Tokyo Electron Limited

Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Tokyo Electron Kabushiki Kaisha

Tokyo Electron Tohoku Limited

Kenji Tago

Kazuhide Hasebe

Atsumi Ito

Keisuke Suzuki

Shinji Mori

Teruyuki Hayashi

Kazunari Sakata

Harunori Ushikawa

Kimiya Aoki

Kazuaki Nishimura

Kazuo Saki

Yukio Tojo

Katsushi Suzuki

Mitsuo Mizukami

Asami Shirakawa

Phillip Spaull

In a method of forming a silicon oxide film, a target substrate that has a silicon layer on a surface is loaded into a process area within a reaction container, while setting the process area to have a loading temperature of 400&#xb0; C. or less. Then, the process area that accommodates the target substrate is heated, from the loading temperature to a process temperature of 650&#xb0; C. or more. Water vapor is supplied into the reaction container during said heating the process area, while setting the water vapor to have a first concentration in an atmosphere of the process area, and setting the process area to have a first reduced pressure. After said heating the process area to the process temperature, an oxidation gas is supplied into the reaction container, thereby oxidizing the silicon layer to form a silicon oxide film.

Method and apparatus for forming silicon oxide film

A cleaning process for cleaning a thermal processing apparatus includes: a heating step of heating an interior of a reaction tube at 300&#xb0; C., and a cleaning step of removing deposits deposited in the thermal processing apparatus. In the cleaning step, a cleaning gas containing fluorine gas, chlorine gas and nitrogen gas is supplied into the interior of the reaction tube heated at 300&#xb0; C. to remove silicon nitride so to clean an interior of the thermal processing apparatus.

Thin film forming apparatus cleaning method

A wafer boat that supports a plurality of semiconductor wafers at a predetermined pitch, which are to be processed by a vertical thermal processing furnace, comprises a plurality of support columns; wafer support grooves formed in the support columns for supporting the peripheral edges of the wafers; and a film thickness equalization plate that is substantially the same size as the wafers, or is larger than the wafers, and is provided in wafer support grooves that are adjacent to one another in the vertical direction. This configuration ensures the same type of film is formed on the surface facing the surface of the wafer, achieving uniformity of the thus-formed film thickness.

Wafer boat and film formation method

A wafer boat that supports a plurality of semiconductor wafers at a predetermined pitch, which are to be processed by a vertical thermal processing furnace, comprises a plurality of support columns; wafer support grooves formed in the support columns for supporting the peripheral edges of the wafers; and a film thickness equalization plate that is substantially the same size as the wafers. or is larger than the wafers, and is provided in wafer support grooves that are adjacent to one another in the vertical direction. This configuration ensures the same type of film is formed on the surface facing the surface of the wafer, achieving uniformity of the thus-formed film thickness.

A heat treatment apparatus comprising a holder, a hollow cylindrical cover, a flat plate, and a processing chamber. The holder holds disk-shaped objects, each having an orientation flat portion at circumference. The objects are arranged coaxially and spaced at predetermined intervals, with the orientation flat portions aligned with one another. The cover has gas ports and surrounds the objects held by the holder and is spaced from a circumference of each object by a predetermined distance. The flat plate is mounted on an inner surface of the cover and opposes the orientation flat portions of the objects. In the processing chamber, the objects held by the holder are processed by using a process gas.

Heat treatment apparatus

A waiting space is provided below a processing vessel for processing objects to be processed. An objects to be processed mount which is movable up and down into the processing vessel is disposed in the waiting space for mounting objects to be processed. There is provided a natural oxide film generation suppressing gas supply system which supplies a natural oxide film generation suppressing gas for suppressing generation of natural oxide films on the surfaces of the objects to be processed, and a dried gas with a low dew point is supplied as a natural oxide film generation suppressing gas by the natural oxide film generation suppressing gas supply system. The processing apparatus can suppress generation of natural oxide films inexpensively and efficiently.

Processing apparatus

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Kofu, Japan

Kenji Tago