WO1995028002A1 - Method and device for processing semiconductor wafer - Google Patents

Abstract

A light source used for heating a semiconductor wafer is installed at a place where the atmosphere is different from that in the clean room where the processing apparatus are provided, outside the clean room. The light energy from the light source is sent through an optical fiber so as to heat the wafer uniformly. The main component of the light emitted from the light source has wavelengths that are efficiently absorbed by the wafer. Since the temperature distribution of the wafer is uniform, high-quality processings can be performed. Moreover, since the optical fiber is used, excessive heat is not generated in the clean room. The cost of the facility of the clean room, its operating cost and the sizes of the processing apparatus and the clean room can be reduced, and therefore, the manufacturing cost of the wafer can be reduced.

Description

detail

Semiconductor substrate processing method and apparatus

Technical field

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a semiconductor substrate processing method and apparatus, and more particularly to a processing heating method and apparatus applied when heating a substrate in a semiconductor production line. Specifically, a doped element is diffused or surface-oxidized on the surface of a semiconductor substrate, or an insulating thin film such as a silicon oxide film or a wiring thin film such as a doped polysilicon film or a metal film is formed on the substrate surface. In order to heat a semiconductor substrate, a heating energy source is placed away from a thin film forming apparatus, and the energy emitted from the heating energy source is transported by an energy transport medium to heat the semiconductor substrate. .

Further, the present invention substantially uniforms the temperature distribution of the heated substrate when the substrate is heated by transporting projected energy from an energy source located remotely from the substrate or the heating energy source. The present invention relates to a method and apparatus that can be effectively used in the process of heating a substrate by reducing energy loss in the processes of incidence, transport, emission and irradiation of energy emitted from a substrate.

In the present invention, it is preferable to use a light source as the optimum heating energy source, and to transport the irradiation light from the light source by an optical fiber or the like. Background technology

Generally, semiconductors are manufactured in clean rooms. A clean room has the role of creating an atmosphere with very little dust and at the same time creating a constant temperature and humidity. On the other hand, it is necessary to heat the surface of the semiconductor substrate in order to process the semiconductor as a demand from the semiconductor manufacturing process. Therefore, A large number of devices are installed to dissipate a large amount of heat into the atmosphere in the clean room, and the capacity of the clean room air conditioning equipment must also be designed to be large.

In conventional heating of semiconductor substrates, several to several hundred substrates are put together in a quartz furnace, and infrared light emitted from a heater outside the furnace is used. A method using a hot-wall type heating furnace (batch heating) that heats the entire furnace by irradiating light so that the temperature of the entire furnace becomes uniform. There was a method using a cold-wall heating furnace (single-wafer heating) in which light from a lamp placed nearby is irradiated and heated directly through a quartz window or via a susceptor. The above-described optical heating apparatus for semiconductor substrates generally includes a lamp, which is a light emitter that serves as a heat source, in the apparatus, and heats the substrate with the light emitted by the lamp. In practice, the heating lamps emit not only light with wavelengths that are efficiently absorbed by the substrate, but also light with long wavelengths, that is, infrared rays. In many cases, Si substrates are virtually transparent to infrared radiation and do not absorb it. However, if the heat treatment is not performed in a vacuum, the long-wavelength component may raise the temperature of the atmospheric gas in the heating furnace, thereby indirectly heating the substrate.

The former batch-type heating furnace has the characteristic of being able to heat the entire furnace at a constant temperature and uniformity. Moved to heating furnace. The single-wafer heating furnace has the characteristic of being able to rapidly change the temperature of the substrate, but the energy input from the heating lamp is large compared to the energy required to heat the substrate, resulting in poor energy efficiency. In the case of a CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) reactor in which a reactive gas is introduced into the furnace body, damage caused by heat generated from the lamp, such as a light transmission window that is heated and easily cracked, may be damaged by the light caused by the reactive gas. Deposition on the transmissive window and fogging of the light transmissive window due to etching during self-cleaning further reduce the light transmittance.

Single-wafer equipment is generally disadvantageous in terms of throughput, but because the processing time required for a single operation is short, it is preferred when high-mix, low-volume production is required. It's becoming Therefore, in a single-wafer heating apparatus, it is normal to perform rapid heating and rapid cooling in order to increase the throughput even a little. Rapid heating requires more energy than batch equipment with quasi-static heating. In this way, the single-wafer heat treatment apparatus performs rapid heating, and after reaching a certain processing temperature, the light irradiation energy is rapidly reduced in order to maintain the temperature. The rate of energy inflow into the substrate during rapid heating is such that the attained heating temperature as it is is much higher than the target temperature. In batch processing, the target temperature can be reached with the minimum amount of energy because the temperature is raised quasi-statically. That is, when the energy required for processing one substrate in a batch system is compared with the energy required for processing one substrate in a single-wafer system, the latter is larger.

In addition, in the future, as single wafer processing progresses and continuous processes are heated at the same time, power supply equipment must be installed to match the peak power during heating, and the scale of the semiconductor production line will increase. , the heating device also needs to be provided with a cooling mechanism with a large cooling capacity in order to maintain the device temperature against a large thermal input, even if it is for a short time. For this reason, the equipment becomes larger, more energy is required for cooling, and more energy is dissipated into the clean room, so the capacity of the clean room air conditioning equipment is also increased.

Furthermore, as the number of single-wafer heating devices increases, so does the need for air-conditioning equipment to suppress temperature rises in semiconductor production lines due to excess heat exhausted from lamps. However, if the scale of the equipment increases from the electric power equipment for the main body of the heating equipment to the air conditioning equipment, the company will end up with extremely inefficient production equipment. As mentioned above, if unnecessary heat generated in the equipment or waste heat is even a little large, it will increase the clean room floor area, equipment price, equipment complexity, clean room utilities, etc. by many times. It also shows that it bounces back as it grows.

In order to solve the above problems, the light source and the substrate heating section are separated via a light transport medium, only the heat generated from the light source is efficiently exhausted, and the heat generated in the substrate heating section is minimized. can be suppressed. As a result, it will be possible to curb the increase in the scale of equipment in the semiconductor production line and to save energy.

By the way, the technique of arranging the light source unit away from the medium to be heated and using a light transport medium such as an optical fiber to transport light between them to heat the medium to be heated is not necessarily new.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-296092 discloses a method in which a group of linearly bundled optical fibers for transmitting high-temperature light generated by a light heat source and a printed circuit board to be reflowed are covered to form a printed circuit board. Equipped with a substrate mask with light-transmitting holes so that only the necessary parts of the substrate are irradiated, and a means for moving the optical fiber group with respect to the stationary printed circuit board, the heat resistance is weak. A reflow apparatus having a local heating function for a plurality of types of electronic parts has been disclosed with the intention of handling electronic parts and improving productivity.

Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-82240, a photocurable insulating resin is applied onto a circuit board on which wiring electrodes facing protruding electrodes of a semiconductor chip to be mounted are formed, thereby forming a semiconductor chip. The position of the optical fiber is fixed in the mounting area, and the semiconductor chip is mounted on the substrate. Ultraviolet rays pass through the optical fiber embedded in the resin between the chip and substrate to cure the uncured resin between the chip and substrate. The above discloses a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device that eliminates the need for a resin heat-curing step. Furthermore, Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-9187 discloses that a plurality of window holes are provided in a sample table on which a sample to be heated is placed, and the tip of an optical fiber is inserted into each of the window holes, and the optical fiber is An infrared light source whose supply amount can be arbitrarily controlled is provided at the rear end of the sample, and a heating device that improves the uniformity of the temperature distribution of the sample and a CVD device that requires heating are disclosed. there is

However, when such a heating method is used to specifically heat a semiconductor substrate in an actual clean room, there are still many problems to be solved. Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a specific method and apparatus for actually heating a semiconductor substrate in an actual clean room.

In particular, as mentioned above, it reduces unnecessary energy dissipation in the highly clean, i.e., dust-free, and constant temperature and humidity environments in which semiconductor manufacturing equipment is placed, or similar environments. That is. Or, the need to reduce unwanted waste heat, as equipment with high waste heat ultimately requires high equipment cost, floor space, complexity, large utility installations, and operating costs. By solving the above problems, it is possible to reduce clean room construction costs and clean room operating costs, thereby making it possible to substantially reduce semiconductor manufacturing costs. Invention disclosure

The present invention provides a semiconductor substrate processing stage installed in a clean room in which the temperature and humidity are controlled in a clean atmosphere and the interior of which is kept substantially vacuum, and a clean room thermally isolated from the processing stage. heating energy generating means installed in a place having an atmosphere different from that of the room; power supply means for supplying power to the heating energy generating means; power control means for controlling the power supplied to the power supply means; Heating energy generating means and processing stages A semiconductor substrate processing apparatus comprising: a heating energy transport medium connecting a heating energy transport medium comprising a plurality of optical fibers having a predetermined length; are opposed to the heating energy generating means, the other end face portions of the plurality of optical fibers are opposed to the semiconductor substrate placed in the processing stage, and One of the end face portions is bundled together, and the other end face portion is spaced apart so as to substantially evenly cover the surface of the semiconductor substrate. A semiconductor substrate processing method and apparatus are provided in which heating energy is incident and energy emitted from the other end surface is irradiated onto the surface of the semiconductor substrate to uniformly heat the entire surface of the substrate. .

In the present invention, the heating energy generating means is a lamp light source, in particular, the light used for heating the substrate is a sharp emission spectrum whose main component is light energy of a selected wavelength that can be absorbed by the substrate to be processed. It is best to use a light source with a torque.

Further, the present invention includes a processing stage for a plurality of semiconductor substrates installed in a clean room, and a heating energy generating means thermally isolated from the processing stage and installed in a place having an atmosphere different from that of the clean room. , provides an apparatus for processing semiconductor substrates that are connected n:1 by a heating energy transport medium.

Further, in the present invention, specifically, a plurality of optical fibers are arranged substantially in parallel, and the distance between adjacent optical fiber end face portions or the energy emitted from the end face portions of the optical fibers to the semiconductor substrate is measured. Provided is a semiconductor substrate processing method and apparatus that satisfies hZD≥1.1, where D is the distance between the centers of the spots, and h is the distance between the end surface of the optical fiber and the semiconductor substrate. Further, according to the present invention, when the other end faces of the plurality of optical fibers are arranged at a distance, the energy density of the energy spots from the optical fibers arranged in the outer periphery of the semiconductor substrate is arranged in the central portion of the substrate. In order to make the energy density of the energy spots from the optical fibers higher than that of the energy spots, the arrangement density of the optical fibers arranged in the peripheral part of the semiconductor substrate is higher than the arrangement density of the optical fibers arranged in the central part of the substrate. A method and apparatus are provided.

In addition, the present invention provides a cooling means for keeping the light transport medium at 200° C. or less and suppressing the light transport loss due to the change in the light absorption wavelength characteristics due to the temperature rise to about 100 dB/km or less. A semiconductor substrate processing method and apparatus for heating the substrate by transporting irradiation light from a light source.

