portion 4 is provided on the upper left side. Reference numeral 5 is a reaction furnace, 7 is a cleaning unit, 8 is a quartz board in which wafers are housed, 9 is a handler for operating the quartz board 8, and an elevating device 10 reacts the quartz board 8. The furnace is inserted into the furnace 5 by ascending, and after being processed, it is descended and taken out.
The seal shutter device 12 is adapted to open and close the bottom opening port 18 of No. 1. A robot 13 and a carrier stage 14 are provided on the left side of the handler 9 in the figure.

[0003]

When the CVD apparatus having the above structure is used, the inside of the frame is made dust-free and the reactor 5
A required gas such as H ₂ is supplied into the interior of the manifold 25 through the joint 25 of the manifold 11. By the way, the vacuum pump to the reaction furnace 5 provided around the manifold 11 or the joint 25 as the above-mentioned gas supply port used for wafer processing or the joint 25 'of the thermocouple for temperature control is used for the work. It is operated by hand for switching back and forth, cleaning or repair, and each time it is exhausted from the process chamber, evacuated, refilled work, and paying great attention not to bring dust Was needed. Therefore, Manifold 1
There has been a demand for a shield structure at the mouth of the manifold 11 which can easily perform centering of the shield at the mouth of No. 1 with the quartz boat 8 which moves up and down by the elevating device 10. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a seal structure for a mouth of a manifold in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus which solves the above problems (desiries).

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is arranged horizontally outside the outer peripheral surface of the mouth of a manifold provided as a gas supply means for a reaction furnace in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. A seal plate, the seal plate having an inner peripheral portion provided with a seal material for sealing between the seal plate and the outer peripheral surface of the mouth portion of the manifold. It is constructed so as to form an intermediate chamber sealed from the frame, the frame and the manifold A portion, the manifold B portion and the frame. In this case, it is preferable that the seal plate is formed in an annular shape, and an O-ring is mounted as a seal material in a groove provided in the inner peripheral portion of the seal plate.

[0005]

The above-mentioned joints are handled in the intermediate chamber where the seal plate according to the present invention is attached to the frame and sealed between the mouth of the manifold and the process chamber is kept as it is. In addition, since the O-ring as the seal material provided on the seal plate is positioned horizontally, the manifold may be slightly inclined due to a manufacturing error caused by the frame sheet metal working. And the vertical shift is easily absorbed.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail with reference to an embodiment shown in FIGS. FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional front view of an embodiment of a CVD apparatus having a seal structure for a mouth of a manifold according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion A of FIG. Are denoted by the same reference numerals as in FIG. 1 and 2, the furnace wall 5a of the reaction furnace 5 is fixed to a substantially horizontal frame 1a, the outer tube 15 is held by a ring 16 and a manifold A portion 11a, and the inner tube 17 is a manifold. It is held by the fold A section 11a and the manifold B section 11b.
The opening 18 of the manifold B portion 11b is opened and closed by a manifold holder 19 operated by the seal shutter device 12. Reference numeral 22 is a seal plate, and 23 is an O-ring as a seal material arranged on an inner peripheral portion which is a mounting portion of the seal plate 22, and is a manifold of the mouth portion 20 of the manifold 11. A seal plate 22, which is bolted to a substantially horizontal frame 1b through a packing (not shown), is engaged with an outer peripheral surface 21 of the sleeve B portion 11b through an O-ring 23 to form a seal plate. 22, the frames 1a and 1b, the manifold A portion 11a, and the manifold B portion 11b form a sealed intermediate chamber 24.

Here, a seal plate, which is a main part of the present invention,
The structure of the gate 22 will be described in detail. 3 is a plan view of the seal plate 22 and FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. That is, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the seal plate 22 is provided with a plurality of bolt through holes 22a along the outer circumference of an annular outer shape, and the inner diameter D of the central portion is the manifold B.
A groove 22b having a dovetail-shaped cross section is formed with a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the outer peripheral surface 21 of the portion 11b and a thick inner diameter portion, and an O-ring 23 as a seal material is mounted in the groove 22b. ing.

In the above structure, the various joints 25, 25 'attached to the manifold 11 can be operated by human hands independently of the process chamber 2 as shown in FIG. Also, due to the manufacturing error of the frame 1a, 1b for sheet metal working, the inclination and frame of the manifold 11 may be slightly different.
The dimensional error in the vertical direction between the frames 1a and 1b can be absorbed by the O-ring 23.

[0009]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it has the following excellent effects. Since a sealed intermediate chamber is configured between the heater and the process chamber, it is now possible to manually operate the various joints to the reactor in the intermediate chamber where the outside air communicates. . The seal plate is removable, and some inclination of the manifold and vertical position error are absorbed by the presence of a seal material such as an O-ring mounted on the inner periphery of the seal plate, so Centering with a vertically moving quartz boat was also easy, and the manifold itself could be disassembled and maintained easily, and management of semiconductor manufacturing equipment became extremely easy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional front view showing an embodiment of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus having a seal structure of a mouth of a manifold according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a portion A of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a seal plate according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional front view showing the main configuration of a conventional CVD apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2: Process chamber 3: Heater part 5: Reactor 11: Manifold 20: Mouth part 21: Outer peripheral surface 22: Seal plate 23: O-ring 24: Intermediate chamber

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A seal plate horizontally arranged outside the outer peripheral surface of the mouth of a manifold (11) provided as a gas supply means for a reaction furnace in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.
The seal plate (22) is provided with a seal material on the inner peripheral portion thereof for sealing between the outer peripheral surface of the mouth portion of the manifold (11). , The seal plate (22), the frame (1b) and the manifold A
(11a), the manifold section B section (11b), and the frame (1a) to form an intermediate chamber sealed by the frame (1a). Seal structure. 2. The seal plate (22) is formed in an annular shape, and an O-ring (23) is mounted as a seal material in a groove provided in an inner peripheral portion of the seal plate. 2. A seal structure at the mouth of a manifold in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus described in 1.