JPS6265417A - Semiconductor manufacturing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable uniform heat treatment without the hysteresis difference of temperature between individual wafers by providing a door which is integrated with a heater on the side of a reaction tube and inserting the group of the wafers simultaneously in the reaction tube by moving perpendicular to the row of the plural wafers. CONSTITUTION:A reaction tube 1 made of such as quartz is provided with an aperture 11 on one side for opening or closing a door 10 which is integrated with a heater 8. The door 8 is closed and the reaction tube 1 is heated by the heaters 2, 8. Then, the door 8 is opened, a susceptor 4 which supports plural wafers 3 upright in parallel is inserted in the reaction tube 1 from the aperture 11, the door 8 is closed and the wafers 3 are heat-treated by supplying a required gas from an inlet 9 in the reaction tube 1. In this construction, the time of insertion is reduced by the operation of inserting the group of the wafers 3 simultaneously. So, the time of heating the individual wafers 3 is not different and all the wafers 3 in the group can be heat-treated uniformly without the hysteresis difference of temperature. The door which can be opened or closed may be provided on the upper wall for inserting the wafers 3 from the aperture or the door may be provided at plural positions.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to the structure of a diffusion furnace for heat-treating semiconductor wafers (hereinafter referred to as wafers).

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 4, which is an enlarged view from the right side of FIGS. 6 and 3, is a sectional view showing the configuration of a conventional wafer diffusion furnace. (
1) is a reaction tube made of quartz or the like, (2) is a heater installed at the ambient pressure of this reaction tube (1), (3) is a wafer, and (4) is a support for supporting the wafer (3) upright. (5) is a push rod made of quartz or the like for charging the wafer support (4) into the reaction tube (1) under internal pressure; (6) is the reaction tube; Reaction gas inlet provided at the end of (1), (7) is the wafer support (4)
This is an opening provided at the end of the reaction tube (1) for charging the reaction tube (1) into the reaction tube (1) by means of a push rod (5).

In a conventional diffusion furnace configured as described above, a heater (2
) in the reaction tube (1) heated by ? A wafer support (4) in which V number of wafers (3) are arranged and supported in parallel is inserted into the opening (7) provided at the end of the reaction tube (1) using a push rod (5), Next, a predetermined gas is introduced from the inlet (6) to heat-treat the wafer (3).

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In the conventional diffusion furnace as described above, a plurality of wafers (3) supported by the wafer support (4) are moved from side to side and charged through the opening (7) provided at the right end of the reaction tube (1). Alternatively, in order to take out the wafers (3), a difference in heating time, that is, a difference in temperature history, occurs between the left end and right end wafers (3) in a group of wafers (3).
) There was a problem in that it was difficult to perform uniform heat treatment because the entire group was given different temperature histories.

The present invention has been made in order to solve these problems, and provides a diffusion furnace in which wafers can be uniformly heat-treated without causing any difference in temperature history when loading and unloading groups of wafers into a reaction tube. The purpose is to

[Means for solving problems]

The diffusion furnace according to the present invention has an opening that can be opened and closed on one side of the reaction tube, and the reaction tube is passed through the opening into a support tool that supports groups of wafers in upright rows in a direction perpendicular to the rows of wafers. It is designed to be charged to

[Sakuko]

In this invention, since a plurality of wafers are simultaneously moved and loaded into the reaction tube, there is no difference in temperature history between individual wafers, and uniform heat treatment is performed.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, which is an enlarged view of the right side of FIG.
6 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a wafer diffusion furnace according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which (2), <3), and (4) are the same or equivalent to the same reference numerals in FIG. 6 and FIG. 4 showing the conventional example. It is a part. (1) is a reaction tube made of quartz etc.
- Door αQ integrally formed with heater (8) on the side part
An opening ob is provided for opening and closing.

(9) are a reaction gas inlet and an exhaust port provided at both ends of the reaction tube (1).

In the diffusion furnace according to the present invention configured as described above, first, the heaters (2) and (8) are connected with the door (8) closed.
The reaction tube (1) is heated by. Next, as shown in Fig. 2, B (8) is opened and a support stand (4) that supports a plurality of wafers (3) in an upright position is inserted into the reaction tube (1) through the opening αη. then close the door (b) and remove the reaction tube (1
) into the wafer (
It is designed to perform heat treatment in step 3).

By simultaneously loading the wafers (3) from the side of the reaction tube (1), the loading time is shortened, and since there is no difference in the heating time that each wafer (3) receives, the wafers (31 Uniform heat treatment can be applied to all of the group without any difference in temperature history.

In the above embodiment, an example was explained in which the door αQ that can be opened and closed was provided on the left side wall, but it is not necessary to limit it to the left and right side walls. For example, a door may be provided on the upper wall and the wafer ( 3) may be loaded, or a door may be provided at each stock location and the wafer (3) may be loaded by opening and closing one door.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, this invention is configured such that a door integrated with a heater is provided on the side surface of the reaction tube, and the wafers are moved in a direction perpendicular to a plurality of rows of wafers to simultaneously charge the wafers inside the reaction tube. The difference in temperature history between individual sea urchins is eliminated,
This has the effect of providing a group of wafers that have been uniformly heat-treated.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 are block diagrams of a diffusion furnace according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are block diagrams of a conventional diffusion furnace. In the figure, (1) is a reaction tube, (2) and (8) are heaters, (3) is a semiconductor wafer, and (4) is a support stand. Note that the same reference numerals in the figures indicate the same or corresponding parts. Agent Patent Attorney Masaru Sato Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a diffusion furnace in which a plurality of semiconductor wafers are charged into a reaction tube and subjected to heat treatment at the same time, a door integrated with a heater is provided at at least one side of the reaction tube, and the semiconductor wafers are heated through the opening of the door. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus characterized in that loading and unloading the semiconductor wafers into and from the reaction tube is carried out while moving a support stand that supports the semiconductor wafers in a parallel and upright manner in a direction perpendicular to the rows of the semiconductor wafer groups.