Further, the present invention reduces the energy density of the light energy transported in the light transport medium to 10 kW/mm ² or less to suppress the light transport loss to about 100 dBZ km or less, or the irradiation light transported in the light transport medium. A semiconductor substrate that heats the substrate by transporting the light emitted from the light source by suppressing the light transport loss to about 100 dBZ km or less by reducing the light intensity density of the semiconductor substrate to ^10E7 lumen Z ^mm2 or less. A processing method and apparatus are provided.

Further, the present invention is a semiconductor substrate processing apparatus characterized in that a plurality of optical fibers are connected in series, and the core diameter of the optical fiber is the same or larger as it goes from the light incident side to the light emitting side to the substrate. It provides

Further, the present invention is a semiconductor substrate processing apparatus in which the energy transport medium is installed in a substantially straight line under the floor of the clean room, is bent substantially directly below the processing stage, and is guided to the processing stage. It provides

Further, according to the present invention, the semiconductor substrate processing means is provided with a light transmission window for separating the substrate placed inside the processing means from the space inside the processing means and the space outside the processing means, and the end portion of the optical fiber is light transmission. Placed facing each other in the vicinity of the window, light passes through the light transmission window. A method and apparatus for treating semiconductor substrates by irradiation is provided.

Further, according to the present invention, the heating energy transport medium is composed of a plurality of optical fibers having a predetermined length, and a fiber for light amount monitoring is provided along the plurality of optical fibers, and based on the monitored light amount. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor substrate processing method and apparatus in which a power control means controls power supplied to a power supply means to achieve a desired amount of light.

Further, in the present invention, a conical condensing rod is provided at the tip of the starting end surface of each of the plurality of optical fibers, and the conical condensing rod has a conical hollowed-out central portion. Provided is a method and apparatus for processing a semiconductor substrate in which the thickness of the glass is substantially equal between the time when the light enters and is led into the fiber, and the outer and inner reflecting surfaces are parallel to each other. It is.

Further, according to the present invention, the heating energy transport medium is composed of a plurality of optical fibers having a predetermined length, and the end surfaces of the plurality of optical fibers are partially inserted and coupled into the housing of the semiconductor substrate processing apparatus. A light introduction rod is arranged at the tip of each end surface portion, and a semiconductor substrate processing method and apparatus are provided in which the substrate is irradiated with the light of the optical fiber. Brief description of the drawing

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of one production line in a semiconductor manufacturing process to which the light transport type substrate heating apparatus of the present invention is applied, and FIG. FIG. 3 is an apparatus configuration diagram showing that a lamp is directly installed in a processing apparatus including a heat treatment process and the apparatus is installed in a clean room, and FIG. Fig. 3(a) is a sectional view parallel to the axial direction of the heating lamp, and Fig. 3(b) is a sectional view of the heating lamp. FIG. 4(a) is an example of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. FIG. 4(b) is a detailed cross-sectional view of the apparatus when the processing apparatus including the substrate heating process by light transport of the present invention is applied to all CVD apparatuses, and FIG. 5(a) is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the optical fiber end surface for explaining the incidence of light on the end surface of the optical fiber 130, and FIG. 5(b) is a , and are state diagrams of the luminance distribution when an image is formed at the other focal point using an elliptical mirror whose focal point is the center of the two points. FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view of a rod having a rod, and FIG. 6 is a diagram specifically showing the absorption wavelength characteristics of the optical fiber used in the present invention, that is, the characteristics of light transport loss at each wavelength. Fig. 7 (a) is an explanation for studying how the illuminance distribution on the substrate changes when the distance D between the light spot centers (between the optical fibers) and the distance h between the light source and the substrate are changed. In the figure, FIG. 7(b) is a diagram showing the relationship between the variation in illuminance and the distance D between the light sources and the distance h between the light source and the substrate, and FIG. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a method of arranging optical fibers, and an explanatory diagram when the circumference of a substrate is divided into n=3, and FIG. 9 shows a method of arranging optical fibers with respect to a heated substrate of the present invention. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram when the substrate circumference is divided into n=6, and FIG. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of the case of dividing into two, FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the end face and the connection part when n optical fibers are connected in series, and FIG. 12 is a Si wafer FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the absorption wavelength characteristics of the lamp, FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the emission spectrum of a lamp specifically used as an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 15 shows the emission spectrum of a metal halide lamp specifically used as another example, and FIG. FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the emission spectrum of the lamp, and FIG. 16 shows lamp radiant light when a metal halide lamp is used as an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a condensing system, and FIG. 17 is a diagram for effectively condensing a ring-shaped luminance distribution with the center of the two bright spots of the lamp as the focal point in the condensing system of FIG. Fig. 18 is a diagram showing the optical system of the lamp, Fig. 18 is a block diagram of a system for monitoring the lamp light intensity and feedback control of the lamp power supply, FIG. 20 is a conceptual diagram of distributing and supplying light to a plurality of heat treatment apparatuses, and FIG. 20 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a heat treatment apparatus for heating a wafer with light emitted from a fiber. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

In general, when heating a semiconductor substrate, it is necessary to heat the substrate uniformly and rapidly to a desired temperature, and the range of temperature control is also severely restricted. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to heat a semiconductor substrate by isolating the heating energy source from the processing stage, reducing unnecessary energy dissipation from the processing stage, and uniformly and quickly heating the substrate to a desired temperature. It is to provide a processing device. In view of the object of the present invention, the heating energy source is not limited to light, but in the following examples, an example using a light source lamp as the heating energy source will be described. Heating a workpiece by delivering light from a remote location is described in the aforementioned patent publications. However, in the conventional example described above, in order to heat the substrate to a predetermined temperature, it is necessary to determine how the optical fiber should be arranged with respect to the substrate, or what output light source should be used. There is no consideration of how the design should take into account the loss when the light is incident on the incident side of the optical fiber and the loss while the heating light is being transported through the optical fiber.

However, as an example, when trying to heat a silicon wafer with a diameter of 5 inches to 500°C using 10 optical fibers, each optical fiber Infrared light emitted from a halogen lamp, which is normally used, has a power of about 1 kW. Heat generation, a decrease in the transmittance of the optical fiber due to the heat generation, and further heat generation and loss due to the decrease in transmittance are repeated, eventually leading to a catastrophic result such as thermal destruction of the optical fiber. Furthermore, if the optical fiber is protected by a resin such as plastic, a serious situation such as a fire due to ignition may occur. There are many tasks that must be done. Furthermore, not only as a means for heating the substrate, but also in the method described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-9187, it is necessary to straighten the tip of the optical fiber in order to function as a semiconductor processing apparatus. Because of the configuration in which the optical fibers are inserted into the substrate mounting table at the same time, each optical fiber needs a seal for isolating the space inside the heat treatment apparatus in which the substrate is set from the outside of the apparatus.

Therefore, a further problem of the present invention is how to arrange the optical fiber with respect to the substrate in order to heat the substrate uniformly and quickly to a desired temperature with little heat loss. It is to solve what the heating method should be considering the loss and the loss at the time of heating light transportation.

Furthermore, in the present invention, a high-density light quantity that has not been used in the past is incident on the optical fiber, and the loss in the optical fiber is minimized during transportation, eliminating the risk of heat generation in the optical fiber. .

As a means for heating a semiconductor substrate in a heat treatment apparatus, the present invention transports light from a light source isolated from the clean room to the heat treatment stage through an optical fiber. The light source has a heating lamp inside, and the light from it is collected and transported to the heat treatment device by an optical fiber. The light emitted by the lamp is focused by a focusing optics onto an area smaller than the core diameter of the optical fiber or the outer diameter of the optical fiber bundle. and is injected into the optical fiber. A plurality of optical fibers are terminated in the vicinity of the light irradiation window so as to face the light irradiation window. radiates toward the substrate through and heats the substrate.

Since the energy used for heating the substrate is effectively selected in advance in the light source and transported by the optical fiber, heat generation in the heat treatment equipment is suppressed to about 5% of the power energy input to the lamp. Therefore, almost no heat is dissipated into the clean room.

In order to make extremely high-energy light incident on the optical fiber efficiently, the light is emitted by irradiating a spot with a diameter equal to or slightly smaller than the diameter of the core on the end face of the fiber. Also, the loss of the transported light is suppressed to about 100 dBZkm by setting the limiting incident angle to 40 degrees or less.

The substrate temperature distribution is desirable to be within ±5% in order to satisfy standard conditions such as film thickness after substrate heat treatment, and the variation in illuminance distribution should be suppressed within ±10%. Regarding the distance between the fibers and the relationship between the fiber end face and the wafer, let D be the distance between the light sources or the distance between the light spots irradiated on the substrate, and h be the distance between the light source and the substrate. ≥ l . l must be satisfied.

Further, by making the arrangement density of light spots from the optical fiber arranged in the outer peripheral part of the substrate higher than the arrangement density of the light spots from the optical fiber arranged in the central part of the substrate, the temperature distribution uniformity of the substrate can be improved. can be improved. For this purpose, it is conceivable to arrange the distribution density of the optical fibers closer to the outer circumference and to select the light source so that the light amount of the light spot from one optical fiber increases toward the outer circumference.

In an actual wafer, the heat released from the wafer is the greatest at the peripheral portion. Therefore, the uniformity of the wafer temperature distribution is improved by maximizing the amount of heat applied to the outer peripheral portion of the wafer. At this time, at all points on the outer circumference of the wafer, In order to give more heat than points inside the wafer center, the center of the light spot from the optical fiber is arranged at the vertex of a regular polygon that is in contact with the outer periphery of the wafer and is formed by the number of optical fibers. .

When transporting light from a light source that is isolated from the heat treatment equipment, it should be possible to transport the light over a straight line as much as possible. The light source was placed at the same level as the underfloor area of the clean room, the optical fiber was installed linearly in the underfloor area, and the large radius of R = 50 cm or more was installed at the bend almost directly under the heat treatment equipment. It is bent according to the curvature and guided to the heat treatment device as it is. The fiber is also cooled by providing a jacket through which cooling water flows to generate heat due to heat loss in the optical transport path from the light source to the heating stage.

In consideration of the absorption wavelength characteristics of optical fibers, and combined with a lamp wavelength that matches the absorption characteristics of Si wafers, a sharp peak whose main component is an emission distribution between about 0.6111 and 1.0 m is used as a heating light source. Use a lamp with a square emission spectrum.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of one manufacturing line in a semiconductor manufacturing process to which the light transport type substrate heating apparatus of the present invention is applied. The light source is installed outside the clean room, and only the energy required to heat the substrate is selected in advance in the light source to eliminate unnecessary heat generation inside the equipment and inside the clean room. FIG. 10 is a blunt configuration diagram showing that the divergence of energy is suppressed as much as possible. Even if the light source is installed at a location away from the clean room, the greater the distance, the greater the heat loss during light transportation, so it is not limited to a certain distance range. Naturally. What is necessary is that the light source section and the substrate processing section are thermally shielded.

