WO2005006426A1

WO2005006426A1 - High-pressure heat treatment apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2005006426A1
Application number: PCT/JP2004/009844
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ken Nakao; Nobuaki Takahashi
Original assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
Priority date: 2003-07-09
Filing date: 2004-07-09
Publication date: 2005-01-20
Also published as: JP2005033086A; TW200522134A; JP3609077B1; TWI262536B

Abstract

A high-pressure heat treatment apparatus whose throughput is increased by enabling pressure increasing/decreasing operation and loading/unloading operation of a body to be treated to be made in a load-lock chamber while the body is being heat-treated in a high-pressure treatment chamber always maintained at a high pressure, and enabling the body to be treated having a large diameter to be quickly heat-treated under high pressure. A high-pressure heat treatment apparatus has a high-pressure treatment chamber (10) receiving a sheet of a body (W) to be treated and applying predetermined heat treatment to the body under a high-pressure environment; a transportation chamber (30) connected to the high-pressure treatment chamber (10) through a shield door (20) and maintained at a pressure substantially the same as a pressure in the high-pressure treatment chamber (10); and a load-lock chamber (60) for loading and unloading the body (W) and whose inside pressure can be increased and decreased, one end of which chamber being connected to the transportation chamber (30) through a first gate valve (40), the other end being connected to the atmosphere side through a second gate valve (50). In the transportation chamber (30) is provided a transportation mechanism (35) for transporting the body (W) between the load-lock chamber (60) and the high-pressure treatment chamber (10).

Description

Technical field

The present invention relates to a high-pressure heat treatment apparatus for heat-treating an object to be processed one by one in a high-pressure atmosphere.

Background art

[0002] A conventional device of this type is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-69120.

Tsuchi-type high-pressure oxidation furnace—Single-wafer-type high-pressure oxidizer described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-74757.

Gasification furnaces are known.

[0003] A batch-type high-pressure oxidation furnace includes a furnace tube that is supplied with oxygen and hydrogen gas from one end side, surrounds the outer periphery of the furnace tube, has a built-in heater for heating the wafer, and has a high-pressure nitrogen gas. A high-pressure vessel in a state, a pre-chamber attached to the other end of the high-pressure vessel via a first shielding door, and having a gas inlet so as to maintain the pressure of the high-pressure vessel, A boat loader that is located in the spare chamber and takes in and out a boat loaded with a plurality of wafers into and out of the furnace tube, and is connected to the other end of the spare chamber via a second shielding door; The chamber is configured to include a chamber for taking in and taking out a wafer from the atmosphere (a wafer loading chamber, a pressure increasing chamber, and a pressure reducing chamber).

[0004] On the other hand, a single-wafer high-pressure oxidation furnace is provided around a core tube provided in a pressurized tank, a wafer holder provided in the core tube for horizontally holding a wafer, and the core tube. It is configured with an infrared lamp. One end of each of the core tube and the pressurized tank is open to the atmosphere side, and each is closed with a core tube cap and a pressurized tank cap.

[0005] In any of the above-mentioned high-pressure oxidation furnaces, since the wafer is subjected to thermal oxidation treatment in a high-pressure atmosphere to form an oxide film on the wafer surface, the oxidation temperature can be lowered as compared with a normal thermal oxidation apparatus. In addition, it is possible to form an oxide film in a short time.

Disclosure of the invention

Problems the invention is trying to solve [0006] However, in a batch-type high-pressure oxidation furnace, it is difficult to heat-treat a large-diameter wafer, for example, a 300-mm-diameter wafer, because a plurality of wafers are mounted on a boat at one time and heat-treated. In particular, since the wafer loading chamber, the boosting chamber, and the decompression chamber are connected to the spare chamber, there is a problem that the structure becomes complicated and the apparatus becomes large.

[0007] The single-wafer type high-pressure oxidation furnace is a single-wafer type and is suitable for heat treatment of large-diameter wafers. Pressure and pressure in the pressurized tank, and opening and closing of the core tube cap and pressurized tank cap. These operations take a lot of time, resulting in low throughput. Although an infrared lamp is used to shorten the heating time, the infrared lamp is provided in the pressurized tank, so that the infrared lamp may be damaged under high pressure.

