JPS626645B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a heat treatment apparatus, and particularly to a heat treatment apparatus such as a diffusion furnace used when performing diffusion treatment on a semiconductor thin plate (wafer) or a thermal oxidation furnace for thermally oxidizing the surface of a wafer.

2. Description of the Related Art When diffusing impurities into semiconductor thin plates (wafers) in the manufacture of semiconductor devices and the like, conventionally, a diffusion furnace apparatus as shown in FIG. 1, for example, has been used. This diffusion furnace apparatus is roughly divided into a boat transport section 1, a gas section (scavengeer) 2, a furnace body 3, and a gas supply section 4. Process tubes (furnace core tubes) 5 are arranged in multiple stages in the furnace body 3, and each furnace core tube 5 is heated to a desired temperature by a heater (not shown). Further, the extensions of each core tube 5 in the gas exhaust section 2 are open to form a boat insertion/removal port 6. Furthermore, a trace station 7 on which a boat is placed is fixed to the lower edge of the insertion/removal port 6.

On the other hand, a boat load 8 is disposed in a portion of the boat transport section 1 corresponding to the extension line of each furnace tube 5. The boat loader 8 includes a boat loader drive section 10 that extends outside the cover 9 from a drive section (not shown) disposed inside the cover 9 of the boat transport section 1, and a boat loader drive section 10 that is detachably attached at one end to the boat loader drive section 10 and has the other end detachably attached to the boat loader drive section 10. It consists of an elongated pull-out rod 12 that is removably attached to a boat 11 shown in FIG. It's starting to move.

The loading and unloading of boats in such a diffusion furnace apparatus is carried out in the following manner. That is, the second
As shown in the figure, a pull-out rod 1
2 into the mounting hole 15 of the boat loader drive unit 10.
Insert the bent part 16 into the hook hole (hang part) of the boat 11 on the station 7 or in the core tube 5 by tracing the bent hook end 17 at the other end.
18 and then the boat loader drive unit 10
The boat 11 is moved in and out of the reactor core tube 5 by moving back and forth.

However, such a diffusion processing apparatus has the following drawbacks.

(1) When removing the reactor core tube, the reactor core tube is pulled out to the front of the equipment on the boat transfer section (product transfer section) side. At this time, the front equipment and jigs installed on the boat transport side become obstacles and are difficult to remove.

(2) Dust generated when removing the reactor core tube adheres to various devices, jigs, etc. on the front side around the extraction section, and this dust then adheres to products such as wafers. As a result of this adhesion, defects occur such as the inability to uniformly diffuse the wafer and the inability to form a clear pattern on the wafer in subsequent steps, resulting in a decrease in yield.

(3) Diffusion furnace equipment generally has core tubes arranged in multiple stages, but if even one of the core tubes is replaced, the other core tubes cannot be used at the time of replacement, and the equipment The operating rate will decrease.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a heat treatment apparatus in which a furnace core tube such as a process tube can be easily removed and attached.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a heat treatment apparatus that does not pollute the boat transport section and its surroundings with dust generated when replacing the furnace core tube.

Furthermore, another object of the present invention is to provide a heat treatment apparatus in which furnace core tubes are arranged in multiple stages, such that even when a furnace core tube is replaced, other furnace core tubes that do not require replacement can be used. It is about providing.

In order to achieve such an object, an embodiment of the present invention provides a heat treatment apparatus having an elongated furnace core tube in a cover, in which the furnace core tube is arranged in a direction from a cover side provided on a longitudinal side surface of the furnace core tube. In addition to being removable, in the case of heat treatment equipment in which the core tubes are arranged in multiple stages, the control mechanism, etc. for each core tube is independent, so that the core tubes can be replaced independently. The present invention will now be explained with reference to Examples.

3 to 5 are schematic diagrams showing an embodiment of the heat treatment apparatus of the present invention, particularly a diffusion furnace apparatus. FIG. 3 is a partial external view, FIG. 4 is a partial plan view, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the rotation mechanism of the core tube. Figures 3 and 4 show the gas exhaust section (scavenger).
2, a furnace body 3, and a gas supply section 4 are shown. Three furnace core tubes 5 are arranged in multiple stages within the furnace body 3. The outer periphery of each core tube 5 is covered with a heat soaking tube (not shown), and a heater 19 is attached to the outer periphery. Then, each furnace tube 5 and heater 1
As shown in FIG. 5, the rotary plate 9 is positioned and placed on an elongated rotary plate 20 by a guide 21. As shown in FIG. This rotary plate 20 is slidably mounted on a base plate 22 via a rail 23, and is mounted on a core tube 5.
A support shaft 25 implanted in the base plate 22 on the tail pipe 24 side of the
It is rotatably fitted to the In addition, the rotating plate 20
A driven bevel gear 26 is rotatably fitted to the support shaft 25 that protrudes upward. This driven bevel gear 26 is fixed to the rotary plate 20 at its lower surface.

