Tokyo Electron Limited

Tokyo Electron Tohoku Limited

Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha

Toshiharu Nishimura

Mitsuhiro Okada

Yuuichi Mikata

Katsuya Okumura

Shinji Miyazaki

Reiji Niino

Yamato Tonegawa

Takahiko Moriya

Masahiko Tomita

Hideki Lee

Yoshiyuki Fujita

Ryou Son

Yasuo Imamura

Atsushi Hosaka

Hitoshi Kato

Yutaka Takahashi

Mitsuaki Iwashita

Satoshi Takagi

Atsushi Endo

Katsutoshi Ishii

Takahiro Miyahara

Kota Umezawa

Seungho Oh

Masayuki Imai

Satoshi Mizunaga

Shinichi Jintate

Yoshihiko Okamoto

Kazuhide Hasebe

A method for using a semiconductor processing apparatus includes supplying an oxidizing gas and a reducing gas into a process container of the processing apparatus accommodating no product target substrate therein; causing the oxidizing gas and the reducing gas to react with each other within a first atmosphere that activates the oxidizing gas and the reducing gas inside the process container, thereby generating radicals; and removing a contaminant from an inner surface of the process container by use of the radicals.

Semiconductor processing apparatus and method for using same

A method for using a film formation apparatus for a semiconductor process includes setting an idling state where a reaction chamber of the film formation apparatus accommodates no product target substrate therein, and then, performing a purging process of removing a contaminant present in an inner surface of the reaction chamber by causing radicals to act on the inner surface of the reaction chamber. The radicals are generated by activating a purging process gas containing oxygen and hydrogen as elements.

Film formation apparatus and method for using the same

A method for using a film formation apparatus for a semiconductor process includes a first cleaning process of removing by a first cleaning gas a by-product film from an inner surface of a reaction chamber of the film formation apparatus, while supplying the first cleaning gas into the reaction chamber, and setting an interior of the reaction chamber at a first temperature and a first pressure to activate the first cleaning gas. The method further includes a second cleaning process of then removing by a second cleaning gas a contaminant from the inner surface of the reaction chamber, while supplying the second cleaning gas into the reaction chamber, and setting the interior of the reaction chamber at a second temperature and a second pressure to activate the second cleaning gas. The second cleaning gas includes a chlorine-containing gas.

A poly-silicon film formation method for forming a poly-silicon film doped with phosphorous or boron includes heating a target substrate placed in a vacuum atmosphere inside a reaction container, and supplying into the reaction container a silicon film formation gas, a doping gas for doping a film with phosphorous or boron, and a grain size adjusting gas containing a component to retard columnar crystal formation from a poly-silicon crystal and to promote miniaturization of the poly-silicon crystal, thereby depositing a silicon film doped with phosphorous or boron on the target substrate.

Method for forming poly-silicon film

A method of using a film formation apparatus for a semiconductor process includes removing by a cleaning gas a by-product film deposited on an inner surface of a reaction chamber of the film formation apparatus, and then chemically planarizing the inner surface of the reaction chamber by a planarizing gas. The inner surface contains as a main component quartz or silicon carbide. The removing is performed while supplying the cleaning gas into the reaction chamber, and setting the reaction chamber at a first temperature and first pressure to activate the cleaning gas. The planarizing is performed while supplying the planarizing gas into the reaction chamber, and setting the reaction chamber at a second temperature and second pressure to activate the planarizing gas. The planarizing gas contains fluorine gas and hydrogen gas.

Film formation apparatus and method of using the same

A method of using a film formation apparatus for a semiconductor process includes removing by a cleaning gas a by-product film deposited on an inner surface of a reaction chamber of the film formation apparatus, and then chemically planarizing the inner surface of the reaction chamber by a planarizing gas. The inner surface contains as a main component quartz or silicon carbide. The removing is performed while supplying the cleaning gas into the reaction chamber, and setting the reaction chamber at a first temperature and first pressure to activate the cleaning gas. The planarizing is performed while supplying the planarizing gas into the reaction chamber, and setting the reaction chamber at a second temperature and second pressure to activate the planarizing gas. The planarizing gas contains fluorine and hydrogen fluoride. The second temperature is within a range of from 300 to 800&#xb0; C.