A processing apparatus 100 including a heat treatment process to which the present invention is applied is clean. Located in Room 200. The clean room is partitioned by a work area partition wall 250 into an equipment installation area 210 with a cleanliness level of class 100 to 1000 and a work area 220 with a cleanliness level of class 10 or lower. there is This working area partition wall 250 is not an essential component in the present invention, and may be provided as required. The clean room 200 has a HEPA filter (High Efficiency Particulate Air filter) 610 on the ceiling and a grating 500 on the floor so that downflow is always formed. Clean air is supplied by an air conditioner 600. The clean room has a clean air supply space 230 above the equipment installation area and work area, and an underfloor area 240 below the grating floor. The underfloor area 240 is used as a space for installing piping for supply and discharge of electricity, water, etc. required for semiconductor manufacturing. A light source 300 as means for heating a semiconductor substrate in a processing apparatus 100 including a heat treatment process is arranged separately from the clean room. The light source is internally provided with a heating lamp 310, from which light is collected and transported by an optical fiber 130 to a processing apparatus 100 including a heat treatment process. The light source is supplied with power from a lamp power source 700 (which includes power supply means and power control means, not shown) via a power cable 710, and cooling water is circulated from a cooling water circulation device 800. Cooling water is supplied through the pipe 810.

Here, the light emitted by the heating lamp 310 is diverted from the core diameter of the optical fiber 130 or the outer diameter of the optical fiber bundle by a condensing system such as a reflecting mirror and a lens installed in the light source 300. The light is condensed into a small area and is incident on the optical fiber. The condensed radiant light for heating the substrate is transported via the optical fiber 130 to the processing equipment 100 including the heat treatment process installed in the clean room 200, and the heat treatment process is carried out. A substrate placed in a processing apparatus 100 including Here, the optical energy that did not contribute to substrate heating is The amount of heat released into the clean room 200 and absorbed by the air conditioner 600 is extremely small. On the other hand, the light source unit 300 uses a heating lamp 310 that emits only the light energy of the wavelength component necessary for heating the substrate, or uses a filter to minimize the loss in the optical fiber 130. The heat radiation from the heat lamp 310 in the light source 300 is cooled by the cooling water circulation device 800, but the light source 300 is kept in a clean room such as 200. Since it is not installed in a place that requires temperature control, there is no particular need for cooling by the air conditioner 600.

Here, as a comparative example of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a device configuration diagram showing that a lamp is directly installed in a processing device including a conventional heat treatment process and the device is installed in a clean room. shown in In a processing apparatus including a conventional heat treatment process, it is possible to heat a substrate placed in a vacuum or a gas atmosphere different from the atmosphere by using a window material such as a quartz plate that transmits infrared rays, and at the same time, the space in which the substrate is placed can be separated from the outside air. The light source was installed directly on the side facing the substrate with respect to the window material through the window material for shielding. In FIG. 2, devices and parts similar to those in FIG. 1 are explained using the same attached numerals.

In the conventional method, a substrate heating lamp 910 is arranged inside a processing apparatus 900 including a heat treatment process installed in a clean room 200 . The heating light source lamp 910 that is conventionally used is a halogen lamp, and as will be described later, it has an emission spectrum that includes components with wavelengths considerably longer than the absorption region of the Si wafer. The energy used to heat the Si wafer is about 5% of the power energy input to the halogen lamp, and the other 95% is wasted heat, and the circulating cooling water in the heating device is 800 or radiated into the clean room and absorbed by the air conditioner 600 of the clean room 200. This In addition to the electric power equipment 700 for the main body of the heating equipment, it will be equipped with an air conditioning equipment 600 for suppressing the temperature rise in the clean room 200, which is extremely inefficient production equipment.

In contrast to the above, in the apparatus configuration of the present invention, the energy substantially used for heating the substrate is effectively selected in advance in the light source unit and transported by the optical fiber. Since the power energy input to the lamp is suppressed to about 5%, there is almost no heat radiation into the clean room. Therefore, the air conditioning equipment for suppressing the temperature rise in the clean room can be made more compact than before. Furthermore, the heating lamp used in the embodiments of the present invention is a high-pressure sodium lamp or a metal halide lamp, which has a luminous spectrum matching the absorption wavelength of the silicon substrate, and the luminous efficiency itself. Approximately 30% of the total heat dissipation is about 30%, so as a result, the amount of wasted heat dissipation can be reduced to about 110% compared to the conventional method.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the state of condensing the lamp and the radiant light of the light source part of the present invention, (a) is a cross-sectional view parallel to the axial direction with respect to the heating lamp, (b ) is a sectional view perpendicular to the axial direction with respect to the heating lamp.

As the lamp 310 as a heating light source, a high-pressure discharge lamp called a HID lamp (High Intensity Discharge Lamp) such as a high-pressure sodium lamp or a metal halide lamp is used unlike a conventional halogen lamp.

The details of the optical characteristics and condensing mechanism of this lamp will be described later. The lamp of the light source unit 300 shown in FIG. 3 has a rod-shaped luminous body, and emits light radially from the center of the rod, which is divided into the cross section of the core of the optical fiber 130 and the substance by an appropriate optical system. The light is focused on a spot of approximately the same or slightly smaller area. For that purpose, as an example, first, an ellipse or a paraboloid A convergent luminous flux 330 is produced by a reflecting mirror 320 molded into a shape and water-cooled, and a condensed luminous flux 350 to one point is produced by a cylindrical lens 340. By making the shape of the cylindrical lens 340 to have a lens action also in the longitudinal direction, it becomes possible to collect light from such a rod-shaped light emitter to one point with one optical system. . In addition to this, after once obtaining a sheet-like parallel light using the first cylindrical lens, a converging light beam is condensed on the end surface of the optical fiber 130 by the second cylindrical lens. It is also possible to obtain the light to enter the optical fiber. The cooling means for the light source unit 300 is provided by introducing cooling water from the cooling water circulator 800 into the cooling water jacket 810 formed behind the reflecting mirror 320. achieved. In addition, a pair of cooling water jackets 820 are formed above and below the converging light flux 330, and cooling water is introduced into them to cool and at the same time hold the cylindrical lens 340.

In the illustrated embodiment, an example of using one light source unit 300 for one optical fiber 130 is shown, but the optical fibers are arranged in a line and the above-mentioned sheet A configuration in which parallel light beams are incident may be used, or a convergent light beam may be incident on the end face of a bundle of optical fibers.

Through subsequent research and development, the present inventors discovered that metal halide lamps such as those shown in FIGS. 16 to 18 are suitable for the method and apparatus of the present invention. Details of this will be described later.

FIG. 4(a) is a detailed cross-sectional view of a CVD apparatus as an example of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus when the processing apparatus including the substrate heating process by light transport of the present invention is applied. (b) is an enlarged detailed cross-sectional view of the end face portion of the optical fiber.

Here, 401 is a CVD reactor, 402 is a gas chamber, 403 is a semiconductor substrate, 404 is a light irradiation window, 405 is an O-ring seal, and 406 is a non-seal. An active gas introduction pipe, 130 an optical fiber, 408 a reflector, and 409 a connector.

As shown in the figure, a silicon wafer is used as the substrate 403, and this wafer is placed inside a water-cooled CVD reactor 401 with the wafer surface facing upward. 402 is a gas shower having a water cooling mechanism, CVD gas is sprayed onto the wafer 403, and the CVD gas is exhausted from an exhaust port. At this time, an O-ring seal 405 is installed on the contact surface with the light irradiation window 404 made of quartz in order to keep the inside of the CVD reactor 401 airtight. In addition, excessive film deposition on areas not related to the device on the wafer backside or outer periphery is likely to peel off and cause foreign matter defects. Inert gas is introduced into the chamber to suppress excessive film formation.

A plurality of optical fibers 130, 130 terminate in the vicinity of the light irradiation window 404 and face it. As a result, radiated light from the heating light source 300 transported via the optical fiber 130 is transmitted through the optical fiber 130 fixed by the connector 409 to the water-cooled reflecting mirror. The wafer 403 is heated by being irradiated from the end face toward the substrate 403 through the light irradiation window 404 made of quartz. A CVD film is formed by bringing the CVD gas into contact with the heated wafer. Although this embodiment shows the case of application to a CVD apparatus, it can also be used as a thermal annealing furnace by evacuating the inside of the reactor or introducing an inert gas or hydrogen gas without introducing the CVD gas. It can also be used as a thermal oxidation furnace by introducing oxygen gas instead of CVD gas.

The following points must be considered when applying a processing system including a substrate heating process using light transport, as in the present invention, to an actual semiconductor manufacturing process. 1. How to make the light from the light source as the heating energy source efficiently enter the optical fiber

2. How to reduce the loss of light transported in the optical fiber

3. How to irradiate the substrate with the light emitted from the optical fiber 4. How to control the temperature of the substrate surface

5. How to install the light transport path from the light source to the heating stage

6. How to cool heat generated due to heat loss in the light transport path from the light source to the heating stage

7. What kind of optical fiber to use

8. What kind of light should be used as a heat source?

9. How to exhaust heat around the heating stage

These items will be described in order below.

1. How to make the light from the light source as the heating energy source efficiently enter the optical fiber.

First of all, since the area of the end surface of the optical fiber is small, the problem is how to efficiently collect and enter the light. Here, FIG. 5(a) shows an enlarged view of the vicinity of the end face of the optical fiber 130 in order to explain the incidence of light on the end face of the optical fiber 130. FIG. The optical fiber 130 consists of a coating layer 131, a clad 132 and a core 133 from the outer periphery. In Fig. 3, the entire optical system for condensing light from the light source has been explained. A method of irradiating a spot with a small diameter and making it incident is efficient. Also, at this time, as shown in the figure, it is necessary to reduce the incident angle of light in consideration of the method of condensing light from the light source.

In addition, we arrange what is called a bundle, which is a bundle of many fibers, and There is also a method of covering the end faces of portions other than the respective cores with a highly reflective material to reduce the loss at the bundle end face and concentrating the light onto the bundle.

In addition, although not shown, a compound eye lens is installed on the end face of the optical fiber, and the incident light from the light source is condensed inside the core cross section to reduce the loss at the bundle end face and then onto the bundle. It may be condensed. It doesn't necessarily have to be a compound eye type lens. It is also possible to form a lens portion by molding or the like on the end surface of each optical fiber. Furthermore, by using fibers with a shape that minimizes the ineffective cross section that occurs between the fiber cores when the cross-sectional shape of the optical fibers is bundled into a square or regular hexagon, A method of condensing light on the bundle after reducing the loss at the end face of the bundle may also be used.

As in the present invention, in the case of using a condensing means such as an elliptical mirror or a combination of a parabolic mirror and a lens to condense and enter the light at the end of the fiber, the light emitting part can be a point light source as much as possible. Close lamps are preferred. However, a lamp having an optimum emission wavelength and high luminous efficiency for heating a Si wafer is not necessarily a point light source.