Further, a driving side bevel gear 27 having a small number of teeth meshes with the driven side bevel gear 26, and this driving side bevel gear 27 is connected to a rotating shaft 29 rotatably attached to a support block 28 fixed to the base plate 22. fixed at one end. Further, a handle 30 is detachably attached to the other end of the rotating shaft 29.
Therefore, since the handle 30 can also be used for other rotating shafts 29, it is sufficient to prepare one handle 30 for this diffusion furnace apparatus. Three sets of furnace core tubes 5 including such substrates 22 are stacked as shown by broken lines in FIG. Further, within a cover 31 that covers the furnace body 3, a control circuit section 32 including a power transformer is disposed on the side of the furnace core tube 5 in order to lower the height of the furnace body 3. Additionally, positioning pins 34 are provided so that the core can return to its original position (height, lateral direction) after rotation.

Next, replace the furnace core tube (removal and installation)
I will explain about it. First, after opening the back side of the cover 31 of the reactor body 3, the tail pipe 24 of the reactor core tube 5 and the gas supply mechanism 33, which need to be replaced, are separated, and the reactor core tube and the tray station 7 are separated during rotation. To avoid contact, move the reactor core tube 5 toward the gas supply section 4.
After that, remove the positioning pin 34 and attach the handle 30 to the rotating shaft 29 of the base plate 22 that supports the reactor core tube 5 to be replaced.The handle 30 is reversed to rotate the rotary plate 20 on which the reactor core tube 5 is placed. 4, it is made to protrude to the back side of the cover 31. Next, the furnace core tube is pulled out from inside the heater 19 on the back side of the cover 31. After putting the new reactor core tube into the heater 19 again, the handle 30 is rotated in the normal direction to place the rotary plate 22 into the furnace body 3, and the positioning pin 34 is inserted to position the reactor core tube 5. Move in direction 2 (about 10mm)
Then, connect the tail pipe 24 and the gas supply mechanism 33, remove the handle 30 from the rotating shaft 29, and remove the cover 3.
1 and complete the series of reactor core tube replacement work. When replacing the core tube, the core tube that is not replaced can be used.

According to such an embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) Since the core tube is replaced on the back side of the equipment, dust generated during core tube replacement is unlikely to adhere to the front equipment and jig parts. Therefore, wafer contamination is reduced and yield can be improved.

(2) Since the core tube is installed on the back side of the equipment, an automatic boat loader or the like can be permanently installed in the boat transport section. Furthermore, work efficiency is improved because the furnace core tube can be easily replaced by simply providing a space for replacing the furnace core tube at the back of the device.

(3) Since each part of the multistage core tube can be replaced independently, when replacing a partial core tube, the core tube that is not replaced can be used as is, which improves the operating rate of the equipment. improves.

(4) In conventional devices, control circuits and the like are built in at the bottom, but in the device of the present invention, they can be installed on the side, making the entire device lower and more compact.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, the core tube may be removable for translation in the rear direction of the device.

As described above, according to the heat treatment apparatus of the present invention,
The furnace core tube can be easily replaced and cleaned without causing dust to contaminate the wafers. Further, since the heat treatment apparatus of the present invention only needs to stop the operation of the reactor core tube that needs to be replaced, the operating rate is improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a conventional diffusion furnace apparatus, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a partial outline of a boat loader, FIGS. The figure is a partial external view, FIG. 4 is a partial plan view, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the rotation mechanism of the furnace core tube. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Boat conveyance part, 2... Gas exhaust part, 3... Furnace body, 4... Gas supply part, 5... Furnace core tube, 6... Insertion/removal port,
7...Trace station, 8...Boat loader, 9
...Cover, 10...Boat loader drive unit, 11...Boat, 12...Pull-out rod, 13...Wafer, 14...Accommodation jig, 15...Mounting hole, 16...Bending portion, 17...Hooking end, 18...Hooking hole, 19 ... Heater, 20 ... Rotating plate, 21 ... Guide, 22 ... Board, 23 ... Rail,
24... Tail pipe, 25... Support shaft, 26... Driven side bevel gear, 27... Drive side bevel gear, 28... Support block, 29... Rotating shaft, 30... Handle, 31... Cover, 32... Control circuit section, 33...Gas supply mechanism, 3
4...Positioning pin.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a heat treatment apparatus having a furnace body having a substantially cylindrical heater and a process tube installed in the heater, the process tube can be attached and detached from the side surface of the furnace body. A heat treatment apparatus characterized in that part or all of the heater is movable.