JPH11260725A - Solid-state device manufacturing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a temperature difference from increasing in a reaction space at the time of evacuating a high-temperature atmosphere. SOLUTION: A thermal CVD apparatus includes exhaust pipes 41, 42 and 43 for discharging a high-temperature atmosphere or air within an accommodation container 18, shutters 44, 45 and 46 for cutting off the pipes 41, 42 and 43, a blower 47 for drawing the atmosphere within the container 18, a heat exchange 48 for removing heat from the discharged atmosphere, and a communication controller 49 for controlling communication of the pipes 41, 42 and 43 by controlling opening and closing operations of the shutters 44, 45 and 46. In this case, the controller 49 cuts off the pipe 41 and allows communication of the pipes 42 and 43, by first closing the shutter 44 and then opening the shutters 45 and 46. After passage of a predetermined constant time, the shutters 44 and 46 are opened and the shutter 45 is closed to thereby allow communication of the pipes 41 and 43 and to cut off the pipe 42.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a solid-state device manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a solid-state device by using a chemical reaction in a high-temperature reaction space, and more particularly to a rapid cooling device for rapidly cooling the temperature in the reaction space. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor device, a semiconductor device is often manufactured using a chemical reaction.

For example, in a film forming apparatus for forming a predetermined thin film on a wafer of a semiconductor device and an oxidizing apparatus for oxidizing the wafer, a film forming process and an oxidizing process are often performed by using a chemical reaction.

In such a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus, for example, thermal energy is used as activation energy for promoting a chemical reaction. In other words, a high-temperature reaction space is used as the reaction space. This high-temperature reaction space is usually formed by heating the external atmosphere.

When a semiconductor device is manufactured using a high-temperature reaction space, it is necessary to rapidly cool the reaction space at the end of a single manufacturing process in order to improve the throughput.

As a method of rapidly cooling the high-temperature reaction space, for example, there is a method of rapidly replacing a high-temperature atmosphere outside the reaction space, that is, a high-temperature atmosphere for heating the inside of the reaction space, with a low-temperature atmosphere. In order to realize this method, it is necessary to rapidly exhaust the high-temperature atmosphere.

Conventionally, when the high-temperature atmosphere is rapidly discharged, the high-temperature atmosphere is discharged by pulling the high-temperature atmosphere with a blower through one exhaust pipe having a large sectional area.

[0008]

However, in such a configuration, since the blower rotates at a rated speed from the time when the high-temperature atmosphere starts being drawn, the flow thereof is greatly disturbed when the high-temperature atmosphere starts to be drawn. Thereby, the temperature difference in the reaction space increases along the flow direction of the high-temperature atmosphere. as a result,
In a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus that manufactures a plurality of semiconductor devices at once, there is a problem that a difference occurs in the quality of a plurality of semiconductor devices manufactured together.

Therefore, the present invention provides a solid-state device manufacturing apparatus capable of preventing a temperature difference inside a reaction space from increasing when a high-temperature atmosphere for heating the inside of the reaction space is started. With the goal.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a solid-state device manufacturing apparatus comprising a plurality of exhaust pipes as exhaust pipes for discharging a high-temperature atmosphere for heating a high-temperature reaction space. By controlling the conduction of the plurality of exhaust pipes so as to gradually increase the discharge amount of the high-temperature atmosphere, it is possible to prevent the temperature difference in the high-temperature reaction space from increasing when the high-temperature atmosphere starts to be drawn. It was made.

That is, the solid-state device manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1 is an apparatus for manufacturing a solid-state device using a chemical reaction in a high-temperature reaction space. A plurality of exhaust pipes for discharging a high-temperature atmosphere for heating a plurality of exhaust pipes, and conduction of the plurality of exhaust pipes is controlled such that a discharge amount of the high-temperature atmosphere discharged through the plurality of exhaust pipes gradually increases. And conduction control means.