[0008] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and includes a step-up / down operation and a discharge of a processing object in a load lock chamber during heat treatment of the processing object in a high-pressure processing chamber constantly maintained at a high pressure. It is an object of the present invention to provide a high-pressure heat treatment apparatus capable of performing an insertion operation, rapidly heat-treating a large-diameter workpiece under high pressure, and improving throughput. Means for solving the problem

[0009] A high-pressure heat treatment apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object,

A high-pressure processing chamber that accommodates the object to be processed and performs a predetermined heat treatment under a high-pressure atmosphere; a transfer chamber that is connected to the high-pressure processing chamber through a shielding door and is maintained at or near the pressure in the high-pressure processing chamber;

One end of the load lock chamber is connected to the transfer chamber via the first gate valve, and the other end is open to the atmosphere via the second gate valve. A load lock chamber that is pressurizable;

With

The transfer chamber is provided with a transfer mechanism for transferring an object to be processed between the load lock chamber and the high-pressure processing chamber.

[0010] The transport mechanism may transport the object under high pressure.

[0011] The shielding door may be a heat shielding door that shields heat radiation from the high-pressure processing chamber to the transfer chamber.

[0012] The first gate valve closes the valve by seating a valve body on a valve seat arranged on the load lock chamber side. The structure to do.

[0013] The second gate valve may have a structure in which a valve is seated on a valve seat arranged on the atmosphere side to close the valve.

[0014] Two load lock chambers may be connected to the transfer chamber, at least one of which is provided with a mechanism for cooling the object to be processed after the heat treatment.

The invention's effect

[0015] According to the high-pressure heat treatment apparatus of the present invention, a high-pressure processing chamber that accommodates one workpiece and performs a predetermined heat treatment under a high-pressure atmosphere is connected to the high-pressure processing chamber via a shielding door, A transfer chamber maintained at substantially the same pressure as the pressure in the high-pressure processing chamber, one end of which is connected to the transfer chamber via a first gate vanoleb and the other end is open to the atmosphere via a second gate vanoleb. A load lock chamber capable of raising and lowering the pressure for loading and unloading the workpiece; and a transport mechanism for transporting the workpiece between the load lock chamber and the high-pressure processing chamber is provided in the transport chamber. Therefore, during the heat treatment of the object to be processed in the high-pressure processing chamber, which is always maintained at a high pressure, the load lock chamber can be used to raise and lower the pressure and to take in and out the object to be processed. Can be rapidly heat-treated under high pressure, Improve the put.

[0016] Since the high-pressure processing chamber and the transfer chamber are maintained at substantially the same pressure, a heat-shielding door that does not need to be a highly airtight gate valve is sufficient as a shielding door that separates the high-pressure processing chamber and the transfer chamber. . By using the heat shield door, the structure can be simplified and the cost of the apparatus can be reduced, and the heat influence from the radiant heat from the high-pressure processing chamber to the transfer chamber can be prevented.

[0017] Since the first gate valve has a structure in which the valve body is seated on a valve seat arranged on the load lock chamber side to close the valve, a pressure difference between the transfer chamber side and the load lock chamber side is used. Thus, the airtight state at the time of valve closing can be easily maintained.

[0018] Since the second gate valve has a structure in which the valve element is seated on a valve seat arranged on the atmosphere side to close the valve, the second gate valve is closed by utilizing a pressure difference between the load lock chamber side and the atmosphere side. The airtight state at the time of the valve can be easily maintained.

[0019] Two load lock chambers are connected to the transfer chamber, one of which is a cooling chamber provided with a cooling mechanism for cooling the object to be processed after the heat treatment. Body transport Operation and transport of the processed workpiece are performed in parallel or simultaneously, improving through-process and processing without the need for a dedicated cooling chamber that requires special occupied space. The high-temperature object to be processed can be cooled during the transfer process, so that the structure can be simplified and the apparatus cost can be reduced.

