JPS60165379A - Method and apparatus for continuous-type vapor growth - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To carry out vapor growth continuously and enhance productivity, by a method wherein a wafer is circulated through each chamber of a reactor partitioned into a plurality of chambers by vertical walls, and each step is carried out by passing a required gas after heating each of the chambers to a predetermined temperature. CONSTITUTION:The reactor 11 comprising A, B, C and D chambers 12, 13, 14, 15 is used, and a series of process for vapor growth is divided into 4 steps. The 4 steps are successively assigned respectively to the A-D chambers 12-15, a substrate wafer 20 is fed into each of the chambers, and the wafer 20 located in each of the chambers is heated to a temperature required for each of the steps of vapor growth process. The atmosphere in each of the chambers is replaced by nitrogen or hydrogen gas by using nozzles 18a-18d provided at central parts of the reactor 11 in correspondence with the chambers, a chlorine gas is fed into some of the chambers, while a silicon gas and a dopant gas are fed into some other ones of the chambers. Accordingly, a series of steps for vapor growth are continuously conducted in conjunction with the movement of the wafer 20.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field to which the Invention Pertains] The present invention relates to forming an air chamber 11 around a susceptor heated by high-frequency power, an infrared lamp, etc., and placing an IC on the susceptor. Epitaxial film of semiconductor material on wafer surface? The present invention relates to a vapor phase epitaxy method and apparatus for vapor phase growth, and particularly to a method and apparatus for continuously processing substrate wafers (hereinafter simply referred to as wafers) in a single wafer manner.

[Prior art]

When manufacturing semiconductors, as the throughput of semiconductor manufacturing equipment increases, such as the need for larger wafers, the size of conventional batch processing systems, such as vertical, horizontal, and barrel-type equipment, is increasing in vapor phase growth equipment as well. It's progressing. In response, there is an increasing demand for continuous vapor phase growth equipment that processes wafers one by one, but CVD, which is already in practical use, is
In contrast, gas phase epitaxial methods generally require reactor materials and structures that can withstand high temperatures of about 12 Tl and 0°C, and that they require reactor materials and structures that can withstand explosive temperatures such as hydrogen gas and S
i Since H4 scum etc. are used, the airtightness of the reactor is important for safety, and epitaxial growth is very sensitive to wafer temperature, and a polycrystalline film will grow at low temperatures, so An important issue was the need for isolation of reactive gases.

For this reason, the method of continuous processing of vapor phase eviaxial growth one wafer at a time has problems with the method of transporting the wafer in the reactor, the jig and its material, and
It has not been put to practical use because it is difficult to control the position of supply and separation of scum within the reactor, as well as to control the position and temporal temperature within the reactor. For this reason, vapor phase epitaxial growth must be produced using batch processing equipment, making it difficult to fully automate the process, including the loading and unloading of wafers, and continuous processing equipment is becoming mainstream for other processes. However, there were also problems in connecting with them.

[Purpose of the invention]

The purpose of the present invention is to solve the following difficulties:

By continuously performing vapor phase epitaxial growth, automation can be easily achieved.1. Continuous vapor phase growth method and m fit
? It is about providing.

[Key points of the invention]

The present invention uses a reactor having a plurality of chambers, and separates a series of steps of vapor phase growth into a plurality of steps (5.
C. Sequentially loading the allocated wafers into each of the chambers,
Each chamber is heated to a temperature necessary for each step of vapor phase growth, and each chamber is replaced with nitrogen and/or hydrogen sludge, and hydrogen chloride sludge is introduced into some of the chambers. In addition, in some other chambers, silicon-based gas and dopant gas are allowed to flow in, so that a series of vapor phase growth steps can be performed continuously as the wafer moves, and an apparatus therefor. It is in.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be shown and explained with reference to the drawings. In Figs. 1 and 2, the reactor 11 is shown on the base 3J
V-sealed by a heat-resistant O-ring 32, and A chamber 12, B chamber +3, C chamber 14, and D%1504.
Each room is partitioned by vertical walls 17 with four spaces 16 in the middle. In each group 12, 13, 14.15, there are nozzles I8a and 18d (all collectively referred to as nozzles 18) provided in each chamber in the center of the reactor 11, respectively. , Hc
L, Si-based gas.

(8iH4, 8rH2ctz, 5ict4, etc. dopant gas (P)ia, B2H6, etc.) gases are ejected into each chamber independently, and the four spaces l6
In 1C, N2 gas is spouted from U path 19 at the center of nozzle +8. However, each room 12. 13.
Each of the four spaces 16 and 14°15 communicates with each other below the central area of the reactor 11 as shown in FIG. , and H2 gas is constantly flowing into the space 16, so it is impossible for the reaction gas etc. that have flowed into each chamber to jump over the space 16 and flow into other chambers. There is.

