KR20100045246A - High temperature furnace - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A high temperature furnace is provided to prevent the damage of a manifold by cooling heat applied to the manifold which is installed in the lower part of a reaction chamber which consists of a furnace. CONSTITUTION: A manifold(100) mediating the external environment of a high temperature furnace and a reaction chamber of the high temperature furnace is located In the lower part of the reaction chamber. A gas supplying pipe(102) which supplies reaction gas in the outside so that the reaction gas is sprayed through a gas injection pipe(104), a gas vent pipe(106), and a cooling part are install in the manifold. The gas vent pipe discharges the reaction gas used for the thermal process to the outside. The cooling part cools the heat delivered from the reaction chamber. The manifold more includes a gas sealing part for sealing hermetically the reaction chamber.

Description

High Temperature Furnace

The present invention relates to a furnace for manufacturing a semiconductor device. More specifically, the present invention relates to a high temperature furnace which can prevent damage to the manifold by cooling the heat applied to the manifold provided in the lower part of the high temperature chamber constituting the furnace.

Heat treatment processes for semiconductor device fabrication include oxidation processes for surface oxidation of silicon, diffusion processes for diffusing impurities, chemical vapor deposition processes for depositing predetermined materials on semiconductor substrates, and uniform diffusion and recrystallization. And an annealing step. In order to perform such a semiconductor manufacturing process, the use of a furnace is essential.

In order to perform such a process, the reaction chamber is heated to a high temperature of 1350 ° C. using a heater installed around the reaction chamber constituting the furnace.

Since the temperature of the reaction chamber is very high, the heat applied to the reaction chamber is transferred to the manifold installed at the bottom of the reaction chamber to supply the gas necessary for the process into the chamber. Sealing materials such as O-rings or magnetic seals, which are delivered to the boat flange used for installation and installed to prevent leakage of gas at the boat flange and manifold connection, may be damaged to prevent sealing. It became.

Magnetic seal (magnetic seal) is a technology that forms a liquid ring by using a fluid after mixing the fine particles having magnetic to the fluid to form a seal. At this time, when high-temperature heat is applied to the fine particles having magnetic properties contained in the fluid, the magnetic properties are lost and the sealing cannot be achieved.

When damage occurs in the sealing material, there is a problem in that the leakage of the reaction gas supplied to the reaction chamber for performing the process is not possible to perform the semiconductor manufacturing process.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, the sealing material is installed on the boat flange and the manifold to prevent the heat applied to the manifold is applied to the reaction chamber loaded with a wafer for semiconductor manufacturing It is an object of the present invention to provide a high temperature furnace which can prevent them from being damaged by heat.

In order to achieve the above object, the high temperature furnace according to the present invention is installed below the reaction chamber in which a plurality of substrates are loaded to perform a predetermined heat treatment, and a manifold for mediating inflow and outflow of reaction gas into the reaction chamber. A high temperature furnace comprising a manifold, the manifold comprising: a gas exhaust portion for allowing a reaction gas to be uniformly exhausted from the reaction chamber; And a cooling unit cooling the heat transferred from the reaction chamber, wherein the gas exhaust unit includes: an exhaust groove installed along an inner circumference of the manifold; An exhaust ring disposed on the exhaust groove and having a plurality of holes formed therein; And a gas exhaust pipe connected to the exhaust groove to exhaust the reaction gas, wherein the cooling unit comprises: a gas inlet pipe through which a gas for cooling is introduced from the outside; A gas distribution pipe configured to distribute the gas introduced through the gas inlet pipe to the upper side and the lower side of the manifold; A cooling groove installed along an inner circumference of the manifold; And it characterized in that it comprises a gas discharge pipe for discharging the gas used for cooling the reaction chamber to the outside.

The manifold further includes a gas sealing part for sealing the reaction chamber, wherein the gas sealing part comprises: a sealing groove installed along a contact portion of the manifold and the reaction chamber; And it may include a sealing gas supply pipe for supplying a sealing gas to the sealing groove.

The material of the exhaust ring may include silicon carbide (SiC).

The material of the manifold may comprise opaque quartz.

The gas inlet pipe may be installed through the inside of the sealing gas supply pipe.

The cooling groove may be installed inside the sealing groove.

According to the present invention, seals such as O-rings and magnetic chambers are provided to block the leakage of reactant gas supplied to the boat flange and the reaction chamber by installing a cooling unit which prevents the heat used for performing the process from the reaction chamber to the manifold. It is effective in preventing heat damage.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the high temperature furnace according to the present invention, the manifold 100 includes a gas exhaust unit for uniformly exhausting the reaction gas from the reaction chamber 1 to the manifold 100, and heat generated for performing a process in the reaction chamber 1. It characterized in that it comprises a cooling unit to prevent the transmission to.

