JPS6220347A - Processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the productivity in the treatment of an element to be processed by providing a conveying mechanism which passes at part of peripheral route through the prescribed treating fluid atmosphere and temperature treating area to pass the processing area with the element to be processed, and continuously treating the element in the processing area. CONSTITUTION:A reaction gas supply nozzle 11 for supplying the prescribed reaction gas (processing liquid) and an exhausting nozzle 12 for exhausting the interior of a processing zone 1 by connecting with the prescribed vacuum source are opposed through a moving passage of a wafer 9 passed through the interior center of the zone 1 in an elevational direction of the zone 1, and formed in a structure that the reaction gas is supplied in parallel to the flat surface of the wafer 9 placed horizontally on the susceptor 4 of a conveying mechanism to be passed. A thin film of the prescribed thickness is formed on the wafer 9 while passing the zone 1 of the prescribed temperature, degree of vacuum and further the prescribed reaction gas atmosphere.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to 1. a processing technology, particularly a technology that is effective when applied to chemical vapor deposition technology for forming a thin film on the surface of a wafer in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.

[Background technology]

In the manufacturing of semiconductor devices, in the process of forming semiconductor elements on a disk-shaped substrate, i.e., a wafer, made of silicon, for example, a thin film made of polycrystalline silicon, silicon nitride, etc., is formed on the wafer. It is conceivable to use a chemical vapor deposition apparatus W (hereinafter referred to as a CVD apparatus).

That is, a predetermined number of wafers are inserted into a horizontally positioned reaction vessel at once, the interior of the reaction vessel is brought to a predetermined degree of vacuum and temperature, a predetermined reaction gas is supplied, and the wafers are placed inside the reaction vessel. This is a so-called batch-type low-pressure CvD device that forms a thin film made of, for example, polycrystalline silicon or silicon nitride on the surface of a wafer.

However, in the above-mentioned batch-type low-pressure CVD apparatus, it is necessary to reduce the pressure inside the reaction container each time a wafer is inserted into and taken out of the reaction container, which increases the time required for processes other than the net film formation process. The inventors of the present invention have found that the method has the disadvantage that the number of wafers that can be processed for film formation per unit time is relatively small, resulting in poor productivity.

In addition, documents explaining CVD technology include Kogyo Kenkyukai Co., Ltd., published November 10, 1980;
"Electronic Materials J 1982 Special Issue P75-P81.

[Purpose of the invention]

An object of the present invention is to provide a processing technique that can improve productivity.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[Summary of the invention]

A brief overview of typical inventions disclosed in this application is as follows.

That is, a part of the circumferential path passes through a processing area having a predetermined processing fluid atmosphere and temperature, and a transport mechanism is provided to hold the object to be processed and pass through the processing area, and the processing of the object in the processing area is carried out. so that it is done continuously,
This improves productivity in processing objects.

[Embodiment 1] FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a low-pressure CVD apparatus that is an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the line ll-Tl in FIG.
3 is a sectional view of the portion indicated by , and FIG. 3 is a partially broken perspective view thereof.

A conveying mechanism 2 is provided inside the processing zone 1 (processing area) whose axis is provided in a substantially vertical direction so that a part of the circumferential path passes through the inside of the processing zone 1. It is configured to be moved upwardly within the processing zone l.

In addition, the portion of the transport mechanism 2 other than the circumferential path that passes through the inside of the processing zone 1 is configured to be housed inside a sealed duct 3 connected to the upper and lower ends of the processing zone (■). The structure maintains airtightness inside the zone 1 and the sealed duct 3.

Furthermore, a plurality of susceptors 4 are fixed to the transport mechanism 2 in parallel at predetermined intervals in a state substantially perpendicular to the moving direction of the transport mechanism 2, and the transport mechanism 2 is vertically raised inside the processing zone I. In this case, a plurality of susceptors 4 are arranged horizontally at predetermined intervals.