Therefore, when condensing light with a long arc length (4 mm or more), it is necessary to suppress the spread at the condensing point as much as possible and increase the condensing efficiency. Therefore, considering the case of using an elliptical mirror to focus light, if the arc of the lamp light source cannot be regarded as a point, if the eccentricity of the elliptical mirror is large (if the focal length is long), the focal point at the condensing point will be If the blurring becomes large and the eccentricity of the elliptical mirror is small, the NA becomes relatively large. Also, when focusing only with an elliptical mirror, much of the light in the forward direction is lost. Therefore, when taking in condensed light using a fiber with a specific NA and a specific diameter, consider the NA of the fiber, minimize defocus, and consider a condensing system that improves the condensing efficiency. There is a need to. An embodiment will now be described with reference to FIG. Light source heating lamp 3 1 0 The rear part is equipped with an ellipsoidal mirror 320 (cold mirror) with a relatively small eccentricity that reflects the light from the lamp forward without spreading it too much. The surface of this elliptical mirror 320 is specially coated to reflect light (unnecessary infrared light) in the emission wavelength region longer than 1.2 m, which is the absorption band of Si. It is configured so that A forward reflecting mirror 321 having a spherical surface is used to reflect backward the light emitted from the heating lamp 310 and reflected from the reflecting mirror 320 and spread over a desired angle. Efficiency can be further improved by providing An opening 322 for extracting light is formed in the central axis of the forward reflecting mirror 321. These elliptical mirrors 320 and forward elliptical mirror 321 are provided with coolers 810, 810 to prevent overheating. As shown in the figure, the elliptical mirror (reflector 310) is hit by a perpendicular drawn from the focal point (the brightest part of the arc or the center of the arc) to the major axis of the ellipse (light transport axis). However, this satisfies the inherent NA, and the light that has escaped from the front direction is returned by the forward reflecting mirror 320 (spherical mirror), and a condensing optical system is adopted to improve the condensing efficiency. In this example, the NA of the optical fiber that captures the condensed light is 0.53, the diameter of the fiber is 7 mm (bundle type), the lamp is a metal halide lamp (575 W), and the elliptical mirror (between focal points) is used. The distance is 120, the eccentricity is 0.7, NA = 0.53 (20 = 64), the major axis is 85, the minor axis is 60, and the spherical mirror diameter is 72. As a result, it was possible to satisfy the inherent NA and achieve a light collection efficiency of 50% or more at an arc length of 4 nun or more.

The metal halide lamp used in the device of the present invention has an emission wavelength region shorter than 1.2 m, which is the absorption band of Si, and emits about three times as much light as the conventionally used halogen lamp. Because of its efficiency, it is suitable as a light source for heating Si wafers. For this reason, if an elliptical mirror with two focal points is used to form an image at the other focal point, the light will not converge to a single point and form a ring-like shape. luminance distribution appears (see Fig. 5 (b)). In FIG. 5(b), shaded areas indicate areas with high brightness. This ring-shaped brightness distribution corresponds to the high-brightness portions (two places) between the lamp electrodes. Therefore, in order to focus the light on the end of the optical fiber more efficiently, as shown in Fig. 5(c), a conical light-collecting end with a hollowed-out central portion is provided. I came up with 324 words that I had. The condensing conical mouth pad 324 is in contact with the bundle end face of the ø7 optical fiber 130 on the output side. It should be noted that the dimensions of each part, especially the angles, are not drawn accurately in the illustration. In this condensing conical rod 324, since the thickness of the glass is substantially equal and the inner and outer reflecting surfaces are parallel during the period from when the light is incident to when it is guided into the fiber, Even if the light incident on the aperture is reflected, it is possible to suppress the increase in the angle of reflection that occurs at each reflection. It is possible to convert the image into a circular condensed image with the ring width as the radius. Therefore, when the conical rod of the present invention was used, the light collection efficiency could be improved by about 10 times compared to when it was not used.

Specifically, FIG. 17 shows an example using this truncated conical mouthpiece. Since the light source portion is substantially the same as that of FIG. 16, no particular explanation will be given, but the same parts are given the same attached numerals. An opening 322 for extracting light is formed in the central axis of the forward reflecting mirror 321, and preferably, an optical lens means 323 for reducing NA is formed in the opening 322 (preferred embodiment as a concave lens). These elliptical mirrors 320 and forward elliptical mirror 321 are provided with coolers 810, 810 to prevent overheating. Furthermore, it is possible to provide lamp cooling means 820 for cooling the heating lamps 310 . Although the details of the lamp cooling means 820 will not be described, it is desirable that the lamp cooling means 820 be configured so that cooling air can be supplied from the outside. by this Therefore, by changing the flow rate of the cooling air according to the desired output of the heating lamp 310 and adjusting the lamp temperature from the outside, the responsiveness of the light amount from the lamp (to control the lamp light amount, When the supplied power is changed, it is possible to improve the followability of the lamp light amount to it. In addition, by utilizing this high responsiveness, it is possible to rapidly decrease the light intensity of the lamp by forcibly cooling the lamp rapidly during dimming. The light emitted forward from the light source is applied to the condensing aperture pad 324 having the above-described structure, and a mechanical shutter mechanism 325 can be provided in the middle thereof. This shutter mechanism 325 completely shuts off the transported light path, but closing the shutter when the lamp is bright increases the heat load on the shutter. It is preferable to close the shutter after falling to .

Considering the possibility of thermal damage to the end face of the light incident fiber due to dust generated from mechanical sliding parts when a mechanical optical shutter is used, considering the extension of the fiber life, we developed a low-dust liquid crystal (LC). A voltage controlled shutter (not shown) can also be used. By using the liquid crystal potential control shutter in this way, it is possible to provide a shutter that generates less dust, has a wider variable range than a mechanical shutter, has a high response speed, and is excellent in compactness. The structure and operating principle of the LC element are well known, but will be briefly explained below. The LC element is made by sandwiching LC with refractive index anisotropy and polymer between glass coated with a transparent conductive film. light is scattered due to the difference in refractive index between the polymer and the LC. On the other hand, when an electric field is applied to the LC layer, the molecular light distribution is aligned in the direction of the electric field, and the refractive index matches that of the polymer, so the light travels straight (transmits). Therefore, in the uncharged state, the light incident on the fiber is less than 3% of the charged light due to irregular reflection by the LC element, and L The C element plays the role of a shutter. However, considering the durability and heat resistance of LC molecules, it is necessary to reduce the lamp output as much as possible when the shutter is closed. By using such a shutter function, it is possible to prevent thermal damage to the fiber end face.

The condensing aperture pad 324 is cooled by a cooler 830 on its outer circumference. The light efficiently condensed by the condensing rod 324 enters the optical fiber 130 .

In the embodiment of FIG. 17, the heating lamp is a 575 W metal halide lamp, and 19 fibers with an NA of 0.53 and a core diameter of 0.14 are cut into a circle of about 0.7 mm. The light was focused on the bundled end. At this time, when the metal halide lamp emits light, the distance between the two points with the highest luminance is about 5.2 mm in the case of the discharge between the electrodes of 7 mm. About 60% of the imaged light quantity is contained in a ring with an outer diameter of 0.15 mm and an inner diameter of 0.8 mm (ring width is 3.5 nun). On the other hand, only about 6% of the light is collected on a circle of ø7. Therefore, by inserting the above-mentioned conical mouth pad between the end of the 07 fiber and the focal point of the ellipse, we were able to improve the light collection efficiency by about 10 times.

Furthermore, although not shown, it is also possible to improve the light collection efficiency by a method other than the method of inserting the conical rod described above. In other words, the light intensity of the condensed light is not distributed in the center of the circle, but rather on the circumference of the circle. is.

Specifically, instead of bundling the 19 fibers into a circular shape of about 07, they are arranged on a circle of ø11.5 where the distribution of the imaged light is the highest, resulting in a circular shape. The light collection efficiency can be improved more than bundling. Here, since the area of the end surface that receives the light does not change, the ratio of the light intensity irradiated on the circumference of φ11.5 to the average light intensity irradiated in the circle of ø7 is approximately 3x more light collection efficiency was able to improve

2. How to reduce the loss of light transported in the optical fiber

Next, in the present invention, when the radiant light from the heating light source is incident on the end surface of the optical fiber, how to minimize the loss at the time of incidence and during transportation will be explained below. Here, an enlarged view near the end face of the optical fiber in FIG. 5(a) is used for explanation.

When considering how to reduce the loss of light transported in an optical fiber, the following items need to be considered. In particular, when high-density light is transported using optical fibers, the amount of loss during transport may generate enough heat to destroy the fibers. Therefore, it is necessary to fully consider the loss caused by light passing through the optical fiber. In the following, we will find the relationship that should be satisfied between the properties of the optical fiber and the incident angle in order to suppress the loss of light with an incident angle of 0 to about 10%.

When a light ray passes through the fiber axis, there are three causes for the loss of light with an incident angle of 0 due to fiber transmission.

① Fresnel reflection loss F ( 0 )

The loss due to reflection occurring at the interface between substances with different refractive indices is F (0) o

(2) Loss due to core material absorption P ( 0 )

The loss due to absorption by the fiber core material is P(0) and is expressed by the following equation (1.1).

a: extinction coefficient

n ₀ : Refractive index of optical fiber core

θ. : sin6 = w. sin8. "^ corner

(3) Reflection loss between core material and covering material

The reflection loss between the fiber core material and the covering material is defined as R(0) and is expressed by the following equation (1.2).

R(Q) = 1-(1-A) ^K(Q) ( 1. 2 )

A: Reflection loss ratio for one reflection

Κ(θ) = - Χ ίBΠθ ₀ : Number of total reflections

d

F ( 0 ), Ρ (θ ), and R(0 ) represent loss rates, respectively. Considering the loss of light due to the above three factors, the light transmittance T(0) at the incident angle Θ can be expressed by Equation (1.3).

Γ(θ ) = (1 - (0 )) ² (1 - A) ^K ^ exp (――) _Π . ₃ )

cos6.

Here, in order to find the relationship that should be satisfied by , L, d, and ΘA in order to suppress the loss of the light of the incident angle Θ to about 100 dBZkm, we propose the permissible range of the amount of loss caused by the above three respectively. We set aside a few minutes and conducted the following examinations. where α is the extinction coefficient, L is the fiber length, d is the core profile, 0 is the angle of incidence of the input light, and A is the reflection loss rate for one reflection.

(1) For Fresnel reflection loss,

It is necessary to satisfy the condition of F (^ ) ≤ 0. 0 1 (Fresnel reflection loss 1% or less).

(2) Regarding collection of the core material,

In order to satisfy Ρ (θ ) ≤ 0. 0 1 (loss due to absorption by the core material is 1% or less), , L must satisfy the relationship of formula (1.4) (however, η 0 ≤ 2 and vinegar ).

oL = ≤ 0.005 (1.4)

(3) Reflection loss between the core material and the covering material is

In order to satisfy R(5) ≤ 0.01 (reflection loss of 2% or less), L d and S must satisfy the following formula (1.5).

0.1

— Xtan6(1.5)d"A

'Using the results of the above study, when the limiting range of the incident angle for suppressing the optical loss in a certain fiber to about 10% is obtained, = 10 E - ⁵ [cm], L = 5 [m], d = 1 [ram], A = 0.00001, and ⁿ⁰ = 1.45, the limiting range for the zero incident angle is 0 ≤ 40°, that is, , leading to the condition that the aperture angle is 80° or less. When convergent light with an aperture angle larger than this is incident, it becomes extremely difficult as a medium for transporting light with high energy.