1, 2 and 3 are exploded perspective views, cross-sectional perspective views and cross-sectional views showing the configuration of the gas exhaust unit of the high temperature furnace according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown, a manifold 100 is installed at the lower part of the reaction chamber 1 to mediate the external environment of the high temperature furnace and the reaction chamber of the high temperature furnace, and the manifold 100 is disposed inside the reaction chamber 1. The gas supply pipe 102 for supplying the reaction gas from the outside so that the reaction gas can be injected through the gas injection pipe 104 and the gas exhaust pipe 106 for discharging the reaction gas used in the heat treatment process to the outside are provided.

The manifold 100 under the reaction chamber 1 may be made of quartz. In this case, the quartz for manufacturing the manifold 100 may use a completely opaque quartz to prevent the heat of the reaction chamber 1 is transferred by heat radiation. Only the body part between the upper part in contact with the reaction chamber 1 and the lower part in contact with the boat flange 2 may be made of opaque quartz, but the entire manifold 100 may be made of opaque quartz for ease of process management. .

The gas exhaust unit according to the present invention, the exhaust groove 110 is installed along the inner circumference of the manifold 100, the exhaust ring 120 is installed on the exhaust groove 110 and the plurality of exhaust holes 130 are formed And a gas exhaust pipe 106 connected to the exhaust groove 110 to exhaust the reaction gas.

First, the exhaust groove 110 installed along the inner circumference of the manifold 100 has a cross-sectional structure of '∪' shape. In addition, the exhaust groove 110 is open in the direction of the reaction chamber 1 in the manifold 100.

A plurality of exhaust holes 130 are formed in the exhaust ring 120 disposed on the exhaust groove 110. Referring to FIG. 1, the exhaust ring 120 is illustrated as being composed of two semi-circular parts, but may also be composed of one part. Preferably, the plurality of exhaust holes 130 formed in the exhaust ring 120 are formed at regular intervals and all have the same size. Referring to FIG. 1, the number of the exhaust holes 130 formed in the exhaust ring 120 is illustrated as eight, but is not necessarily limited thereto. In addition, the outer circumferential portion of the exhaust ring 120 is preferably in close contact with the inner circumferential portion of the manifold 100 so as not to be separated from the exhaust groove 110 as much as possible.

The exhaust ring 120 is preferably manufactured using SiC (Silicon Carbide) having low thermal conductivity.

The gas exhaust pipe 106 is installed in communication with the exhaust groove 110 so that the reaction gas entering the exhaust groove 110 through the exhaust hole 130 is discharged out of the hot furnace through the gas exhaust pipe 106.

Referring to FIG. 3, the reaction gas may be uniformly exhausted from the reaction chamber 1 by the gas exhaust unit including the exhaust groove 110 and the exhaust ring 120 of the present invention as described above. Since the reaction gas enters the exhaust groove 110 through the plurality of exhaust holes 130 of the exhaust ring 120 as it leaves the reaction chamber 1, the reaction gas is discharged to the outside through the gas exhaust pipe 106. As in the high temperature furnace of, it is possible to prevent the phenomenon that the flow of the reaction gas in the reaction chamber is biased in either direction.

That is, in the present invention, since the reaction gas is exhausted through the plurality of exhaust holes 130 disposed directly below the reaction chamber 1, the flow of the reaction gas in the reaction chamber 1 becomes uniform. The uniformity of the flow of the reaction gas in the reaction chamber 1 means that the uniformity of the gas atmosphere in the reaction chamber is improved, and furthermore, the predetermined heat treatment process is performed uniformly in all sections of the reaction chamber 1. do. This in turn has the advantage that the productivity of semiconductor manufacturing is improved.

Meanwhile, the manifold 100 is provided with a gas sealing part for sealing the reaction chamber 1 and a cooling part for cooling the reaction chamber.

4A and 4B are views illustrating configurations of a gas sealing part and a cooling part formed in a manifold used in a high temperature furnace according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, the gas sealing unit will be described.

As shown in the drawing, the gas sealing part is provided with a sealing gas supply pipe 150 installed to supply a sealing gas to the sealing groove 140 and the sealing groove 140 installed along the contact portion between the reaction chamber 1 and the manifold 100. ). The sealing groove 140 is formed along the upper circumferential surface of the manifold 100, and a sealing gas supply pipe 150 for supplying the sealing gas to the sealing groove 140 is installed at the outer circumference of the manifold 100. do. The sealing gas supply pipe 150 may be provided with a valve (not shown) to interrupt the sealing gas supply.