Brief Description of Drawings

FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing a high-pressure heat treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of a main part of the high-pressure heat treatment apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

Explanation of symbols

[0021] 1 High-pressure heat treatment equipment

10 High-pressure processing chamber

20 Shield door

30 Transfer room

35 Transport mechanism

40 1st gate valve

50 Second gate valve

60 Load lock chamber 65 Cooling chamber

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing a high-pressure heat treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of a main part of the high-pressure heat treatment apparatus shown in FIG.

The high-pressure heat treatment apparatus 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 performs a predetermined heat treatment on an object to be processed such as a semiconductor wafer W in a high-pressure atmosphere. The high-pressure heat treatment apparatus 1 includes a high-pressure processing chamber 10, a shielding door 20, a transfer chamber 30, and a load lock chamber 60. The high-pressure processing chamber 10 stores one wafer W horizontally and performs a predetermined heat treatment, for example, a thermal oxidation process under a high-pressure atmosphere. The transfer chamber 30 is connected to the high-pressure processing chamber 10 via the shielding door 20 and is maintained at the same pressure or the same pressure as the pressure in the high-pressure processing chamber 10. One end of the load lock chamber 60 is connected to the transfer chamber 30 via the first gate vane lev 40, and the other end is opened to the atmosphere side through the second gate valve 50 to allow the wafer W to be taken in and out. Buck-boost possible It is. In the transfer chamber 30, a transfer mechanism 35 for transferring a wafer between the load lock chamber 60 and the high-pressure processing chamber 10 is provided.

The high-pressure processing chamber 10 includes a reaction tube 11, a heater 12, and a pressure vessel 13. The reaction tube 11 is a flat box-shaped reaction tube made of quartz that can accommodate a wafer having a large diameter, for example, a diameter of 300 mm. The heaters 12 are arranged at the upper and lower portions outside the reaction tube 11, and heat the wafer W from both upper and lower surfaces to a predetermined temperature, for example, about 800-1100 ° C. The pressure vessel 13 accommodates the heater 12 and the reaction tube 11, and maintains the internal space at substantially the same or the same high pressure as the inside of the reaction tube 11 so that the reaction tube 11 is not damaged by a pressure difference between the inside and outside. A plurality of, for example, three support pins 14 for mounting the wafer W are provided in the reaction tube 11.

[0025] At one end of the reaction tube 11, an opening 11a for taking in and out the wafer W is provided. At the other end of the reaction tube 11, an inert gas such as nitrogen N2 gas whose pressure has been adjusted from a gas cylinder via a pressure adjusting means (regulator) is supplied into the reaction tube, and a predetermined high pressure such as 2-10 kg / g A gas supply pipe 15 for supplying a processing gas, for example, oxygen dioxide gas or water vapor H20 at a predetermined flow rate, while maintaining the pressure at about cm2, is connected. An exhaust pipe 16 for exhausting the processing gas is further connected to the other end of the reaction pipe 11.

[0026] The heater 12 has a metal case 12a capable of accommodating the reaction tube 11, and is provided with planar heating portions 17a and 17b made of a resistance heating element in the upper and lower portions of the case 12a. It has been done. It is preferable that a soaking material 18 is disposed between the heating sections 17a and 17b and the reaction tube 11. The pressure vessel 13 is made of metal, has an opening 13a corresponding to the opening 11a of the reaction tube 11, and adjusts the pressure from a gas cylinder via a regulator in order to maintain the inside at a predetermined high pressure. Introduced inert gas such as nitrogen N2 gas is introduced. A gas introduction pipe (not shown) for that purpose is connected. The reaction tube 11 and the pressure vessel 13 can be communicated with each other by a communication tube having an on-off valve in order to maintain the same pressure.

The high-pressure processing chamber 10 is connected to one end of the transfer chamber 30 via a shielding door 20. Two load lock chambers 60 and 61 are connected to the other end of the transfer chamber 30. The load lock chambers 60 and 61 have gate valves 40 and 41, respectively. The gate valves 40 and 41 perform an operation of transporting an unprocessed wafer and an operation of transporting a processed wafer in parallel or simultaneously. . Sloop It is preferable that a plurality of, for example, two load lock chambers 60, 60 are connected to the transfer chamber 30 via the first gate vanes 40, 40, respectively, in order to improve the cost. One end of the transfer chamber 30 is provided with an opening 31 communicating with the opening 13a of the pressure vessel 13 of the high-pressure processing chamber 10 via the shielding door 20, and the other end of the transfer chamber 30 is provided with a first gate valve 40, Two openings 32, 32 communicating with the openings 61 at one end of the load lock chambers 60, 60 via 40 are provided. The other end of each load lock chamber 60 is provided with an opening 62 communicating with the atmosphere through the second gate valve 50.

