KR980012103A - Hot-wall type high-speed heat treatment device - Google Patents

Abstract

A hot-walled high-speed heat treatment apparatus is described. This includes a process chamber surrounded by a resistive heating, independent cylindrical upper heater and a lower heater, a subchamber located at the lower end of the process chamber and provided with a boat transfer device for transferring the wafer into the process chamber, And a load lock chamber in which a cassette and a transfer arm are installed is obtained in order to transfer the wafer from the vacuum to the boat of the sub-chamber. Therefore, when the wafer is loaded or unloaded, the wafer is transferred in a vacuum without being exposed to the atmosphere, thereby preventing oxidation of the wafer surface caused by oxygen in the atmosphere.

Description

Hot-wall type high-speed heat treatment device

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and more particularly to a high-speed thermal processing apparatus used for wafer heat processing.

In the process of making an integrated circuit with a silicon substrate, various heat treatment techniques are used. It can be used to oxidize silicon for use as an insulating layer, an etching mask and a gate oxide, or for heat treatment to activate trivalent or pentavalent ions on a silicon substrate after activation. It is also used for the annealing of thin films formed by silicidation or various methods, or the reflow of BPSG films. In addition, a heat treatment process is used for manufacturing semiconductor devices for various purposes.

A commonly used apparatus for this heat treatment process is a furnace. However, in recent years, there has been a tendency to perform heat treatment by using a rapid thermal processing apparatus in order to reduce the total thermal budget to be received in the manufacturing process as the size of the unit device becomes smaller as the degree of integration of the semiconductor elements increases. Is becoming more prominent.

The high-speed heat treatment apparatus is divided into two types according to the heating method. A hot wall type heat treatment apparatus using a lamp heating type heat treatment apparatus using a halogen lamp or an arc lamp as a heat source and a resistance heating type heater as a heat source. The lamp heating type heat treatment apparatus has the following problems. First, the uniformity of temperature in the wafer is poor. Secondly, the emissivity varies depending on the state of the surface of the wafer, which makes it difficult to control the temperature accurately. Third, there is a problem of wafer slip due to a rapid temperature change have.

In recent years, a lamp-heating type high-speed heat treatment apparatus which improves these problems has been used. However, since this apparatus uses dozens of halogen lamps, uneven deterioration of the lamp caused by abnormality of several lamps, The temperature uniformity in the wafer is deteriorated during the heat treatment process, the cost of the apparatus is high, and the operation and maintenance are costly.

On the other hand, the hot wall type high-speed heat treatment apparatus is expected to be used in the future because the equipment cost is low, the maintenance is simple and the temperature uniformity is easy to secure.

1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a conventional high-speed heat treatment apparatus.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a quartz tube, 3 denotes an upper cracking zone, 5 denotes a lower cracking zone, 7 denotes an upper heater, 9 denotes a lower heater, 11 denotes a reflector, 17 is a mechanical booster pump; 19 is a dry pump; 21 is a boat base; 23 is a boat; 25 is a manifold; 27 is a magnet; 29 is a first lifter; 31 denotes a second repeater, 33 denotes a flow control device, 35 denotes a gas tube, and 37 denotes a door plate.

The upper end of the quartz tube 1 is used as the upper cracking zone 3 and the lower end is used as the lower cracking zone 5. [ The upper heater 7 and the lower heater 9 are formed into a cylindrical shape so as to enclose the upper cracked region 3 and the lower cracked region 5, respectively. The two heaters are resistance heating type. The reflector 11 and the heat insulating material 13 are located at the vertical lower end of the upper heater 7 and the vertical upper end of the lower heater 9 and are also formed into a cylindrical shape.

The first lifter 29 is a device for moving the wafer from the outside to the inside of the reaction furnace (including the quartz tube), and the second lifter 31 is a device for moving the wafer from the lower side to the upper side. An exhaust pipe 15 is provided at an upper portion of the reaction furnace for controlling the pressure inside the reaction furnace and for vacuum evacuation. A drying pump 19 and a booster pump 17 are connected to the exhaust pipe. The gas line 35 and the flow rate control device 33 are connected to the manifold 25 in order to supply a gas such as N ₂ O, O, N ₂ or the like to the reaction furnace.

Since the conventional hot-wall type high-speed thermal processing apparatus as described above advances the wafer loading process in the atmosphere, when the wafer is loaded in the lower part of the silicidation process of titanium, the titanium surface is oxidized by oxygen in the atmosphere, There is a problem that the characteristics are deteriorated.

The present invention provides a high-speed thermal processing apparatus that prevents the wafer surface from being oxidized when a wafer is loaded into a hot-walled high-speed thermal processing apparatus.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a conventional high-speed heat treatment apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a high-speed thermal processing apparatus according to the present invention.

In order to achieve the above object, a high-speed heat treatment apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a process chamber surrounded by a resistance heater type independent upper heater and a lower heater;

A sub-chamber disposed at a lower end of the process chamber and provided with a boat transfer device for transferring a wafer into the process chamber; And a load lock chamber provided with a cassette and a transfer arm for transferring the wafer from the vacuum chamber to the sub-chamber boat, the chamber being separated from the sub chamber and the valve.

Therefore, when the wafer is loaded or unloaded, the wafer is transferred in a vacuum without being exposed to the air, thereby preventing oxidation of the surface of the wafer caused by oxygen in the atmosphere.