The sealing gas supplied through the sealing gas supply pipe 150 seals the reaction chamber 1 while filling the sealing groove 140. In other words, the sealing gas filled in the sealing groove 140 serves as an air curtain, while preventing the reaction gas in the reaction chamber 1 from being discharged to the outside of the reaction chamber 1 during the heat treatment process. At the same time, it serves to prevent external gas from flowing into the reaction chamber 1. The sealing of the reaction chamber by the sealing gas has an advantage of higher durability to the temperature of the reaction chamber than the sealing by the O ring.

As the sealing gas, it is preferable to use an inert gas such as argon or nitrogen. In addition, after the sealing gas is sufficiently supplied to seal the reaction chamber 1 to the sealing groove 140, it is preferable to close the valve so that the sealing gas is no longer supplied to the sealing groove 140. In addition, a magnetic seal that is sealed by a liquid containing magnetic particles in addition to the sealing gas may be used.

Let's look at the cooling section.

The manifold 100 in the reaction chamber 1 to prevent heat applied for performing the process in the reaction chamber 1 to the manifold 100 and the boat flange 2 side under the manifold 100. It is shown that the cooling unit 200 is installed to prevent the heat is transmitted to the.

As shown in FIG. 4A, a gas inlet pipe 210 for introducing a gas for cooling the heat of the reaction chamber 1 may be installed. At this time, the gas to be introduced is an inert gas such as argon or nitrogen, but any gas can be used as long as it does not react with the gas used for the process in the reaction chamber 1.

Here, one end of the gas inlet pipe 210 may be installed on the inner central axis of the sealing gas supply pipe 150.

Since quartz used to fabricate the manifold 100 is a difficult material, it is desirable to reduce the total number of processes as much as possible in order to prevent unexpected damage to the manifold during processing of the cooling unit 200 components. As part of a method for reducing the total number of processes, it is preferable to separately prepare and install a gas inlet pipe 210 formed inside the sealing gas supply pipe 150 with a diameter smaller than the inner circumference of the sealing gas supply pipe 150. .

A plurality of gas distribution pipes 220 are fixed toward the upper and lower portions of the manifold 100 so that the cooling gas introduced through the gas inlet pipe 210 may be supplied to the reaction chamber 1 and the boat flange 2. It can be formed at intervals.

In addition, a cooling groove 230 is formed at an inner middle of the sealing groove 140 formed along the inner circumference of the manifold 100, and the gas distribution pipe 220 facing the upper portion of the manifold 100 is formed. By being connected to the cooling groove 230, the gas introduced through the gas inlet pipe 210 contacts the reaction chamber 1 while flowing through the cooling groove 230, thereby cooling the lower end of the reaction chamber 1. .

The gas distribution pipe 220 directed downward is formed to supply gas to the O-ring 3 sealing between the manifold 100 and the boat flange 2, so that the gas introduced through the gas inlet pipe 210 By this, the O-ring 3 can be cooled.

As shown in FIG. 4B, a gas discharge pipe 240 connected to the gas distribution pipe 220 is installed at an outer side of the manifold 100 to discharge the gas used for cooling the chamber and the O-ring to the outside. . Here, as shown in Figure 1, the gas discharge pipe 240 is preferably installed at an angular distance of 180 ° with the gas inlet pipe 210.

Referring to the operation of the present embodiment configured as described above are as follows.

In the boat installed inside the reaction chamber 1, a plurality of wafers used for manufacturing a semiconductor device are mounted, the reaction chamber 1 is sealed, and a heater installed outside is operated so that high temperature heat is applied to the wafer. Perform the required process.

At this time, the gas required for performing the process is supplied through the gas supply pipe 102 of the manifold 100 installed in the lower portion of the reaction chamber 1, and the gas exhaust pipe 106 is used to perform the process. Exhaust waste gas.

The temperature inside the reaction chamber 1 reaches 1350 ° C. during the process in the reaction chamber 1, and the lower temperature of the reaction chamber 1 to which the manifold 100 is connected also reaches 310 ° C. To operate the cooling unit 200 to prevent damage to the sealing material used in the area connecting the (1) and the manifold (100).

First, the manifold 100 is formed entirely of quartz material, but the manifold 100 installed at the lower end of the reaction chamber 1 is made of an opaque quartz material through which light does not pass, so that a high temperature reaction chamber ( Heat of 1) is prevented from being transferred to the manifold 100 by the heat radiation phenomenon in which the heat is transmitted in the form of electromagnetic waves such as infrared rays.

That is, in the case of manufacturing the manifold with the quartz of the existing transparent material, heat can be transferred from the reaction chamber 1 to various parts of the manifold 100 by heat radiation phenomenon that transfers heat in the form of electromagnetic waves, Heat may be transferred by electromagnetic waves passing through the manifold 100 to the boat flange 2, but when the manifold 100 is formed of an opaque material, electromagnetic waves radiated from the reaction chamber 1 are blocked.