[0028] In the transfer chamber 30, a gas supply pipe for supplying an inert gas, for example, nitrogen N2 gas, whose pressure has been adjusted from a gas cylinder via a regulator to the transfer chamber and maintaining the transfer chamber at substantially the same pressure as the high-pressure processing chamber. Are connected (not shown). The transfer mechanism 35 provided in the transfer chamber 30 has a flat U-shaped holding portion 36 for holding the wafer W horizontally, and is capable of horizontal rotation, expansion and contraction in the horizontal direction, and movement in the vertical direction. It consists of an arm mechanism.

[0029] Since the high-pressure processing chamber 10 and the transfer chamber 30 are maintained at substantially the same pressure, the shielding door 20 that separates the high-pressure processing chamber 10 and the transfer chamber 30 does not need to be a highly airtight and gate vanolev. A heat shielding door that blocks high-temperature radiant heat (radiant heat) from inside the high-pressure processing chamber 10 into the transfer chamber 30 is preferable. The gate vanoleb is provided with an airtight material such as an o-ring between the valve element and the valve seat, whereas the heat shield door is not provided with an O-ring, so that the structure can be simplified and the equipment cost can be reduced. The illustrated shield door (heat shield door) 20 is closed (closed) by seating a valve body (door body) 22 on a valve seat 21 on the transfer chamber side, and moving the valve body 22 to the high pressure processing chamber 10 side. Force to retract further and open the valve The valve is seated on the valve seat of the high-pressure processing chamber 10 and closed, and the valve 22 is moved to the transfer chamber 30 and retracted further downward. It may be open. The reaction tube 11 or the pressure vessel 13 which is the high-pressure processing chamber 10 and the transfer chamber 30 may be made to be able to communicate with each other by a communication pipe having an on-off valve so as to have the same pressure.

On the other hand, an inert gas, for example, nitrogen N2 gas, whose pressure has been adjusted from a gas cylinder via a regulator to the load lock chamber 60, is supplied into the load lock chamber to increase the pressure in the load lock chamber to substantially the same pressure as in the transfer chamber. A gas supply pipe is connected to an exhaust pipe that exhausts inert gas in the load lock chamber and reduces the pressure in the load lock chamber to atmospheric pressure (not shown). . When the load lock chamber 60 communicates and opens to the atmosphere side, the pressure is reduced to substantially the same pressure (atmospheric pressure) as the atmosphere side, and when the load lock chamber 60 communicates and opens to the transfer chamber side, the pressure is increased to substantially the same pressure (high pressure) as the transfer chamber side. You. In any case, there is a pressure difference between the transfer chamber and the load lock chamber, or between the load lock chamber and the atmosphere, so a ring is required to ensure airtightness. A first gate valve 40 and a second gate valve 50 are used.

In order to easily maintain the airtight state at the time of closing the valve by using the pressure difference, the first gate vanoleb 40 is connected to a valve seat 41 arranged on the load lock chamber 60 side via a ring 43. The valve body 42 is seated and the valve is closed. The second gate vanoleb 50 has a structure in which a valve body 52 is seated on a valve seat 51 disposed on the atmosphere side via a ring 53 to close the valve. More specifically, the first gate valve 40 opens the valve body 41 by moving the valve body 41 to the transfer chamber 30 side and retracting it further downward, and the second gate valve 50 opens the valve body 51 to the load lock chamber. The valve is moved to the 60 side and retracted further downward to open the valve. The transfer chamber 30 and the load lock chamber 60 may be able to communicate with each other by a communication pipe having an on-off valve in order to make the same pressure.