A vertical processing unit 10 for semiconductor wafers has; a cylindrical processing chamber 2 having an opening 18 in an inside of an annular bottom surface, and a disk-shaped cap 6 having an annular abutting-surface 32 abutting on the annular bottom surface of the chamber. A mounting-surface 6p formed on the inside of the annular abutting-surface 32. A wafer-boat 8 for holding a wafer W to be processed is mounted on the mounting-surface 6p of the cap 6. The abutting-surface 32 has an annular groove 34A formed therein. An inert gas supply passgeway 38 is provided in communication with the annular groove 34A for supplying an inert gas into the annular groove 34A through a header 16. An ejection opening 36 for ejecting an inert gas is provided on the inner side of the annular groove 34A for communicating the annular groove 34A and the interior of the processing chamber 2. Owing to the active leaking of the nitrogen (N.sub.2) gas into the interior of the processing chamber 2 through the ejection opening 36, the corrosive gas as a processing gas in the processing chamber 2 does not leak out, so that corrosion or rusting of the equipment around the processing chamber 2 is prevented.

Vertical processing unit

A number of semiconductor wafers are retained in a wafer boat such that the wafers are disposed at intervals in the vertical direction. The wafer boat is loaded into a process tube of a vertical type thermal processing apparatus. The inside of the process tube is heated to 300.degree. to 530.degree. C. in a depressurized atmosphere, and a process gas including a disilane gas is fed into the process tube such that the disilane gas flows at a flow rate of 300 SCCM or more, thereby to form silicon films.

Method for forming silicon film

A doped film forming method comprising, the steps of preparing gas source for supplying a film forming gas into the process tube, gas source for supplying doping gases, in which a dope is included, into the process tube, a dry pump for exhausting the process tube, and an apparatus for burning a not-reacted element in waste gas, arranging a plurality of substrates in the process tube in such a way that they are separated from their adjacent ones by a certain interval, exhausting the process tube to keep it reduced in pressure, heating the substrates in the process tube to a temperature range of 500.degree.-600.degree. C., controlling amounts of the doping and film forming gases, while exhausting the process tube, at the ratio of the amount of the film forming gas to the amount of the doping gases being in the range of 1 to 1.625.times.10.sup.-3 to 2.125.times.10.sup.-3, and causing the doping and film forming gases to be reacted with the substrates.

Method of forming doped film

After a polysilicon film is formed on a wafer, a cleaning gas containing ClF.sub.3 at 10 to 50 vol % is supplied into a reaction tube and an exhaust pipe system at a flow rate of 3000 to 3500 SCCM, so as to remove a polysilicon-based film deposited on an inner wall surface of the reaction tube, the surface of a member incorporated in the reaction tube, and an inner wall surface of the exhaust pipe system while the film forming process, by etching using ClF.sub.3. The cleaning gas is supplied while the temperature in the reaction tube is maintained at 450.degree. C. or higher, and in a pressure condition set at the maintained temperature such that an etching rate of the polysilicon-based film by the cleaning gas is higher than an etching rate of silicon which is the material of the reaction tube or the member incorporated in the reaction tube.

Method of cleaning reaction tube and exhaustion piping system in heat

Film-forming apparatus

A film is formed on a substrate by supplying a plurality of processing gases into a processing container and forming the film on the substrate from the processing gases while exhausting a portion of the gases out of the processing container. Before a partial pressure of a byproduct in the processing container produced through chemical reaction of the processing gases reaches an equilibrium state, the partial pressure of the byproduct in the processing container is temporarily reduced by temporarily suppressing or stopping the supply of at least one of the processing gases into the processing container and exhausting gas from the processing container.

Film forming method wherein a partial pressure of a reaction byproduct

Prior to formation of a polysilicon film on a wafer, a pre-coat film having a thickness of 1 .mu.m and consisting of polysilicon is formed on the inner wall surface of a reaction tube or the surface of a member incorporated in the reaction tube. A polysilicon film is formed on the wafer at a temperature of 450.degree. C. to 650.degree. C. A cleaning gas containing ClF.sub.3 having a concentration of 10 to 50 vol. % is supplied into the reaction tube at a flow rate to an area of an object be cleaned of 750 to 3,500 SCCM/m.sup.2 to remove a polysilicon film deposited on the inner wall surface of the reaction tube or the surface of the member incorporated in the reaction tube by etching using the ClF.sub.3. In this case, the cleaning gas is supplied while a temperature in the reaction tube is kept at a temperature of 450.degree. C. to 650.degree. C. and in a pressure condition set at the kept temperature such that an etching rate of a polysilicon film by the cleaning gas is higher than an etching rate of quartz constituting the reaction tube or the member incorporated in the reaction tube.

Method of cleaning reaction tube

A method of cleaning a process tube and a wafer boat, comprising the steps of, carrying wafers out of the process tube, controlling the temperature in the process tube saw as or lower than a process temperature and higher than a boiling point of ClF.sub.3, said process temperature being kept in the process tube when the process of forming film on the wafers is carried out in the process tube, and supplying ClF.sub.3 -contained cleaning gas into the process tube to react the cleaning gas with the film of the silicon oxide adhering to the inner wall of the process tube and the wafer boat.

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Nirasaki, Japan

Toshiharu Nishimura