In this case, electromagnetic waves that do not pass through the manifold 100 made of opaque quartz are converted into heat, and the heat converted from the electromagnetic waves may be cooled by the cooling unit 200.

In order to prevent heat radiation as described above, a predetermined portion of the manifold 100, that is, the middle body portion between the upper and lower ends may be made of completely opaque quartz to prevent electromagnetic waves from passing through. However, it is preferable to make the entire manifold 100 made of opaque quartz because only a certain part of the manifold 100 may be opaque, so that the total number of processes for manufacturing the manifold 100 may increase.

The manifold 100 may be supplied with a gas for performing the process and at the same time may be supplied with the gas for cooling from the outside through the gas inlet pipe 210 installed in the manifold 100.

The cooling gas supplied through the gas inlet pipe 210 is supplied to the upper and lower portions of the manifold 100 through the plurality of gas distribution tubes 220 formed at the upper and lower portions of the manifold 100.

In particular, the gas supplied to the upper portion of the manifold 100, that is, the cooling groove 230, flows along the cooling groove 230 and the high heat used for performing the process in the reaction chamber 1 is transferred to the manifold 100. To prevent transmission.

Gas flowing through the cooling groove 230 and cooling the reaction chamber 1 may be discharged to the outside through the gas discharge pipe 240 installed on the opposite side to the gas inlet pipe 210. This will be described in more detail as follows.

The gas distribution pipe 220 close to the gas inlet pipe 210 has a high pressure of the gas flowing through the gas inlet pipe 210, so that the gas moves from the gas distribution pipe 220 to the cooling groove 230, but the gas is inflowed. Since the gas distribution pipe 220 far from the pipe 210 has a low pressure, the gas flowing in the cooling groove 230 may move to the gas discharge pipe 240 through the gas distribution pipe 220 and be discharged to the outside. .

In addition, the cooling gas may be supplied to the O-ring 3 through the gas distribution pipe 220 formed toward the lower portion of the manifold 100.

The heat transferred from the manifold 100 to the O-ring 3 is cooled by the cooling gas supplied through the gas distribution pipe 220 to cool the seal at the connection portion between the manifold 100 and the boat flange 2. Damage to the O-rings 3 used can be prevented.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken in conjunction with the present invention. Variations and changes are possible. Such modifications and variations are intended to fall within the scope of the invention and the appended claims.

1, 2 and 3 are an exploded perspective view, a cross-sectional perspective view and a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the gas exhaust unit of the high temperature furnace according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4A and 4B are views showing the configuration of a gas sealing part and a cooling part formed in a manifold used in a high temperature furnace according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

1: reaction chamber

2: boat flange

3: O-ring

100: manifold

102: gas supply pipe

104: gas injection pipe

106: gas exhaust pipe

110: exhaust groove

120: exhaust ring

130: exhaust hole

140: sealing groove

150: sealing gas supply pipe

200: cooling unit

210: gas inlet pipe

220: gas distribution pipe

230: cooling groove

240: gas discharge pipe

Claims (6)

A high temperature furnace including a manifold installed below the reaction chamber in which a plurality of substrates are loaded to perform a predetermined heat treatment and mediating inflow and outflow of reaction gas into the reaction chamber. The manifold, A gas exhaust unit configured to uniformly exhaust the reaction gas from the reaction chamber; And Cooling unit for cooling the heat transferred from the reaction chamber Including; The gas exhaust unit, An exhaust groove installed along an inner circumference of the manifold; An exhaust ring disposed on the exhaust groove and having a plurality of holes formed therein; And A gas exhaust pipe connected to the exhaust groove to exhaust the reaction gas; The cooling unit, A gas inlet pipe into which a gas for cooling is introduced from the outside; A gas distribution pipe configured to distribute the gas introduced through the gas inlet pipe to the upper side and the lower side of the manifold; A cooling groove installed along an inner circumference of the manifold; And And a gas discharge pipe for discharging the gas used for cooling the reaction chamber to the outside. The method of claim 1, The manifold further includes a gas sealing part for sealing the reaction chamber, The gas sealing unit, A sealing groove installed along a contact portion of the manifold and the reaction chamber; And And a sealing gas supply pipe for supplying a sealing gas to the sealing groove. The method of claim 1, The material of the exhaust ring is a high temperature furnace, characterized in that it comprises silicon carbide (SiC). The method of claim 1, The material of the manifold is a high temperature furnace, characterized in that it comprises opaque quartz. The method of claim 2, The gas inlet pipe is installed through the inside of the sealing gas supply pipe high temperature furnace. The method of claim 2, The high temperature furnace, characterized in that the cooling groove is installed inside the sealing groove.

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