A plurality of, for example, three support pins 63 for horizontally supporting the wafer W are provided in the load lock chamber 60. Two load locks to cool processed high-temperature wafers during the transfer process without the need for a dedicated cooling chamber that requires a special occupied space, simplifying the structure and reducing equipment costs One of the chambers 60 is preferably a cooling chamber 65 having a water-cooled or air-cooled cooling mechanism for cooling the wafer after the heat treatment.

[0033] On the atmospheric side of the high-pressure heat treatment apparatus 1, a cassette mounting table 75 for mounting a cassette (also referred to as a carrier) 70 as a transport container accommodating a plurality of, for example, about 25 wafers at predetermined intervals in the vertical direction. In the example shown, two are installed in parallel. Between the cassette mounting table 75 and the load lock chamber 60, an atmosphere-side transfer mechanism 80 for transferring the wafers W one by one between the cassette 70 and the load lock chamber 60 is provided. The cassette 70 is transported and mounted on the cassette mounting table 75 by a transfer robot or an operator, and is unloaded from the cassette mounting table 75.

[0034] As the cassette 70, a lid is detachably attached to a wafer outlet of the cassette body. It may be a cassette with a closed lid. The atmosphere-side transfer mechanism 80 is provided with a transfer arm 81 that is horizontally movable along the parallel direction of the cassette mounting tables 75 and is capable of horizontal turning, expansion and contraction in the horizontal direction, and upward and downward movement.

In the high-pressure heat treatment apparatus 1 having the above configuration, as an initial state, the pressure of the high-pressure processing chamber 10, the transfer chamber 30, and the cooling chamber 65 is increased to a predetermined pressure, and the load lock of the other one is not the cooling chamber 65. The pressure in chamber 60 has been reduced to atmospheric pressure. The second gate valve 50 of the low-pressure load lock chamber 60 is opened, and the unprocessed wafer W is taken out of the cassette 70 on the cassette mounting table 75 by the atmosphere-side transfer mechanism 80, and is carried into the low-pressure load lock chamber 60.

Next, after the second gate valve 50 of the low-pressure load lock chamber 60 is closed to increase the pressure inside the load lock chamber 60 to a predetermined pressure, the first gate vanoleb 40 and the shielding door 20 are opened, and the transfer chamber is opened. The unprocessed wafer W is transferred from the load lock chamber 60 to the reaction tube 11 of the high-pressure processing chamber 10 by the transfer mechanism 35 in 30. After that, the first gate valve 40 and the shielding door 20 are closed, and the unprocessed wafer W is subjected to a predetermined heat treatment, for example, a thermal oxidation process in the high-pressure processing chamber 10. After a predetermined heat treatment time has elapsed, the shield door 20 and the first gate valve 40 of the cooling load lock chamber 65 are opened, and the high-temperature processed wafer W is transferred from the reaction tube 11 into the cooling chamber 65. The first gate vanoleb 40 of the cooling chamber 65 is closed, the pressure of the cooling chamber 65 is reduced to the atmospheric pressure, and the processed wafer W is cooled in the cooling chamber 65.

During this cooling, the next unprocessed wafer W is taken out of the cassette 70 in the same manner as described above, loaded into the reaction tube 11 via the load lock chamber 60 and the transfer chamber 30, and subjected to a predetermined heat treatment. On the other hand, when the cooling in the cooling chamber 65 is completed during the heat treatment, the second gate valve 50 of the cooling chamber 65 is opened, and the processed wafer W is taken out of the cooling chamber 65 by the atmosphere-side transfer mechanism 80 and placed in a cassette. Insert it into the cassette 70 on the table 75. In this way, the wafers can be sequentially and successively subjected to thermal oxidation treatment under a high-pressure atmosphere.