FIG. 6 is a diagram specifically showing the absorption wavelength characteristics of the optical fiber used in the present invention, that is, the characteristics of light transport loss at each wavelength. However, it shows that light transport is possible with relatively little loss between about 0.6^m and 1.0m.

In the conventional optical transport using optical fibers, for example, optical transport such as optical communication, since the light quantity density is low, the loss in the optical fiber is simply a decrease in the signal intensity itself, which has been a problem. When the light intensity density is extremely high (a detailed quantitative explanation will be given later), the temperature rise of the optical fiber itself due to loss and the decrease in light transmittance due to the temperature rise are major problems. Become. As described above, if the loss in the optical fiber is large, it may lead to a catastrophic result such as thermal destruction of the optical fiber, or even a serious situation such as a fire due to ignition of the coating material. Here, considering the branch point of the possibility of this catastrophic phenomenon occurring, as shown in FIG. The loss increases by 4 dB, and even if the temperature rises below this temperature, the power to settle down to the equilibrium temperature below 200 °C due to natural cooling. Temperature rises. Therefore, keeping the temperature in the optical fiber below 200°C is a very important condition.

Furthermore, keeping the temperature in the optical fiber at the branching point below 200° C. corresponds to suppressing the optical transport loss to around 100 dBZkin or below based on the loss calculation described later. Also, the energy density of the light energy injected into the optical fiber to satisfy this condition is equivalent to suppressing it to 10 kW/mm ² or less. Further, suppressing the light energy density to 10 kW/mm ² or less corresponds to suppressing the light amount density of the irradiation light to ^10E7 lumen/mm ² or less.

As a condition for suppressing the loss in the optical fiber obtained above, in addition to incident at an angle shallower than the limit incident angle, it is quite natural, but in order to minimize the loss at the time of incidence, the above As mentioned in 1, it is essential that the incident synchrotron radiation cross-section be within the core diameter of the end face of the optical fiber.

3. How to irradiate the substrate with the light emitted from the optical fiber Regarding the distance between the fibers and the relationship between the fiber end face and the wafer, considering the temperature distribution of the wafer, the light emission angle is As the distance becomes smaller, it is necessary to reduce the inter-fiber distance or increase the distance between the fiber and the radiated object in order to obtain temperature uniformity.

Here, to the substrate in the processing equipment section including the heating process in the present invention will be described. First, in order to heat the wafer with sufficient uniformity of temperature distribution, how should the arrangement of the plurality of fibers in the light emitting portion, that is, the distance between the fibers and the distance between the end face of the fiber and the wafer be set? is described below.

Fig. 7 (a) is an explanation for examining how the illuminance distribution on the substrate changes when the distance D between the light spot centers (between the optical fibers) and the distance h between the light source and the substrate are changed. It is a diagram.

Using the following method, the relationship between the distance D between the light sources (between the optical fibers) and the distance h between the light source and the substrate is obtained to keep the variation in the illuminance distribution within a certain range. First, find the irradiance E [W/m ² ] from one light source to the substrate (irradiated object). Here, when the diameter d of the disc surface light source is sufficiently smaller than the distance h between the light source and the substrate, the surface light source can be regarded as a point light source. Then, if the radiation intensity in the dS direction of a small area on the substrate at a distance h from the point light source is L7Γ(d2) ² , and the angle that the normal direction of dS makes with the light direction is 0, then , dS, the irradiance E is expressed by the following equation (2.1).

Now let the radiant intensity from the light source in direction 0 be L 7T (d Z 2 ) ² x T (0 ). However, T(0) is a function determined by the structure of the optical fiber used as the light source, and represents the transmittance for incident light in the Θ direction (equation 1.3). When the substrate is positioned parallel to such a light source at a distance h, the irradiance E(0) in the direction 0 from the light source at dS is given by equation (2.2).

j, , cos ³ e

£(θ) = Ι _π (1-))^ Xχ——- _τ ; -χΓ(θ) (2. 2 )

2 h'

Here, specifically, consider the case where an optical fiber with α = 10 E - ⁵ [cm] ヽ L = 5 [m] d = 1 [ram] and A == 0.00001 is fed. time, angle of incidence The condition for the incident angle Θ to make the loss of light in the 0 direction about 100 dBZ km is S ≤ 40° (aperture angle 80°).

Now, if the above two optical fibers exist at a distance of D, a square with a side length of D on the substrate (provided that the light source is on the perpendicular to the midpoint of the opposite sides of this square) ), the variation in the illuminance distribution is taken into consideration. The illuminance of a point on the square can be obtained by adding the illuminance from the two light sources using Equation (2.3), assuming illumination from only two fibers. Now, the square is divided into 25 areas so that the heat conduction on the substrate can also be considered, and the average value of the illuminance in each area is obtained. This means that the unevenness of illuminance in one area is smoothed out by heat conduction.

Here, the variation in the illuminance distribution was evaluated by dividing the difference between the maximum and minimum illuminance values of the 25 areas by the average illuminance value for the entire square. Fig. 7 (b) shows the relationship between the variation in illuminance and the distance D between the light sources and the distance h between the light source and the substrate.

It is desirable that the temperature distribution of the substrate be within ±5% in order to meet the standard conditions such as film thickness after substrate heat treatment. Therefore, the variation in illuminance distribution must be suppressed within ±10%. When the above fiber is used, it can be said that it is necessary to satisfy h Z D ≥ l 1 from Fig. 7(b) as the relationship of distance D between light sources (between optical fibers) * distance h between light source and substrate.

If the portion of the substrate to be heated is substantially circular except for the forifla, the light spot from the optical fiber is placed inside the regular polygon that is in contact with the outer periphery of the substrate and is formed by the number of optical fibers arranged on the outer periphery of the substrate. By aligning the center, the substrate can be heated with maximum heating efficiency without reducing the uniformity of the temperature distribution of the heated substrate.

In addition, the arrangement density of light spots from the optical fiber arranged on the outer periphery of the substrate is higher than the arrangement density of light spots from the optical fiber arranged in the central portion of the substrate, the temperature distribution uniformity of the substrate can be improved. As described above, when the substrate to be heated has a substantially circular shape except for the fall flat, the center of the spot of the light emitted from the optical fiber onto the substrate is located on the polygon circumscribing the outer circumference of the substrate. The optical fiber is arranged so as to be located inside, and the substrate is heated by maximizing the heating efficiency without reducing the temperature distribution uniformity of the heated substrate. For example, if the number of optical fibers to be arranged on the outer circumference is 6, 6 optical fibers are arranged at the vertexes of a hexagon (preferably a regular hexagon) that circumscribes the outer circumference of the board, and 1 is placed at the center of the board. of optical fibers.

Further, by making the light quantity density of the light spot from the optical fiber arranged in the central portion of the substrate higher than that arranged in the peripheral portion of the substrate, the uniformity of the temperature distribution of the substrate can be improved. For that purpose, the distribution density of the optical fibers can be arranged closer to the outer circumference, or the light source can be selected so that the light amount of the light spot from one optical fiber increases toward the outer circumference.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a method of arranging optical fibers with respect to a heated board according to the present invention, and is an explanatory diagram when the circumference of the substrate is divided into n=3. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a method of arranging optical fibers on a substrate to be heated according to the present invention, and is an explanatory diagram when the outer periphery of the substrate is divided into n=6. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a method of arranging optical fibers on a substrate to be heated according to the present invention, and is an explanatory diagram when the outer periphery of the substrate is divided into n=12.

In order to make the most efficient use of the transported light energy for heating the wafer, it is thought that the light spot emitted from the optical fiber should all be contained within the wafer. The maximum temperature is reached, and the uniformity of the temperature distribution of the wafer is significantly impaired. Furthermore, in an actual wafer, since the heat emitted from the wafer is the largest at the periphery, The uniformity of the wafer temperature distribution can be improved only by maximizing the amount of heat applied. At this time, in order to give more heat to all points on the outer periphery of the wafer than to the points on the inner side toward the center of the wafer, a positive multiplicity of points in contact with the outer periphery of the wafer formed by the number of optical fibers is required. It is preferred to align the light spot centers from the optical fibers at the vertices of the square. However, if the center of the light spot irradiated from the optical fiber is moved further away from the outer periphery of the wafer, the heating efficiency will be lowered. By arranging the spot centers, it is possible to satisfy both the uniformity of the wafer temperature distribution and the heating efficiency. However, since devices formed on an actual wafer may not be used completely up to the outermost edge of the wafer, the position of the center of the light spot is positioned inside the above point toward the center of the wafer. There are some things that are acceptable. Here, Fig. 8 shows an example in which the outer circumference of the wafer is heated by split irradiation with three light spots (n = 3) using three optical fibers. The amount of light is about 20% of the emitted light energy. Figures 9 and 10 show examples in which light spots are arranged at the vertices of a regular n-sided polygon where n is 6 and 12, respectively. Significant improvement. Therefore, the heating efficiency can be further improved by installing a reflecting mirror 408 as shown in FIG.

Also, as described above, in order to make the temperature distribution of the wafer uniform, more heat is applied to the outer peripheral portion of the wafer than to the central portion of the wafer. It shows an example in which a gas is introduced and the light intensity density of the light spot from the optical fiber arranged in the outer peripheral part of the substrate is made higher than the light intensity density of the light spot from the optical fiber arranged in the central part of the substrate. . A similar effect can also be obtained by distributing light spots from the optical fibers arranged on the outer periphery of the substrate. It can also be obtained by making the placement density higher than the placement density of the light spots from the optical fibers arranged in the central portion of the substrate.

In the embodiments of the present invention, adjacent spots of the plurality of light spots irradiated on the substrate are not overlapped with each other, but the arrangement of the light spots must be such. It doesn't have to be. What is necessary is the relationship between the amount of heat given to the substrate from the irradiated light spot, the amount of heat escaping from the substrate by heat dissipation, and the amount of heat given to the substrate by the heat in the chamber in which the substrate is held. The point is that the entire substrate is heated uniformly. For this reason, although not shown, it is also possible to irradiate a plurality of light spots partially overlapping each other. Also, the spots can be arranged so that the degree of overlapping of the spots is increased toward the outer periphery of the wafer and decreased at the inner periphery. This is because, as mentioned above, heat escapes more easily at the outer periphery of the wafer. 4. How to control the temperature of the board surface

As mentioned above, rapid heating is necessary for batch processing of semiconductor substrates, but temperature control of the substrate surface is also necessary to stabilize the processing.

Regarding this, there are a method of controlling the energy of the light source and a method of controlling it in the transportation route, but here we will explain the method of controlling the energy of the light source by monitoring the lamp light amount. In other words, the lamp power supply is controlled after monitoring the lamp light intensity and grasping the lamp output, and the uniform stabilization of the temperature of the heating substrate is achieved.