In FIG. 2 of the reactor 11, approximately at the center in the vertical direction,
A susceptor base 21 made of quartz that supports a number of susceptors 4Z33f made of disk-shaped carbon on which Ueno 20 is placed is attached to the rotating shaft 22, and the susceptor base 21 is attached to the rotating shaft 22, and the susceptor base 21 is installed at two locations on the outer periphery of the reactor IJ. A cassette section 23.A cassette section 23 stores wafers for storage and wafers for transport. B cassette section 24
and A preliminary chamber 25 for gas replacement which is necessary when transferring the gas between each cassette section and reactor II. A B reserve room 26 is provided. In addition, the movement of the ueno 120 between each cassette section 23.24 and each preliminary chamber 25.26 and 25.2
6 is constantly supplied with nitrogen gas for nitrogen replacement, and the gate valve 2B is opened and closed only when the wafer is moved.

Also, 29 is +2.13 for each room. 30 is a gas exhaust pipe provided on the iris 4.15, and 30 is provided on the upper surface of the reactor 11,
This is a heating device such as an infrared lamp for heating the susceptor in each chamber.

Next, the operation of the embodiment described above will be explained. To cassette part 2
One wafer 20 is taken out from the wafer cassette placed in the wafer cassette 3 and carried into the A preliminary chamber 25, which is purged with nitrogen, by the belt transport mechanism 27.Then, the gate valve 28 is opened, and the suction hand is transferred to the A chamber I2, which is purged with nitrogen. Wafer 20 by 34
'tl-send. At that point, the scum supplied from the nozzle 18a to chamber A+2 is switched to hydrogen gas, and chamber A+2 is replaced with hydrogen, and the susceptor 33 on which the wafer 20 is placed
The temperature is raised, the temperature is kept constant at 800℃, and after a certain period of time (
The fixed time for rooms B and D, which will be described later, is the same as this).
Stable when heated to 50℃.

When the susceptor base 21 rotates 90° counterclockwise after the above-mentioned certain period of time has elapsed, the susceptor 3 is attached to the wafer 20.
3. Placed in 1 and replaced with hydrogen, then heated at 50℃.
Sent to room B 13.

In chamber B 13, when wafer 2 () is sent, it is approximately 121)
While being heated to 0.degree. C., hydrogen chloride gas is flowed from the nozzle 18b to lightly vapor-etch the wafer surface layer which will become the epitaxial growth surface.

At the end of etching, the hydrogen chloride residue is reduced to hydrogen residue, the B chamber +3 is replaced with hydrogen, and the temperature is reduced to 115.
Returned to 0°C. After a certain period of time after the wafer 20 enters the B chamber 13, the wafer 2o is sent to the C chamber 14 by rotating the converter base 21 counterclockwise by 90 degrees IC. C room 14
is always maintained at z50°C (epitaxial growth temperature), and after being replaced with hydrogen for a while with hydrogen gas supplied from nozzle 18C to stabilize the wafer temperature, 8rcLa.

S iHz c t +! , 8i-based gas such as 8iH4 and a dopant gas such as PH3 or B2H6 are appropriately supplied to perform vapor phase growth. After a preset vapor phase growth time has elapsed, the chamber 14 is replaced with hydrogen again, and after a certain period of time has elapsed since the wafer 2° has moved to the C position, the susceptor base 21 is rotated 90″ counterclockwise. The wafer 20 is sent to the D room J5 which is heated to 1150° C. After the wafer 20 sent to the uDD room 5 is cooled down to room temperature in a hydrogen atmosphere, the room D +5 is replaced with nitrogen.

The nitrogen-substituted chamber D+5 interior bar 2 () is transferred to the B preliminary chamber 26 where the gate valve 28 is opened, and the suction hand 35 is loaded with nitrogen, and after an appropriate period of time, it is transferred to the IB cassette section 24. Sent. A certain period of time has passed when the wafer 20 is sent from the D chamber +5 to the B preliminary chamber 26, and the susceptor pack 21 is rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise.

This completes the vapor phase growth of one wafer 20, but when the susceptor 33 is emptied due to the pull g (902 rotations of the susceptor base 2I in the counterclockwise ηF direction and sent to room A), The new wafer 20 is transferred from the cassette section 23 to the A reserve amount 2.
Each wafer 20 is transferred to each chamber 12. +3.14.15 All different processes will be performed at the same time, and the susceptor base 2
Epitaxial growth is performed continuously as J rotates.

