JPH10135227A - Heating apparatus for semiconductor manufacturing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the size of a heating apparatus for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, esp., of its substrate housing, or reduce the wt. of a panel heater of the heating apparatus and the time required for pre-heating substrates to improve the throughput. SOLUTION: The apparatus comprises a vacuum chamber 1, housing a panel heater housing frame 10 having vertical stages of panel heaters horizontally laid across the panel heater housing frame, to support and heat substrates 8 between the panel heaters. Both ends 13 of each panel heater are thick, and its middle 12 is thin. Resistance-heating elements 6 are buried in the ends of the heater to heat a semiconductor fabrication apparatus. Since the middle of the panel heater having influence on the substrate housing is made thin, the vertical pitch of the panel heater can be small, and since no resistance- heating element exists at the middle, the panel heater itself can be light in wt. to reduce its bending.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heating apparatus for preheating a substrate to be processed in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor device by forming a thin film on a wafer or a glass substrate or performing a surface treatment such as etching, the surface treatment is performed under high temperature and reduced pressure in a processing chamber. However, in order to improve the processing quality or shorten the processing time, preheating is performed to a temperature near the processing temperature before the wafer is carried into the processing chamber.

FIG. 2 shows a conventional preheating apparatus for performing the preheating.

A panel heater storage frame 2 is provided inside the vacuum chamber 1 so as to be connected to an elevating mechanism (not shown), and panel heater receiving shelves 3 project from both inner side surfaces of the panel heater storage frame 2, respectively. And panel heater receiving shelves 3 on both sides thereof.
3, a panel heater 4 is provided horizontally. The panel heater 4 includes a panel heater main body 5 and a resistance heating element 6 embedded inside the panel heater main body 5, and the heat generated by the resistance heating element 6 is made uniform by the panel heater main body 5. ing.

[0005] The panel heater receiving shelves 3 are provided in required steps vertically at a required pitch, and substrate support pins 7 are provided between the upper and lower panel heater receiving shelves 3, 3.
It protrudes from the side of. The substrate 8 to be processed is horizontally supported between the opposing substrate support pins 7, 7, and is supported.

The transfer operation of the substrate 8 to the panel heater storage frame 2 is performed by a horizontal movement by a substrate transfer device (not shown) and a cooperative operation of raising and lowering the panel heater storage frame 2 by the lifting mechanism. Done.

The substrate 8 accommodated in the panel heater accommodating frame 2 is heated by far infrared rays generated by the heat generated by the resistance heating element 6.

[0008]

In the above-mentioned conventional heating device, the resistance heating element 6 is embedded in the panel heater main body 5, so that the panel heater 4 has a large thickness. As shown in the drawing, when the laminated structure is formed in the vertical direction, the dimension in the vertical direction becomes large, the vertical movement amount of the panel heater storage frame 2 in the transfer of the substrate 8 to be processed becomes large, the lifting mechanism becomes large, and further movement is required. The required time becomes longer, and it takes time to transfer the substrate 8 to be processed, and overall throughput is reduced. Further, the substrate 8 to be processed
As the size of the panel heater 4 increases, the panel heater 4 bends under its own weight, the weight of the panel heater 4 increases significantly, the elevating speed decreases, and it takes time to transfer the substrate 8 to be processed. Is reduced.

In view of such circumstances, the present invention aims at reducing the size of the heating device, particularly, the accommodation portion of the substrate to be processed, or reducing the weight of the panel heater, and further reducing the time required for preheating the substrate to be processed by the heating device. It is intended to shorten the time and improve the throughput.

