Heraeus Quarzschmelze Gmbh

Christopher J Bayne

Karl A Schulke

Geoffrey Hayward

Joseph L Lambert

Graham E Collyer

An oven for the heat treatment of semiconductor substrates, especially a diffusion oven, having an upright, heatable quartz tube and a support system made of up rods or tubes into which one or more diffusion racks can be inserted which accommodate the wafer-like substrates separated from one another and substantially parallel to one another. To create a vertically operated oven having a rheologically efficient construction in which the support system for holding the diffusion racks will be highly variable, the support system has at least two vertical supports arranged parallel to one another, on which at least one rack rest 9 is disposed, on which rack rest the diffusion rack is placed such that the substrate wafers 8 stand substantially on edge during the treatment.

Oven for the heat treatment of semiconductor substrates

Apparatus for introducing silicon wafers in magazines into a process tube of a furnace or diffusion oven. At least two spaced silica tubes closed at the end next adjacent the process tube constitute supporting members for the loaded magazines and a clamping device holds and supports said members cantilever-fashion by that end thereof remote from the process tube. Motor means are associated with the clamping device for moving the supporting members with the loaded magazines thereon into and out of the process tube in a substantially horizontal direction in such a manner that the magazines and their supporting members remain entirely suspended throughout the loading, processing and unloading operations: thus no part thereof comes into contact with the interior wall of the process tube. The silica tubes preferably constitute a sheathing surrounding inserts in two or more sections fitting one within the other: the insert nearest the furnace is preferably silicon carbide and the insert remote from the furnace is preferably sintered alumina.

Apparatus for loading magazines into furnaces

Articles, such as fragile, delicate semiconductor wafers, in a first carrier member are caused to pass nearly, but not quite wholly, into a second carrier member by being pushed--against gravity--thereinto. The carrier members are then subjected to a displacement, e.g. by inversion, and said articles are allowed to drop wholly into said second carrier member. The further distance travelled by the articles after rotational displacement of a housing retaining the carrier members is very small, e.g. about 2 mm.

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Lightwater, United Kingdom

Christopher J Bayne