An embodiment of this system is shown in FIG. Fig. 18 (a) shows the overall configuration of this control method, and Fig. 18 (b) shows the lamp light amount monitoring fiber in that case between the bundled fibers. Show me an example of placing there is Since the light source portion is substantially the same as that shown in FIG. 16, it will not be described again here. The attached numbers are the same as those in Fig. 17. The light emitted from the opening 322 of the forward reflecting mirror 321 is directed to the fiber 130 . One of the noddle-type fins 130 is used as the lamp light intensity monitor 730. The lamp light intensity monitor fiber 730 is directed toward the light source with its end aligned with the light transport fiber, and sends the irradiated light to the power meter 710 . The noometer 710 monitors the amount of irradiation light. The monitor light quantity is input to the control computer 720, the desired light quantity is compared with the monitored light quantity, and the lamp light source power supply 700 is feedback-controlled based on the comparison.

In this way, in order to use one of the bundle-type fibers for injecting lamp light as a lamp light amount monitor, it is necessary to make the diameter smaller than the diameter of the fiber for light transport. However, when the lamp output is large and light with a long arc length is incident, it is necessary to increase the fiber diameter for low-loss light collection and transport. However, since the fiber for lamp light intensity monitor needs only to grasp the relative light intensity, the fiber diameter may be small. Therefore, it is possible to utilize the non-effective area portion of the heating optical transport bundle (large fiber diameter) and incorporate the monitoring fiber. The emitted light from the monitor fiber is measured with a power meter. By reconsidering the lamp input conditions based on the measurement results and keeping the lamp output stable, the amount of light reaching the substrate can be suppressed to within ±5%.

This technology can be used not only for controlling substrate heating temperature, but also for the gradual reduction of lamp light intensity due to aging of the lamp. In the case of continuous lighting, the lamp light quantity attenuates with the lighting time. For example, in the case of a metal halide lamp, after 750 hours of lighting, the amount of light becomes 70% of the initial amount. Therefore, if the substrate heating temperature is controlled by the open loop, the change in the lamp light intensity over time transformation cannot be ignored. Therefore, as described above, it is effective to monitor the temporal change of the lamp light intensity and control the lamp output.

How to configure the light transport path from the light source 300 to the heating stage must be realized in consideration of the efficiency of light transport and the efficiency of exhaust heat treatment in the entire process. Therefore, when transporting the light from the light source 300 separated from the processing equipment 100 including the heat treatment process, it must be possible to transport the light by a straight distance as much as possible (Fig. 1). Furthermore, in order to reduce the heat loss caused by bending the optical fiber 130, the number of bends of the fiber should also be reduced. Considering these things comprehensively, the light source 300 is arranged at the same level as the underfloor area 240 of the clean room 200, and the optical fiber 130 is arranged linearly in the underfloor area. Treatment equipment including heat treatment process installed in 240 Bent part 135 almost directly under 100 with a large curvature of about R = 50 cm or more and treated including heat treatment process Best to lead to device 1 0 0.

In the above embodiments, the semiconductor processing chamber and the heating unit for it are arranged in a ratio of 1:1. As shown in Figure 9(a), heat can be supplied from one heating unit to a plurality of processing chambers. By using , the total facility distance of the optical fiber for light transport can be shortened, and a plurality of heating units (not shown) are arranged to configure the processing chamber to heating unit in an n:n ratio. , can also be configured to selectively use a heating unit as a heat source. In this way, the total heat treatment time for the entire semiconductor process is Efficient use of the light source lamps in consideration of the total number of lamps reduces the number of times the lamps flicker and extends the life of the lamps, as well as reducing the number of lamps. 6. How to cool heat generated due to heat loss in the light transport path from the light source to the heating stage

How to cool the heat generated by the heat loss in the light transport path from the light source 300 to the heating stage is also a big issue. To solve this, the cooling water from the cooling water circulator 800 can be piped to also cool the installed fibers (not shown). Since the bent portion 135 generates a large amount of heat, it is particularly preferable to cool it.

7. What kind of optical fiber to use

Next, a method of transporting light emitted from a heating light source by connecting a plurality of optical fibers in series will be described. FIG. 11 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view of an end face and a connecting portion when n optical fibers are connected in series. The core diameter of the optical fiber is made the same or larger as it goes from the light incident side to the light emitting side to the substrate, that is, as it goes downstream in the light flow. If the fiber is made smaller or the center of the axis is shifted even if the diameter is the same, loss will be caused by the area where the fiber on the incident side does not touch the fiber on the emitting side at the spliced part, and a large amount of heat will be generated at the spliced part. will occur. This means that the amount of heat dissipated will be concentrated in the connector, which has a small heat capacity, and a serious situation equivalent to the heat generation of optical fibers will occur. 8. What kind of light should be used as a heat source?

Fig. 12 is a diagram showing the absorption wavelength characteristics of a Si wafer, where the vertical axis is the absorption coefficient - The horizontal axis indicates the wavelength. Since Si is a semiconductor, the incident wavelength is shorter than about 1.2 m, which corresponds to the bandgap, and longer than about 1.2 m, which corresponds to the intrinsic free carrier absorption region. The behavior with respect to light energy is completely different. That is, on the wavelength side shorter than 1.2 m, light is always converted into heat even at room temperature, but on the wavelength side longer than 1.2 m, the absorption coefficient changes depending on the temperature of the wafer, and the absorption coefficient changes depending on the wafer temperature. Since most of the heat is transmitted through the CVD reactor, it is released as wasted energy by dissipating heat to the surroundings of the CVD reactor. Therefore, as a heating light source, it is desirable to use a light source having a distribution only in wavelengths shorter than 1.2 m.

In the present invention, light having an emission spectrum whose main component is light energy in a wavelength region that can be absorbed by a semiconductor substrate, and in particular characteristics close to a line spectrum. It has been found that it is preferable to use the light possessed by the material as a light source. In the present invention, a light emission spectrum having characteristics close to a line spectrum, or in other words, having a sharp-edged spectrum, has a sharp-edged emission spectrum. It is defined as light and used below. Considering the absorption wavelength characteristics of the optical fiber, the main component is the light emission distribution between about 0.6 m and 1.0 m as a heating light source, combined with the lamp wavelength that matches the absorption characteristics of the Si wafer. It is desirable to use a lamp with a sharp and sharp emission spectrum.

However, in the future, if an optical fiber material with a higher bandwidth and superior transmittance is developed, the optimal lamp type may change. However, in designing an optical fiber that takes into consideration the core and cladding materials of the optical fiber, and their refractive indices, the light to be transported is generally considered to be a laser beam.

-It is desirable to have a single wavelength and extremely narrow bandwidth like laser light, but we should design a lamp that has enough luminous intensity to heat the wafer and is also affordable from the point of view of cost. does not change. In the present invention, as a high-pressure discharge lamp called HID lamp of a high-pressure sodium lamp and a metal halide lamp, which will be described later, a lamp having a sharp emission spectrum is used as a lamp of a heating light source. We decided to heat the substrate by transporting the light emitted from the light source while keeping the transport loss at 100 dBZ km or less.

FIG. 13 shows the luminescence spectrum of a lamp specifically used as an embodiment of the present invention, and the lamp is a high-pressure sodium lamp having a sharp luminescence spectrum as shown. Using.

FIG. 14 shows the emission spectrum of a lamp specifically used as another embodiment of the present invention. Using.

As a specific light source of the present invention, high-pressure discharge lamps called HID lamps, which are high-pressure sodium lamps and metal halide lamps, were used. It has an emission spectrum, and there is almost no loss in the optical fiber due to the relationship with the absorption wavelength characteristics of the optical fiber. In addition, the metal halide lamp has a sharp emission spectrum at approximately 0.85 m and 0.9 m, and a wide band emission spectrum centered at 0.5 m. It has a kutor. Therefore, when a metal halide lamp is used as a heating light source, a high-pressure sodium lamp has a large loss, but it can be manufactured so that the transport loss does not reach about 100 dBZkm or less.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an emission spectrum of a halogen lamp conventionally used for substrate heating, which is a comparative example of the present invention. As shown, it has a wide energy distribution that varies with the temperature of the illuminant according to Planck's blackbody radiation equation.

In a conventional halogen lamp, according to Planck's blackbody radiation formula, the emitted light is Although its peak wavelength shifts with body temperature, it has a very broad bandwidth from 0.4111 to 3111 when used at emission temperatures typically between 2500 and 4000 K. is wide and the loss in the optical fiber is significant. Also, the value of the loss is not constant because the peak wavelength shifts with the emission temperature, but at least all components with wavelengths longer than 1.1 m are lost, so the transport loss is 20% or more. Become. Also, even if it is transported by Yoshinba, there is little absorption by silicon wafers.

9. How to exhaust heat around the heating stage

How to exhaust heat around the heating stage is also important in the actual process.

In batch-type wafer heating, in which 50 to 100 wafers are heated together in a furnace body, heat escape from the wafers is kept to a minimum, so heating efficiency is a particular problem. there was nothing to be done. However, due to the recent increase in diameter of wafers and the increasing need for quality control for each wafer, the low heating efficiency of single-wafer heating, which processes wafers one by one, is extremely important. With conventional batch heating, several tens of wafers can be processed in an hour in order to process a large number of wafers at once. lamp heating is essential.

On the other hand, if heat escape from the heated wafer is not particularly considered, for example, to keep a 5-inch Si wafer at 500°C in vacuum requires about 300 W, 1,000° C. In order to keep it at C, it is necessary to keep applying heat of about 2,000 W to the wafer. Calculating the heating efficiency such as the luminous efficiency of the lamp and the reflectance of the Si wafer, only about 5% of the energy input to the lamp contributes to the heating of the wafer, and it takes about 6 hours to maintain the temperature at 500 °C. In order to keep the kW at 1,000°C, a huge amount of energy of about 40 kW is input. But this This is because it is assumed that 100% of the radiant heat from the wafer escapes to the outside as heat. It is possible to improve the heating efficiency by supplying only the energy for maintaining the set temperature from the suppressed energy input port.

Furthermore, in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 20(a) and (b), a quartz light beam is provided on the rear surface side of the wafer for blocking the atmosphere from the vacuum, as in the embodiment of the present invention described above. Instead of the method in which light is emitted from the fiber output end through a transmission window (Fig. 4 (a)), a unit structure (Fig. 4 (a)) that can reflect most of the radiant heat from the wafer on the surface other than the light output part to the processing chamber is adopted (Fig. 4). 20 (b)).

In the example shown in FIG. 20(a), a plurality of fiber light emitting units 410 are provided. This fiber light emitting unit 410 is provided with a connector 409 for connecting the tip of each light transport fiber 130 to the processing device, and the tip of the optical fiber transmits light into the processing chamber. A quartz rod 411 is provided to be introduced into the chamber. The diameter of the quartz head is slightly larger than that of the optical fiber, and an O-ring is provided around it to block vacuum. The surface 412 of the inner surface of the processing chamber other than the quartz rod is a mirror surface capable of reflecting most of the radiant heat in order to minimize heat escape due to thermal radiation from the wafer surface side. Furthermore, in order to minimize the escape of heat due to heat radiation from the wafer surface side, the wafer facing surface 413 of the gas shower 402 provided above the wafer is a mirror surface capable of reflecting most of the radiant heat. By taking this measure, heat loss is cut by about 60% compared to when heat escape is not taken into consideration, and when kept at 500°C, it is about 2.4 kW. (Energy saving of about 3.6 kW), and energy input of about 16 kff 24 kW at 1,000 °C). Between the method using a quartz window and the method using a quartz rod, the latter method has a further improvement in thermal efficiency of about 10% due to the loss of reflection loss at the quartz window. In addition, the 0-ring arranged around the quartz head 411 was set so that the light under the condition of total reflection (NA = 0.53) inside the fin was leaked in the quartz head. In order to prevent heat absorption in the ring, the use of fluorine-based rubber with a low refractive index further improves the heating efficiency. Industrial applicability

In the present invention, the processing stage is arranged by transporting the heating energy from the heating energy generating means installed in a place thermally isolated from the semiconductor substrate processing stage by the heating energy transport medium. It does not dissipate a large amount of heat in the cleaning room that is not used to heat the substrate.