In this solid-state device manufacturing apparatus, when the high-temperature reaction space is rapidly cooled, conduction of a plurality of exhaust pipes is controlled so that the discharge amount of the high-temperature atmosphere for heating gradually increases. This can prevent the flow of the high-temperature atmosphere from being largely disturbed when the high-temperature atmosphere starts to be drawn, so that the temperature difference in the high-temperature reaction space can be prevented from increasing.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of a solid-state device manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a configuration of an embodiment of a solid-state device manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention. In addition,
The figure shows a vertical thermal CVD as a solid-state device manufacturing device.
(CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION) device is shown as a representative.

The illustrated thermal CVD apparatus includes a reaction vessel 11 for forming a high-temperature reaction space for forming a predetermined thin film on the surface of a wafer W, a heater 12 for heating the inside of the reaction vessel 11, and a reaction vessel. Four thermocouples 13, 14, 15, 16 for detecting the temperature inside the container 11, a heat insulator 17 for cutting off the heating by the heater 12, the reaction container 11, the heater 12, and the thermocouples 13, 14 , 15,1
6, a housing container 18 for housing the heat insulator 17 and the like.

The illustrated thermal CVD apparatus includes a load lock container 21 for preventing the high-temperature reaction space from contacting the atmosphere, a boat 22 for holding a plurality of wafers W to be processed, and a boat 22 for holding a plurality of wafers W to be processed. It has a heat retaining tube 23 for insulating the heat, a lid 24 for closing the boat insertion opening of the reaction vessel 11, and a boat elevator 25 for driving the boat 22 up and down.

The thermal CVD apparatus shown in FIG.
And a housing 32 for accommodating the reaction container 11, the load lock container 21, and the like.

The thermal CVD apparatus shown in FIG.
Exhaust pipes 41 and 4 for exhausting the atmosphere inside 8
Shutters 44, 45, 46 for shutting off the exhaust pipes 41, 42, 43;
A blower 47 for drawing a high-temperature atmosphere inside the storage container 18 via the exhaust pipes 41, 42, 43, and a heat exchanger 48 for removing heat of the atmosphere exhausted via the exhaust pipes 41, 42, 43.
A conduction control unit 49 controls the conduction of the exhaust pipes 41, 42, 43 by controlling the opening and closing of the shutters 43, 44, 45.

The reaction vessel 11 is formed in a tubular shape and is disposed vertically. The heater 12 is provided so as to surround the periphery of the reaction vessel 11. This heater 1
The region heated by 2 is divided into four in the axial direction (vertical direction) of the reaction vessel 11. The thermocouple 1
Reference numerals 3, 14, 15, and 16 are disposed in these four divided heating regions R1, R2, R3, and R4, respectively. The heat insulator 17 is provided around the heater 12. The cover 31 is disposed so as to cover the storage container 18 from above.

The load lock container 21 is a reaction container 1
1 below. The boat 22 is mounted on the lid 24 via the heat retaining tube 23. This lid 24 is supported by a boat elevator 25.

The exhaust pipe 41 is connected to an upper portion of the container 18. The shutter 44 is inserted in the exhaust pipe 41. The exhaust pipe 42
Are connected in parallel to the exhaust pipe 41 so as to straddle the shutter 44. The cross-sectional area of this exhaust pipe 42 is
It is set so as to be considerably smaller than the cross-sectional area of the exhaust pipe 41. The shutter 45 is inserted in the middle of the exhaust pipe 42.

The exhaust pipe 43 is provided with exhaust pipes 41 and 42.
Is connected to the downstream connection part. This exhaust pipe 43
Is set to be substantially the same as or slightly larger than the cross-sectional area of the exhaust pipe 41, for example. The shutter 46 is inserted in the middle of the exhaust pipe 43. The blower 47 is provided with a shutter 46 to the exhaust pipe 43.
It is inserted more downstream. On the other hand, the heat exchanger 48
Is inserted into the exhaust pipe 43 upstream of the shutter 46.