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

2 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a high-speed thermal processing apparatus according to the present invention.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 51 denotes a process chamber, 53 denotes an upper portion, 55 denotes a lower portion, 57 denotes an upper heater, 59 denotes a lower heater, 61 denotes a reflector, 63 denotes a heat insulator, 67 is a mechanical booster pump, 69 is a dry pump, 71 is a boat base, 73 is a boat, 75 is a manifold, 76 is a boat transport rod, 77 is an external magnet, Reference numeral 81 denotes a lifter; 83, a gas line; 85, a shield plate; 87, a water jacket as a heat dissipating means; 89, an upper silicon carbide tube; Reference numeral 95 denotes a wafer, reference numeral 97 denotes a cassette, reference numeral 99 denotes an isolation valve, reference numeral 101 denotes a transfer arm, and reference numeral 103 denotes a dry pump for load lock.

The hot wall type rapid thermal processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention roughly comprises a heating apparatus, a wafer transfer apparatus, a boat transfer apparatus, and a vacuum apparatus.

First, in the heating apparatus, the process chamber 51 controls the upper heater 57 and the lower furnace 55, which can control the upper furnace 53 in the temperature range of 700 to 1100 ° C, to 400 to 800 ° C A separate lower heater 59 at a low temperature can be installed around the process chamber 51 so that two uniform temperature zones can be formed in one reaction furnace. Between the upper heater 53 and the lower heater 55, a reflection plate 61 for reducing radiant heating from the upper heater to the lower portion and a heat insulating material 63 for inserting the upper and lower heaters are provided. A water jacket 87 made of silicon carbide is provided between the heat insulating material 63 and the lower passageway 55 to provide heat radiation. An upper silicon carbide tube 89 made of silicon carbide is provided between the upper heater 57 and the process chamber 51 and a lower silicon carbide tube 91 made of silicon carbide is provided between the lower heater 59 and the process chamber 51 ).

A wafer transfer device is provided between the load lock chamber and the sub chamber 72 in order to move the wafer 95 from the load lock chamber 93 to the process chamber 51. [ This wafer transfer device serves to transfer the wafer 95 in the load lock chamber in vacuum to the boat 73 in the sub chamber and is composed of a transfer arm 101 and a motor assembly. An isolation valve 99 is provided between the subchamber and the wafer transfer device to isolate the subchamber and the process chamber from the load lock chamber 93. This isolation valve is used for vacuuming both chambers Opens or closes when the levels are the same.

The boat transfer device attaches the lifter 83 to the facility frame to move the wafer from the sub-chamber 72 to the process chamber 51. [ The lifter 89 attaches an inner magnet 77 to a quartz conveying rod 76 and a permanent magnet 79 to the outside to form a magnetic coupling. It is possible to move the wafer from the sub-chamber 55 to the upper chamber 53 from the sub-chamber 72 to the process chamber 51 by this magnetic coupling. A boat base 71 capable of detachably mounting the heat shield plate 85 and the boat 73 is installed on the upper side of the transfer rod 76 and a boat 14 made of quartz is placed thereon.

The vacuum apparatus is provided with an exhaust pipe 65 from the upper part of the process chamber 51 for pressure regulation and vacuum evacuation in the process chamber and connects the drying pump 69 and the booster pump 67 to the exhaust pipe 65 Install it. Further, a separate drying pump 103 is provided for controlling the pressure of the load lock chamber 93.

The gas supply device connects the gas line 83 to the manifold 75 in order to supply a gas such as N ₂ O, O ₂ , N ₂ , NH ₂ , NH ₃ , Ar or the like to the process chamber 51.

As described above, the rapid thermal processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a load lock chamber connected to a sub-chamber. Therefore, when the wafer is loaded or unloaded, the wafer is transferred in a vacuum without being exposed to the atmosphere, so oxidation of the wafer surface caused by oxygen in the atmosphere can be prevented. In particular, when the hot-walled high-speed thermal processing apparatus according to the present invention is used in the titanium silicidation process, the reliability of the titanium silicide layer formed in the process chamber can be improved because oxidation of titanium can be prevented. In addition, it is possible to suppress the formation of the native oxide film in the polysilicon heat treatment or the high-temperature and high-temperature oxidation.

Claims (4)

A process chamber surrounded by a resistance heater-type independent cylindrical upper heater and a lower heater; A sub-chamber disposed at a lower end of the process chamber and provided with a boat transfer device for transferring a wafer into the process chamber; And a load lock chamber provided with a cassette and a transfer arm for transferring the wafer from the vacuum to the boat of the sub-chamber, the chamber being separated by the sub-chamber and the valve. The hot wall type rapid thermal processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a vacuum apparatus is provided in the process chamber and the load lock chamber for holding them in vacuum. 2. The hot-wall type rapid thermal processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a heat-insulating material is provided between the upper heater and the lower heater to reduce radiation heat from the upper heater to the lower heater and to insulate the upper and lower heaters. The process of claim 4, further comprising: a top silicon carbide tube made of silicon carbide disposed between the upper heater and the process chamber; and a lower silicon carbide tube made of silicon carbide disposed between the lower heater and the process chamber Hot-wall type high-speed heat treatment apparatus. ※ Note: It is disclosed by the contents of the first application.