In the present invention, the light used for heating the substrate is made more efficient by using a light source having a sharp emission spectrum whose main component is light energy of a selected wavelength that can be absorbed by the substrate to be processed. It is possible to heat the substrate effectively.

Further, a processing stage for a plurality of semiconductor substrates installed in a clean room and a heating energy generating means installed in a place thermally isolated from the processing stage are separated by a heating energy transport medium n: By connecting with 1, effective use of energy becomes possible.

Furthermore, the plurality of optical fibers are arranged substantially parallel, and the distance between the end surfaces of adjacent optical fibers or the distance between the centers of the energy spots irradiated from the end surfaces of the optical fibers onto the semiconductor substrate is defined as a constant distance. D, where h is the distance between the end surface of the optical fiber and the semiconductor substrate, hZD≥l. There is an effect that the treatment can be performed uniformly.

Further, in the present invention, the optical spot from the optical fiber arranged on the outer periphery of the substrate By making the light quantity density or arrangement density of the light spot higher than the light quantity density or arrangement density of the light spots from the optical fiber arranged in the central part of the substrate, the temperature distribution uniformity of the substrate is improved, and the predetermined processing is performed. There is an effect that it is possible to easily realize uniform processing over a widest possible range on a semiconductor substrate of the type.

According to the present invention, since the optical transport medium is installed under the floor of the clean room, the optical fiber can be pulled out from the apparatus under the floor. It is disadvantageous to bend the optical fiber with a small curvature in order to efficiently transport as much energy as possible as in the present invention. has the effect of being able to reduce In addition, since the light transport medium is installed in a substantially straight line under the floor of the clean room, and is bent almost right under the processing stage and guided to the processing stage, it is possible to lay the most ideal optical fiber. This has the effect of enabling efficient transport of light energy. Furthermore, in the present invention, the processing apparatus is provided with a light-transmitting window that isolates the space inside the apparatus from the space outside the apparatus, and the terminal end of the light-transporting medium faces the vicinity of the light-transmitting window. Even when a semiconductor substrate to be processed is placed inside, it is possible to efficiently transport light energy toward the vacuum. Moreover, with such a structure, it is not necessary to vacuum-seal each optical fiber, and furthermore, it is easy to make adjustments to improve the temperature distribution of the substrate. Also, since maintenance is performed from outside the vacuum, it is effective as an easy-to-handle device.

In the present invention, the light transport medium is kept at 200° C. or less, and the light transport loss due to the change in the light absorption wavelength characteristics due to the temperature rise is suppressed to about 100 dBZkin or less, and the irradiation light from the light source is reduced. Since the substrate is heated during transport, loss is always kept low even when transporting a large amount of light energy, so damage to the There is an effect that there is no

Further, in the present invention, the energy density of the light energy transported in the light transport medium is set to 10 kff / mm ² or less, or the light intensity density of the irradiated light is set to ^10E7 lumen / mm ² or less, and the light transport medium is kept at 200 °C or less, and the light transport loss due to the change in light absorption wavelength characteristics due to the temperature rise is suppressed to about 100 dB Z km or less, and the irradiated light from the light source is transported to heat the substrate. Therefore, the fiber is not destroyed by excessive light energy, and the fiber is not overheated.

&Furthermore, in the present invention, when the radiated light from the heating light source is condensed and then incident on the end face of the optical fiber, the total reflection condition obtained from the refractive index of the core and the clad of the optical fiber and the light inside the optical fiber due to oblique incidence The transport loss in the optical fiber is reduced to 100 dBZ Since the substrate is heated by transporting the irradiation light from the light source, the light transport energy in the fiber does not suffer excessive loss, and stable transport can be performed. Therefore, there is an effect that a predetermined process can be stably performed.

Furthermore, in the present invention, the light transport medium is configured by connecting a plurality of optical fibers in series, and the core diameter of the optical fiber is made the same or larger from the light incident side to the light emitting side toward the substrate. This has the effect of reducing the loss of light energy during transport at the connecting portion.

The present invention provides a semiconductor substrate processing stage installed in a clean room in which the temperature and humidity are controlled in a clean atmosphere, and a semiconductor substrate placed on the processing stage, which is isolated from the processing stage for heating. A light source for generating heating energy installed in a place with an atmosphere different from that of the clean room, and a light transport medium for connecting the light source and the processing stage are provided for heating the substrate. The object of the present invention is to provide a processing apparatus for a semiconductor substrate having a sharp emission spectrum whose main component is light energy of a selected wavelength that can be absorbed by the substrate to be processed.

Further, according to the present invention, the heating energy transport medium is composed of a plurality of optical fibers having a predetermined length, and a fiber for light amount monitoring is provided along the plurality of optical fibers, and based on the monitored light amount. The substrate temperature can be controlled with extremely high accuracy by controlling the power supplied to the power supply means by the power control means in order to achieve the desired amount of light.

In addition, the present invention provides a conical shape in which the central portion is hollowed out in a conical shape at the tip of the starting end face of a plurality of optical fibers, and the thickness of the glass between the time when light is incident and guided into the fiber. Efficient light collection can be achieved by providing a conical condensing rod in which the distances are substantially equal and the outer and inner reflecting surfaces are parallel to each other.

Further, according to the present invention, the heating energy transport medium is composed of a plurality of optical fibers having a predetermined length, and the end surfaces of the plurality of optical fibers are partially inserted and coupled into the housing of the semiconductor substrate processing apparatus. A light introduction rod is arranged at the tip of each terminal surface, and efficient light irradiation can be achieved by irradiating the substrate with the light of the optical fiber.

Claims

The scope of the claims

1. A clean room in which the temperature and humidity are controlled in a clean atmosphere, a processing stage for semiconductor substrates installed in the clean room and the interior of which is kept substantially vacuum, and thermally generated from the processing stage. Heating energy generating means isolated and installed in a place having an atmosphere different from that of the clean room, power supplying means for supplying power to the heating energy generating means, and power supplied to the power supplying means. and a heating energy transport medium connecting the heating energy generating means and the processing stage, wherein the heating energy transport medium is composed of a plurality of optical fibers having a predetermined length. One end surface of the plurality of optical fibers is opposed to the heating energy generating means, and the other end surface of the plurality of optical fibers is placed in the processing stage. One end surface of the plurality of optical fibers is bundled together, and the other end surface is spaced apart so as to substantially evenly cover the surface of the semiconductor substrate. The plurality of optical fibers are arranged such that heating energy is incident from one end face portion (hereinafter referred to as the start end face portion) of the plurality of optical fibers, and emitted energy from the other end face portion (hereinafter referred to as the end face portion) is emitted onto the surface of the semiconductor substrate. A processing apparatus for a semiconductor substrate, characterized by irradiating light onto the substrate.

2. A semiconductor substrate processing stage installed in a clean room and a heating energy generating means thermally isolated from the processing stage and installed in a place having an atmosphere different from that of the clean room are heated. 2. The apparatus for processing semiconductor substrates according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is connected 1:1 by an energy transport medium.

3. A plurality of semiconductor substrate processing stages installed in a clean room, and an atmosphere that is thermally isolated from the processing stages and different from the clean room. 2. The semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heating energy generating means installed in the air is connected at an n:1 ratio by means of a heating energy transport medium.

4. A plurality of optical fibers are arranged substantially parallel, and the distance between adjacent optical fiber end faces is separated by a certain distance D. If h is the distance between the end faces of the above optical fibers and the semiconductor substrate, 4. The semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein hZD≥l.1.

5. Let D be the distance between the centers of the energy spots irradiated onto the semiconductor substrate from the end face of a plurality of optical fibers, and h be the distance between the end face of the optical fiber and the semiconductor substrate, then h Z D 4. The semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that ≥l.1.

6. The semiconductor substrate processing apparatus _c according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that a lamp light source is used as the heating energy generating means.

7. When arranging the end faces of a plurality of optical fibers at a distance, the arrangement density of the optical fibers arranged on the periphery of the semiconductor substrate is higher than the arrangement density of the optical fibers arranged on the central part of the substrate. The semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized by:

8. When arranging the end faces of multiple optical fibers at a distance, the energy density of the energy spot from the optical fibers arranged at the periphery of the semiconductor substrate is compared with the energy density from the optical fibers arranged at the center of the substrate. 7. The semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the energy density is higher than that of the spot.

9. The light transport medium is composed of a plurality of optical fibers connected in series for the light emitted from the heating light source, and the core diameter of the optical fiber is the same or larger as it goes from the light incident side to the light emitting side to the substrate. Claims characterized in that 7. The semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to item 6.

10. Equipped with a cooling means for keeping the light transport medium at 200°C or less and suppressing the light transport loss due to changes in light absorption wavelength characteristics due to temperature rise to about 100 dB/km or less, 7. The semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the substrate is heated by transporting the irradiation light.

11. Reduce the energy density of the light energy transported in the light transport medium to 10 kW Z IMI ² or less, suppress the light transport loss to about 100 dBZ km or less, transport the irradiation light from the light source, and heat the substrate. 7. The method of processing a semiconductor substrate according to claim 6, characterized in that:

12. The light intensity density of the irradiated light transported in the light transport medium is ^10E7 lumen Z ^mm2 or less, and the light transport loss is suppressed to about 100 dBZ km or less, and the irradiated light from the light source is transported. 7. The method of treating a semiconductor substrate according to claim 6, wherein the substrate is heated.

13. A semiconductor substrate processing stage installed in a clean room in which the temperature and humidity are controlled in a clean atmosphere, and a semiconductor substrate placed on the processing stage, which is separated from the processing stage for heating. A semiconductor substrate processing method using a light source that generates heating energy and is installed in a place having an atmosphere different from that of the clean room, and a light transport medium that connects the light source and a processing stage, the method comprising the steps of: When the radiated light from the light source is condensed and then incident on the end face of the optical fiber, the total reflection condition determined from the refractive index of the core and clad of the optical fiber, the increase in the number of reflections in the optical fiber due to oblique incidence, and By making the synchrotron radiation incident from inside the incident angle determined from the reflection loss and absorption loss accompanying the increase in the path length, the transport loss in the optical fiber is suppressed to about 100 dBZ km or less, and the irradiation from the light source is reduced. A method of treating a semiconductor substrate, comprising the step of heating the substrate by transporting light.