Note that the third □□□ is a time chart of the above-mentioned relationship between temperature and gas for each chamber. As is clear from Fig. 3, when transferring 20 wafers from one chamber to another, the heating in each chamber is kept constant (50°C). I try to keep it small. If the temperature of the wafer 20 during this transfer is set to the temperature of the vapor phase growth process in chamber C 7411C, which takes the longest time among the processes in each chamber, there is an advantage that the vapor phase growth can be performed more efficiently.

Figure 4 and 8+! Figure 5 shows another example of Honkamei 1-
It is something that In this example, the reactor 4I has a rectangular shape, so the A chamber 42. Room B43. Plan C 44 and chamber D 45 are arranged in a straight line, and there is a space 46 partitioned by a vertical wall 47 between each chamber. Figures 1 and 2, which were explained earlier, only move
Unlike the figure, the other parts are the same, so a detailed explanation will be omitted.

ii1 In the embodiment described above, a space 6 or 46f is provided between the reactors 11 and 41 and the D chambers 12 to 15 or 42 to L245, so that the atmosphere gas in each chamber is mutually adjacent to the other chambers. Although we have shown an example in which the atmosphere in each chamber is made independent by preventing it from flowing into the chamber, the chamber that most requires this independence of atmosphere is the C chamber 14 or 44 to which the reaction gas is supplied; The chambers can be configured so that they do not adversely affect each other by appropriately determining the amount of gas supplied to each chamber and the amount of gas exhausted.
Therefore, the space 16 or 46 is the C chamber I4 or 44.
It may be done only before and after.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the continuous vapor phase growth method and apparatus of the present invention, a wafer is circulated through each chamber of a reactor divided into a plurality of chambers by vertical walls, and each chamber is heated to a predetermined temperature. Vapor phase growth is performed continuously by introducing the necessary waste and performing each process.

In addition, the space provided between the reactor and the chamber prevents the reaction gas from flowing into the adjacent chamber (7), making continuous vapor phase growth, which was previously considered difficult, possible.Furthermore, the present invention Since it is a continuous type and can be easily automated, it has many advantages such as dramatically higher productivity and lower costs compared to conventional batch systems.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 is a planar sectional view, Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 in Figure 1, and Figure 3 shows the temperature and temperature of each chamber. 4 and 5 are time charts showing the relationship between wastes. FIGS. 4 and 5 show other embodiments of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a planar sectional view, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5-5 in FIG. . 11.41...Reactor, 12.42...Room A, 13
．． 43...Room B, 14.44...Room C, 15.45
... Room B, 16.47... Space, 20... Wafer, 21.48... 4 susceptors, 23... A cassette section, 24... B cassette section, 25...・A spare room,
26...B spare room, 33.49...Susceptor'+1 figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] Using a reactor having a plurality of chambers, a series of steps of vapor phase growth is divided into a plurality of steps, and each of the steps is successively assigned to each of the chambers, and the substrate Ueno S is placed in each of the chambers. The substrates in each of the chambers are heated to the required temperature for each process of vapor phase growth, and each chamber is replaced with nitrogen gas or water purple gas. In one chamber VC, chloride gas is introduced, and in some other chambers, silicon gas and dopant gas are introduced to continuously perform a series of vapor phase growth steps as the substrate wafer is moved. A continuous vapor phase growth method that reduces the temperature to +iM. 2. A continuous vapor phase growth method according to claim 1, characterized in that when the substrate wafer is transferred between the chambers, the temperature variation of the substrate wafer in each chamber is made to be approximately the same. 3rd evening) Are the substrate wafers in each room? 2. The continuous vapor phase growth method according to claim 1, wherein the temperature of the substrate wafer in each negative chamber is brought close to the vapor phase growth temperature. 1 Illusion A reactor has a plurality of chambers, each of which is isolated and closed at the top, and a nitrogen gap is provided between at least the chamber to which a reaction gas is supplied and the chambers before and after the chamber, and a substrate wafer is directly or The wafer support is provided so as to be indirectly mounted and movable sequentially to the lower surface of the plurality of chambers, and is connected to the first chamber and the last chamber of the plurality of chambers through gate pulps, respectively. A preliminary chamber for loading and unloading substrate wafers, a heating means for substrate wafers provided in each of the plurality of chambers, and a heating means for each of the plurality of chambers corresponding to each step of vapor phase growth for each of the plurality of chambers. A continuous vapor phase growth apparatus comprising gas supply/exhaust means for individually supplying and exhausting gases, and means for supplying H2 cascade into the space. A susceptor base made of
8. The continuous vapor phase growth apparatus according to claim 8II, wherein a plurality of chambers are arranged around the center of the rotating disk. 5) The continuous vapor phase growth apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of chambers are arranged in a straight line.