In the above configuration, the exhaust pipes 41, 4
2, 43, shutters 44, 45, 46, and blower 47.
, The heat exchanger 48 and the conduction controller 48 constitute a rapid cooling device for rapidly cooling the inside of the reaction vessel 11.

The operation of the above configuration will be described.

The boat 22 is initially positioned inside the load lock container 21 as shown by the broken line in FIG. In this state, a plurality of wafers W to be processed are carried into the load lock container 21 and stored in the boat 22. When this storage processing is completed, the atmosphere inside the load lock container 21 is replaced with the inert gas from the atmosphere. This prevents the inside of the reaction vessel 11 from being exposed to the atmosphere. When this replacement process ends,
The boat 22 is moved by the boat elevator 25 to the reaction vessel 11.
It is carried inside.

When the loading process is completed, a film forming process is performed. Thereby, a predetermined thin film is formed on the surfaces of the plurality of wafers W held by the boat 22. In this film forming process, the inside of the reaction vessel 11 is
Is heated. Thereby, a chemical reaction for film formation is promoted. In this case, four divided heating regions R1, R
2, R3, R4 are thermocouples 13, 14, 1 respectively.
5 and 16 detect. Then, the temperature of the heater 12 is controlled based on the detection output. This allows
The temperatures of the four divided heating regions R1, R2, R3, R4 are kept uniform. As a result, a uniform film forming process is performed on all the wafers W.

When the film forming process is completed, the reaction vessel 11
Is replaced with an inert gas from a reaction gas or the like. Thereby, the pressure inside the reaction vessel 11 is made to match the pressure inside the load lock vessel 21. As a result, the generation of airflow when the boat 22 is carried out of the reaction vessel 11 is suppressed. When the film forming process is completed, the high-temperature atmosphere (the atmosphere for heating the inside of the reaction vessel 11) inside the storage container 18 is changed to the exhaust pipes 41, 42,.
It is discharged via 43. Thereby, the inside of the reaction vessel 11 is rapidly cooled. This quenching process will be described later in detail.

When the replacement process and the quenching process are completed, the boat 22 is carried out of the reaction vessel 11 into the load lock vessel 21 by the boat elevator 25. When the unloading process is completed, a plurality of wafers W on which a predetermined thin film is formed are taken out of the boat 22. When this unloading process is completed, for the next plurality of wafers W,
The processing described above is performed. Hereinafter, similarly, each time the film formation on the plurality of wafers W is completed, the above-described processing is repeated.

Here, the above-mentioned rapid cooling process will be described in detail. In the rapid cooling process, the conduction control unit 49 first closes the shutter 44 and opens the shutters 45 and 46.
Thereby, the exhaust pipe 41 is shut off, and the exhaust pipe 42,
43 is moved. As a result, the high-temperature atmosphere inside the storage container 18 is drawn out by the blower 47 via the exhaust pipe 42 having a small cross-sectional area and the exhaust pipe 43 connected in series to the exhaust pipe 42. In this case, the atmosphere extracted from the storage container 18 is removed by the heat exchanger 48. Thus, a low-temperature atmosphere is output from the blower 47.

Thereafter, when a predetermined period of time has elapsed, the conduction control unit 49 opens the shutter 44 and closes the shutter 45. Thereby, the container 1
The high-temperature atmosphere inside 8 is an exhaust pipe 41 having a large sectional area.
And the exhaust pipe 43 connected in series with the blower 47 to be pulled out by the blower 47. Also in this case, the high-temperature atmosphere pulled out of the storage container 18 is removed by the heat exchanger 48. As a result, a low-temperature atmosphere is discharged from the blower 47.

According to the present embodiment described above, two exhaust pipes 41 and 42 having different cross-sectional areas are provided as exhaust pipes for exhausting the high-temperature atmosphere inside the storage container 18. The high-temperature atmosphere is exhausted through the exhaust pipe 42 having a small area, and when a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the start of the exhaust, the high-temperature atmosphere is exhausted through the exhaust pipe 41 having a large sectional area. At the beginning of drawing the high-temperature atmosphere, the discharge amount of the high-temperature atmosphere can be gradually increased.