According to the high-pressure heat treatment apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the high-pressure treatment chamber 10 that accommodates one wafer W and performs a predetermined heat treatment under a high-pressure atmosphere, and shields the high-pressure treatment chamber 10 A transfer chamber 30 connected via a door 20 and maintained at substantially the same or the same pressure as the pressure in the high-pressure processing chamber 10, and one end connected to the transfer chamber 30 via a first gate vanoleb 40 And the other end is opened to the atmosphere side through the second gate vanoleb 50, and the wafer W is taken in and out. The transfer chamber 30 is provided with a transfer mechanism 35 for transferring the wafer W between the load lock chamber 60 and the high-pressure processing chamber 10 in a high-pressure atmosphere. As a result, during the heat treatment of the wafer W in the high-pressure processing chamber 10 constantly maintained at a high pressure, the load lock chamber 60 can perform the pressure raising / lowering operation and the loading / unloading operation of the wafer, and can quickly move a large-diameter wafer under high pressure. The heat treatment can be performed quickly, and the throughput can be improved.

Since the high-pressure processing chamber 10 and the transfer chamber 30 are maintained at substantially the same pressure or the same pressure, the shielding door 20 that separates the high-pressure processing chamber 10 and the transfer chamber 30 has a highly airtight gate. A heat shield door that suffices to be a valve is sufficient. By using the heat shield door, the structure can be simplified and the cost of the apparatus can be reduced, and the heat effect from the radiant heat from the inside of the high-pressure processing chamber 10 to the inside of the transfer chamber 30 can be prevented. Since the first gate valve 40 has a structure in which the valve body 42 is seated on the valve seat 41 disposed on the load lock chamber 60 side and the valve is closed, the first gate valve 40 is provided between the transfer chamber 30 side and the load lock chamber 60 side. It is possible to easily maintain the airtight state when the valve is closed by utilizing the pressure difference.

[0040] Further, since the second gate vanoleb 50 has a structure in which the valve body 52 is seated on the valve seat 51 disposed on the atmosphere side to close the valve, the pressure difference between the load lock chamber 60 side and the atmosphere side is reduced. The airtight state at the time of closing the valve can be easily maintained by using the valve. Further, two load lock chambers 60 are connected to the transfer chamber 30, and one of the two lock lock chambers 60 is provided with a cooling mechanism for cooling the wafer W after the heat treatment. And the transfer operation of the processed wafer W can be performed in parallel or simultaneously to improve the throughput and to process without requiring a special cooling chamber that requires a special occupied space. The already heated high-temperature wafer W can be cooled during the transfer process, so that the structure can be simplified and the equipment cost can be reduced.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments, and various design changes and the like can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. is there. For example, the present invention can be applied to a thermal CVD process, a thermal diffusion process, and the like under a high pressure, in addition to the thermal oxidation process under a high pressure. Further, as the object to be processed, an LCD substrate, a glass substrate, or the like can be applied in addition to the semiconductor wafer. Industrial applicability

As described above, the high-pressure heat treatment apparatus according to the present invention can be used in, for example, heat treatment of a semiconductor wafer or the like, and can use a heat treatment step in which an improvement in throughput is desired.

Claims

The scope of the claims

[1] high pressure heat treatment equipment,

A high-pressure processing chamber that accommodates the object to be processed and performs a predetermined heat treatment under a high-pressure atmosphere; a transfer chamber that is connected to the high-pressure processing chamber through a shielding door and that is maintained at or near the pressure in the high-pressure processing chamber ;as well as

A load lock chamber, one end of which is connected to the transfer chamber via a first gate valve, and the other end is opened to the atmosphere side via a second gate vanoleb, and is moved up and down to take in and out the object to be processed. A load lock chamber that is pressurizable;

With

A high-pressure heat treatment apparatus characterized in that a transfer mechanism for transferring an object to be processed between the load lock chamber and the high-pressure processing chamber is provided in the transfer chamber.

[2] The method according to claim 1, wherein the transport mechanism transports the object under high pressure.

3. The high-pressure heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shield door is a heat shield door that shields heat radiation from the high-pressure processing chamber to the transfer chamber.

4. The high-pressure heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first gate valve has a structure in which a valve is seated on a valve seat disposed on a load lock chamber side to close the valve.

5. The high-pressure heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second gate valve has a structure in which a valve is seated on a valve seat arranged on the atmosphere side to close the valve.

6. The load lock chamber according to claim 1, wherein two of the load lock chambers are connected to the transfer chamber, and at least one of the load lock chambers has a mechanism for cooling the object to be processed after the heat treatment. High pressure heat treatment equipment.