A loading chamber 7 and an unloading chamber are connected to the lower and upper side surfaces of the vertically provided processing zone 1 through a shutter mechanism 5 and a shutter mechanism 6, respectively, which can be opened and closed in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 8 is connected, and a wafer 9 (workpiece) inserted into the load chamber 7 from the outside is transferred through the shutter mechanism 5 by a predetermined transfer mechanism (not shown) provided inside the load chamber 7. The wafer 9 is transferred onto the susceptor 4 of the transport mechanism 2 which is rising from the bottom of the processing zone 1, and at the top of the processing zone 1, the wafer 9 that has passed through the processing zone l is transferred to a predetermined transfer mechanism. (not shown), the unloading chamber 8 is moved and recovered through the shutter mechanism 6.

In this case, the loading chamber 7 and the unloading chamber 8 are each connected to a predetermined vacuum source (not shown).
It is possible to create a predetermined degree of vacuum independently of the inside of the processing zone 1, and when the shutter mechanism 5 or 6 is opened and the wafer 9 is inserted into or taken out from the inside of the processing zone 1. In this case, the interior of the loading chamber 7 or the unloading chamber 8 is configured to have a degree of vacuum approximately equal to that of the interior of the processing zone 1, and when inserting or removing the wafer 9 into the processing zone 1, the processing zone is The structure is such that the degree of vacuum inside 1 is prevented from being disturbed.

Furthermore, a heater 0 is provided on the outer periphery of the processing zone 1, so that the inside of the processing zone 1 is heated to a predetermined temperature.

Further, inside the processing zone 1, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. An exhaust nozzle 12 for evacuating the inside of the processing zone 1 by being connected to The wafer 9 is placed so as to face the susceptor 4 of the transport mechanism 2 and is passed through the susceptor 4 .

A thin film of a predetermined jV thickness is formed on the surface of the wafer 9 while passing through the processing zone 1 at a predetermined temperature and vacuum degree and in a predetermined reaction gas atmosphere. .

The operation of the tree embodiment will be explained below.

First, the inside of the processing zone 1 and the sealed duct 3 is brought to a predetermined degree of vacuum by the exhaust nozzle 11, and
The interior of the processing zone 1 is heated to a predetermined temperature by the heater 10 .

Furthermore, the processing zone 1 of the transport mechanism 2 and the closed duct l-
At the same time, the reaction gas supply nozzle 1 is started inside the processing zone 1 at a predetermined speed.
A reaction gas having a predetermined composition is supplied through the processing zone 1 , and a reaction gas flow in a direction from the reaction gas supply nozzle 11 to the exhaust nozzle 12 creates a predetermined reaction gas atmosphere inside the processing zone 1 .

After the wafer 9 is inserted, the interior of the load chamber 7 provided at the lower side of the processing zone 1 is made to a predetermined degree of vacuum, and then the shutter mechanism 5 is opened, and the processing zone is The wafer 9 is moved and placed on the top of the susceptor 4, which is rising horizontally from the bottom of the susceptor 1.

This moving operation is successively repeated, and the wafers 9 are sequentially placed on the susceptor 4 which reaches the lower part of the processing zone 1 by the rotational movement of the transport mechanism 2.

The plurality of wafers 9 sequentially transferred to the susceptor 4 at the lower part of the processing zone 1 are transferred at a predetermined speed by the rotating operation of the transport mechanism 2 to the processing zone 1 which is in a predetermined degree of vacuum, temperature, and reaction gas atmosphere. A predetermined thin film is formed on the surface of the wafer 9 by continuously passing through the inside of the wafer 9 and coming into contact with an atmosphere of a reaction gas supplied from the side parallel to the plane of the wafer 9.

A plurality of wafers 9, which are continuously passed through the processing zone 1 and have a predetermined thin film formed on their surfaces, sequentially reach the L section of the processing zone 1, and are sequentially collected into the uncoded chamber 8 through the shutter mechanism 6. Ru.

In this way, the structure is such that the film formation process is performed by continuously passing a plurality of wafers 9 through the processing zone 1 in a predetermined degree of vacuum, temperature, and reaction gas atmosphere. It is possible to avoid unnecessary time taken to interrupt and restart the process due to the operation of putting the wafer 9 in and out of the reaction vessel, etc., as in the case of the film formation process, and the film formation process can be completed every m hours. The number of wafers 9 to be processed can be increased, and the productivity of the film forming process on the wafers 9 can be improved.