This makes it possible to prevent the flow of the high-temperature atmosphere from being disturbed when the high-temperature atmosphere starts to be drawn, so that the temperature difference inside the reaction vessel 11 increases along the flow direction (vertical direction) of the high-temperature atmosphere. Can be prevented from becoming large. As a result, it is possible to prevent the quality of the plurality of wafers W held in the boat 22 from being different.

As described above, one embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment.

(1) For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the exhaust pipe 42 having a small cross-sectional area is first made conductive and then the exhaust pipe 41 having a large cross-sectional area is made conductive is described. However, according to the present invention, first, the exhaust pipe 42 having a small cross-sectional area is made conductive, and then the two exhaust pipes 41 and 4 are connected.
2 may be conducted together. Even with such a configuration, the discharge amount of the high-temperature atmosphere can be increased in two stages, so that it is possible to prevent the temperature difference inside the reaction vessel 11 from increasing when the high-temperature atmosphere starts to be drawn. Can be.

(2) In the above embodiment, the case where two exhaust pipes 41 and 42 are provided as exhaust pipes having different sectional areas has been described. However, in the present invention, three or more exhaust pipes may be provided. in this case,
The conduction may be performed sequentially from the exhaust pipe having the smaller cross-sectional area, or a plurality of exhaust pipes may be combined for conduction. According to such a configuration, the discharge amount of the high-temperature atmosphere can be increased in three or more stages, so that the effect of preventing the temperature difference inside the reaction vessel 11 from becoming larger than in the previous embodiment can be reduced. Can be enhanced.

(3) In the above embodiment, a case was described in which a plurality of exhaust pipes having different sectional areas were provided as the plurality of exhaust pipes. However, in the present invention, a plurality of exhaust pipes having the same sectional area may be provided. Even with such a configuration, the discharge amount in a high-temperature atmosphere can be gradually increased by appropriately combining a plurality of exhaust pipes.

(4) In the above embodiment, the case where the quenching process of the present invention is applied to the quenching process executed every time one semiconductor device manufacturing process is completed has been described. However, the present invention can also be applied to other quenching processing, for example, quenching processing for repairing a failure or the like.

(5) In the above embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus has been described.
However, the present invention can also be applied to an apparatus for manufacturing a solid-state device other than a semiconductor device, for example, an apparatus for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device.

(6) In addition, it goes without saying that the present invention can be variously modified without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0040]

As described in detail above, according to the solid-state device manufacturing apparatus of the first aspect, a plurality of exhaust pipes are provided as exhaust pipes for exhausting a high-temperature atmosphere, and the discharge amount of the high-temperature atmosphere is gradually reduced. Since the conduction of the plurality of exhaust pipes is controlled so as to increase, it is possible to prevent the temperature difference in the reaction space from increasing when the high-temperature atmosphere is started.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a configuration of an embodiment of a solid-state device manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

11: reaction vessel, 12: heater, 13, 14, 15, 1
6 thermocouple, 17 heat insulator, 18 accommodation container, 21 load lock container, 22 boat, 23 heating cylinder, 24
Lid, 25 ... boat elevator, 31 ... cover, 32 ...
Housing, 41, 42, 43 ... exhaust pipe, 44, 45, 46
... Shutter, 47 ... Blower, 48 ... Heat exchanger, 49 ... Conduction control unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A solid-state device manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a solid-state device using a chemical reaction in a high-temperature reaction space, wherein when the temperature in the high-temperature reaction space is rapidly cooled, a high-temperature atmosphere for heating the high-temperature reaction space is provided. A plurality of exhaust pipes for discharging air, and conduction control means for controlling conduction of the plurality of exhaust pipes so that the amount of the high-temperature atmosphere discharged through the plurality of exhaust pipes gradually increases. An apparatus for manufacturing a solid-state device.