[0010]

According to the present invention, a panel heater housing frame is housed in a vacuum chamber, and a plurality of panel heaters are provided vertically above and below the panel heater housing frame. In a heating apparatus in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which a substrate is supported and heated, a panel heater is formed such that both end portions are thick and a central portion excluding the both end portions is formed thin, and a resistance heating element is embedded in the both end portions. The present invention relates to a heating apparatus, wherein a panel heater fitting groove is formed on an inner side surface of the panel heater housing frame, and both ends of the panel heater are fitted in the panel heater fitting groove. Since the center of the panel heater, which affects the accommodation of the substrate to be processed, can be made thinner, the vertical pitch of the panel heater can be made smaller. Possible to reduce the deflection of the heater itself lightly can panel heater.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, the same components as those shown in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

A panel heater storage frame 10 is provided inside the vacuum chamber 1.
Are connected to a lifting mechanism (not shown), and horizontal panel heater fitting grooves 9 are engraved on both inner side surfaces of the panel heater storage frame 10 at a required pitch in the vertical direction. A panel heater 11 is fitted into the panel heater fitting grooves 9 on both side surfaces of the panel heater housing frame 10,
The panel heater 11 is horizontally provided on both side surfaces of the panel heater housing frame 10 and is provided horizontally at required steps (four steps are shown in FIG. 1).

The panel heater 11 has a thicker fitting portion 13 at both ends and a thinner central portion 12 excluding the fitting portion 13 at both ends. The resistance heating element 6 is embedded in the fitting portion 13, and the central portion 12 has a function as a heat radiating plate and a soaking plate. Substrate support pins 7 project from the side surfaces of the panel heater housing frame 2 between the panel heater fitting grooves 9.

The transfer operation of the substrate 8 to the panel heater storage frame 10 is performed by a horizontal movement by a substrate transfer device (not shown) and a cooperative operation of the vertical movement of the panel heater storage frame 10 by the lifting mechanism. The substrate 8 to be processed is horizontally supported by the substrate support pins 7 in the heating device.

The substrate 8 accommodated in the panel heater accommodating frame 10 is heated by heating the fitting portion 13 by means of the resistance heating element 6 and by conducting heat from the fitting portion 13 to the central portion 12. Is heated, and the substrate 8 to be processed is heated by thermal radiation of far infrared rays from the central portion 12.

As described above, since the resistance heating element 6 is buried inside the panel heater 11, the heat generated by the resistance heating element 6 is effectively and quickly transmitted to the central portion 12, and the central portion 12 is raised. The temperature rate can be increased, and the center portion 12 is thinned, so that the accommodation space for the substrate 8 to be processed can be increased.
As a result, the vertical pitch of the panel heater 11 can be reduced, the total lifting stroke of the lifting mechanism can be reduced, and the lifting mechanism and the panel heater storage frame 10 can be reduced in size. Since the central portion 12 is provided in the panel heater fitting groove 9, the central portion 12 can be reduced in weight, bending can be reduced, the weight of the entire panel heater 11 can be reduced, the lifting speed by the lifting mechanism can be increased, and the lifting stroke can be reduced. Together with the shortening, the transfer time of the substrate 8 to be processed can be reduced and the throughput can be improved.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the resistance heating element is buried in the panel heater, the rate of temperature rise is high, and since the central portion is thin, the space for accommodating the substrate to be processed is large. As a result, the vertical pitch of the panel heater can be reduced, the total lifting stroke of the lifting mechanism can be reduced, and the lifting mechanism and the panel heater storage frame can be downsized. The time required for the elevating operation of the mechanism can be shortened, and an excellent effect that the throughput can be improved is exhibited.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vacuum chamber 6 Resistance heating element 7 Substrate support pin 8 Substrate to be processed 9 Panel heater fitting groove 10 Panel heater storage frame 11 Panel heater 12 Central part 13 Fitting part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A semiconductor in which a panel heater housing frame is housed in a vacuum chamber, a plurality of panel heaters are provided vertically above and below the panel heater housing frame, and a substrate to be processed is supported and heated between the panel heaters. In a heating apparatus of a manufacturing apparatus, a semiconductor heater is characterized in that both end portions of a panel heater are formed thick and a central portion excluding the both end portions is formed thin, and a resistance heating element is embedded in the both end portions. Heating device. 2. A heating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a panel heater fitting groove is formed on an inner side surface of said panel heater housing frame, and both ends of said panel heater are fitted into said panel heater fitting groove. .