14. Installed in a clean room where the temperature and humidity are controlled in a clean atmosphere. a processing stage for a semiconductor substrate placed thereon, a heating energy generating means isolated from the processing stage and installed in a place having an atmosphere different from that of the clean room, and the heating energy generating means and the processing stage are connected to each other. and an energy transport medium, wherein the energy transport medium is installed under the floor of the clean room.

15. The semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein a lamp light source is used as the heating energy generating means.

16. The scope of claim 14, characterized in that the energy transport medium is installed in a substantially straight line under the floor of the clean room, is bent substantially directly under the treatment stage, and is led to the treatment stage. Alternatively, the semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to item 15.

17. A clean room in which the temperature and humidity are controlled in a clean atmosphere, a semiconductor substrate processing means installed in the clean room and the interior of which is kept substantially vacuum, and thermally isolated from the processing means. heating energy generating means installed in a place having an atmosphere different from that of the clean room; power supply means for supplying power to the heating energy generating means; and power supplied to the power supply means. and a heating energy transport medium connecting the heating energy generating means and the processing stage, wherein the heating energy generating means is a lamp light source, and the heating energy transport medium is It consists of a plurality of optical fibers having a predetermined length, the leading end face portions of the plurality of optical fibers are opposed to the light source, and the terminal end face portions of the plurality of optical fibers are the processing stage. The plurality of optical fibers are opposed to the semiconductor substrate placed inside, the leading end face portions of the plurality of optical fibers are bundled together, and the terminating end face portions are separated from each other so as to substantially evenly cover the semiconductor substrate surface. are separated from each other, and the processing means has a light-transmitting device that blocks the substrate placed inside between the space inside the processing means and the space outside the processing means. 1. A processing apparatus for semiconductor substrates, wherein a window is provided, and the end portion of the optical fiber is arranged in the vicinity of the light transmission window so as to face each other.

18. A method of heating a substrate placed in a semiconductor substrate processing means by light irradiation, wherein the substrate is heated by irradiating light from a light source via a light transport medium. Processing method.

19. A semiconductor substrate processing means installed in a clean room in which the temperature and humidity are controlled in a clean atmosphere, and a place separated from the processing means and installed in a place with an atmosphere different from that of the clean room. and a light transport medium connecting the light source and a heat treatment device, wherein the light transported by the light transport medium is transferred to the processing means. A method of processing a semiconductor substrate, comprising heating a substrate placed in the processing means by irradiating light through a light transmitting window that blocks an inner space and a space outside the processing means.

20. A semiconductor substrate processing stage installed in a clean room where the temperature and humidity are controlled in a clean atmosphere, and a semiconductor substrate placed on the processing stage, which is separated from the processing stage for heating. and a light source for generating heating energy installed in a place having an atmosphere different from that of the clean room; 1. A processing apparatus for semiconductor substrates, characterized by having a sharp emission spectrum whose main component is light energy of a selected wavelength that can be absorbed by a target substrate.

21. The optical transport medium is an optical fiber, the leading end of the optical fiber faces the light source via a light-condensing optical system, and the terminal end faces the heat treatment medium, the light-condensing optical system The apparatus for processing semiconductor substrates according to claim 20 is characterized in that the light from the light source is condensed into a diameter substantially equal to the core diameter of the optical fiber and is incident thereon. .

22. A semiconductor substrate processing apparatus installed in a production line where the temperature and humidity are controlled in a clean atmosphere, and a device for heating the semiconductor substrate placed in the processing apparatus. A heating light source which is isolated and installed in a place with an atmosphere different from that of the production line, and a light transport medium which connects the heating light source and the processing apparatus are provided, and the light used for substrate heating heats the processing substrate. Only the light of wavelengths having the energy necessary for the processing is selected outside the production line and transported to the processing equipment by the optical transport medium, thereby eliminating excess energy within the processing equipment and the production line. A semiconductor substrate processing apparatus characterized by suppressing energy dissipation.

23. A lamp with a sharp emission spectrum is used as the lamp of the heating light source, and the irradiation light from the light source is transported while suppressing the transport loss in the optical fiber to about 100 dBZ kni or less to heat the substrate. 27. The semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 23 to 26, wherein heating is performed.

24. The optical fiber of the light transport medium is in the form of a bundle consisting of a bundle of multiple fibers, and the portion other than the core at the starting end of the bundle is coated with a highly reflective substance, and the fiber cores are separated from each other. According to any one of claims 20 to 23, the light transport efficiency is improved by reducing the loss caused by the incidence of the radiated light on the ineffective cross section generated between the A processing apparatus for a semiconductor substrate as described above.

25. The optical fiber of the light transport medium is in the shape of a bundle formed by bundling a plurality of fibers, and a condensing lens is formed at the leading end of each optical fiber that constitutes the bundle by aligning it with the center of the fiber. A compound eye lens is installed at the beginning of the bundle to eliminate the incidence of synchrotron radiation on the ineffective cross section generated between the cores of the fibers, thereby improving the light transport efficiency. Scope The semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to any one of items 20 to 24.

26. A band consisting of multiple optical fibers bundled together as an optical transport medium δ1

By making the cross-sectional shape of each optical fiber into a shape that enables close-packing arrangement, the ineffective cross-section generated between fiber cores is minimized and the light transport efficiency is improved. The semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 20 to 26.

27. The apparatus for processing semiconductor substrates according to claim 26, wherein the figure capable of close packing is a hexagon.

28. A clean room in which the temperature and humidity are controlled in a clean atmosphere, a processing stage for semiconductor substrates installed in the clean room and the interior of which is kept substantially vacuum, and a thermal process from the processing stage A heating energy generating means isolated and installed in a place having an atmosphere different from that of the clean room, a power supply means for supplying power to the heating energy generating means, and power supplied to the power supplying means. and a heating energy transport medium connecting the heating energy generating means and the processing stage, wherein the heating energy transport medium is composed of a plurality of optical fibers having a predetermined length. A fiber for light amount monitoring is provided along the plurality of optical fibers, and the leading end surfaces of the plurality of optical fibers and one end of the light amount monitoring fiber are connected to the heating energy generating means. The end faces of the plurality of optical fibers are opposed to the semiconductor substrate placed in the processing stage, and the other end of the light amount monitoring fiber is a power meta. The plurality of optical fibers are connected to an input terminal, and the starting end faces of the plurality of optical fibers are bundled together, and the terminating end faces are spaced apart from each other so as to substantially evenly cover the surface of the semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor substrate surface is irradiated with heat energy emitted from the terminal end face of each of the plurality of optical fibers, and a desired light quantity is obtained based on the light quantity monitored by the power meter. controlling power supplied to the power supply means by the power control means to achieve A semiconductor substrate processing apparatus characterized by:

29. A clean room in which the temperature and humidity are controlled in a clean atmosphere, a semiconductor substrate processing means installed in the clean room and the interior of which is kept substantially vacuum, and thermally isolated from the processing means heating energy generating means installed in a place having an atmosphere different from that of the clean room; power supply means for supplying power to the heating energy generating means; and power supplied to the power supply means. and a heating energy transport medium connecting the heating energy generating means and the processing stage, wherein the heating energy generating means is a lamp light source, and the lamp light source is between the electrodes. A metal halide lamp having two high-brightness portions is used in the lamp, and the heating energy transport medium is composed of a plurality of optical fibers having a predetermined length. The end faces of the plurality of optical fibers are opposed to the semiconductor substrate placed in the processing stage, and the end faces of the plurality of optical fibers are opposed to the semiconductor substrate placed in the processing stage. The starting end faces are bundled together, a conical condensing rod is provided at the end, and the end faces are spaced apart so as to substantially evenly cover the surface of the semiconductor substrate. A semiconductor substrate processing apparatus characterized by:

30. The conical condensing rod provided at the tip of the starting end face of the optical fiber has a conical shape with the central part hollowed out, and the light is guided into the fiber after being incident. 29. The apparatus for processing semiconductor substrates according to claim 29, wherein the thickness of the glass between them is substantially equal, and the outer and inner reflecting surfaces are parallel to each other.

31. At the back of the heat lamp of the light source, there is an elliptical mirror that reflects the light from the lamp forward, and the light emitted from the heat lamp and the light reflected by the reflector reflects the forward light that spreads over a desired angle to the rear. and a spherical reflector for reflecting, Claim 29, wherein the elliptical mirror and the spherical reflecting mirror are equipped with a cooler to prevent overheating, and the spherical reflecting mirror is formed with an opening for extracting light. Alternatively, the semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to item 30.

32. A claim characterized in that the surface of the elliptical mirror is specially coated so as not to reflect the light in the emission wavelength range longer than 1.2 m, which is the absorption band of Si. The semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to item 31.

33. A claim characterized in that the heating lamp has an emission wavelength region shorter than 1.2 m, which is the absorption band of Si, and is equipped with means for supplying cooling air to the heating lamp. The semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to any one of Items 29 to 32.

34. A semiconductor substrate processing stage installed in a clean room in which the temperature and humidity are controlled in a clean atmosphere, and a semiconductor substrate placed on the processing stage, which is separated from the processing stage for heating. and a light source that generates heating energy and is installed in a place with an atmosphere different from that of the clean room. light having a sharp emission spectrum whose main component is light energy of a wavelength is generated, the generated light is transported through a light transport medium connecting the light source and the processing stage, and the light source A method of processing a semiconductor substrate, comprising irradiating a semiconductor substrate placed on the processing stage with the generated energy.

35. A processing equipment for semiconductor substrates installed in a production line where the temperature and humidity are controlled in a clean atmosphere, and heat from the processing equipment for heating the semiconductor substrates placed in the processing equipment. In a method for processing a semiconductor substrate using a heating light source which is isolated and installed in a place having an atmosphere different from that of the manufacturing line, the light used for heating the substrate is selected outside the manufacturing line, and the substrate is processed. generate only light of wavelengths with the energy required to heat the The generated light is transported through a light transport medium connecting the light source and the processing device, and the energy generated by the light source is applied to the semiconductor substrate placed in the processing device. Processing method.

36. A clean room in which the temperature and humidity are controlled in a clean atmosphere, a semiconductor substrate processing means installed in the clean room and the interior of which is kept substantially in a vacuum, and thermal heat generated from the processing means. a heating energy generating means isolated from the clean room and installed in a place having an atmosphere different from that of the clean room; a power supply means for supplying power to the heating energy generating means; and a heating energy transport medium connecting the heating energy generating means and the processing stage, wherein a lamp light source is used as the heating energy generating means, and the heating energy transport medium is composed of a plurality of optical fibers having a predetermined length, the starting end surfaces of the plurality of optical fibers are opposed to the light source, and the terminal end surfaces of the plurality of optical fibers are the processing stage. The plurality of optical fibers are opposed to the semiconductor substrate placed inside, and the starting end surfaces of the plurality of optical fibers are bundled together, and the end end surfaces are arranged so as to substantially uniformly cover the semiconductor substrate surface. The processing means is arranged at a distance, and the processing means forms a housing that isolates the substrate placed inside between the space inside the processing means and the space outside the processing means, and the end face portion of the optical fiber. is partially inserted into the housing, and a light introduction rod is arranged at the tip of each terminal surface, and is configured to irradiate the substrate with the light of the optical fiber. and semiconductor substrate processing equipment.