Furthermore, since the susceptor 4, which is installed and mounted on the transport mechanism 2 and on which the wafer 9 is placed, is provided in a state that intersects with the moving direction of the transport mechanism 2, the transport that passes through the inside of the processing zone 1 is The susceptor 4 is attached more densely to the coronation length of the mechanism 2.
The number of wafers 9 held by the susceptor 4 at mW can be increased, and the number of wafers 9 that can be processed for film formation per unit time can be increased without increasing the size of the processing zone 1. This further increases the productivity of the film forming process on the wafer 9.

Further, the axis of the processing zone 1 is vertically arranged, and the wafer 9
By being configured so that the water passes through the inside of the processing zone 1 in the vertical direction, the floor area required for installing the apparatus can be reduced.

Further, by being configured so that the reaction gas is supplied from the sides of the plurality of wafers 9 that are horizontally moved inside the processing zone l in parallel to the plane of the wafers 9, the plane of the wafers 9 and The contact with the reaction gas is uniform, and a predetermined thin film is uniformly formed on the plane of the wafer 9.

〔effect〕

(1) A part of one circuit path passes through a processing area having a predetermined processing fluid atmosphere and temperature, and a transport mechanism is provided that holds the object to be processed and causes it to pass through the processing area at -, the object to be processed in the processing area. Since the structure allows processing of the processed material to be carried out continuously, it reduces wasted time caused by interruptions in processing when the processed material is taken in and out of the closed processing chamber, such as in hatch-type processing equipment. The number of objects to be processed per unit time is increased, and the productivity in processing objects to be processed can be improved.

(2) As a result of (1) above, for example, in film formation processing on wafers using low-pressure CVD equipment, wasted time wasted in exhaust operations associated with wafer insertion and removal operations, etc., can be reduced, and low-pressure CVD equipment can be used. This improves the productivity in film formation processing for wafers.

(3) In the transport mechanism that holds the workpiece, by holding the workpiece so that the plane of the workpiece intersects the plane that includes the transport direction of the workpiece, the , the workpiece can be held more densely, and the productivity in processing the workpiece can be further improved.

(4) The processing area is provided vertically, and the objects to be processed held in the transport mechanism are passed through the processing area in the vertical direction, so that the floor area required for installing the processing equipment can be reduced. Productivity in processing the processed material is improved.

(5) In the processing area, the processing fluid is supplied parallel to the surface of the processing object from the side part of the movement path of the processing object, thereby ensuring uniform contact between the processing fluid and the processing object. It is possible to obtain uniform processing results.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically explained above based on Examples, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the Examples and can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist thereof. Nor.

For example, it is also possible to provide the treatment zone horizontally.

Further, the direction of rotation of the transport mechanism may be a direction of descending inside the processing zone.

[Application field]

In the above explanation, the invention made by the present inventor was mainly applied to the low-pressure CVD technology, which is the background field of application. Can be widely applied to

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a low-pressure CVD apparatus that is an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the portion indicated by the line ■-■ in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a low-pressure CVD apparatus according to an embodiment. ■...Processing zone (processing area), 2...Transport mechanism, 3
... Sealed duct, 4... Susceptor, 5.6... Shutter mechanism, 7... Loading chamber, 8... Unloading chamber, 9... Wafer (processed object), 10...・Heater, 1
1... Reaction gas supply nozzle, 12... Exhaust nozzle. 14 Open 11 #62-20347 (5) Figure 2 Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A part of the circumferential path passes through a processing area having a predetermined processing fluid atmosphere and temperature, and a transport mechanism is provided for holding the object to be processed and passing through the processing area, A processing apparatus characterized in that the processing of the object to be processed is performed continuously. 2. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in the transport mechanism, the object to be processed is held such that a plane of the object to be processed intersects a plane that includes a direction in which the object to be processed is transported. 3. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing area is provided in a vertical direction, and the object to be processed held by the transport mechanism is passed through the processing area in the vertical direction. . 4. In the processing area, the processing fluid is supplied from a side part of the movement path of the object to be processed in parallel to the surface of the object to be processed, as set forth in claim 1. Processing equipment. 5. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the object to be processed is a wafer, and the processing apparatus is a low-pressure chemical vapor deposition apparatus.