Screen Holdings Co., Ltd.

Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd.

Yoshio Ito

Masashi Furukawa

Kazuhiko Fuse

Takashi Kawamura

Kenichi Yokouchi

Mao Omori

Mitsukazu Takahashi

Yoshihide Nozaki

Hideo Nishihara

Norimasa Matsui

Ippei Kobayashi

Hiroki Yoshii

Akio Wada

A semiconductor wafer is preheated with a halogen lamp, and then is heated by irradiation with a flash of light emitted from a flash lamp. The preheating with the halogen lamp is continued for a short time even after the flash lamp turns off. A radiation thermometer measures a front surface temperature and a back surface temperature of the semiconductor wafer. A temperature integrated value is calculated by integration of temperatures of the semiconductor wafer measured during a period from a start of the flash irradiation to an end of the heating of the semiconductor wafer. It is determined that the semiconductor wafer is cracked at the time of flash irradiation when the calculated temperature integrated value deviates from a preset range between an upper limit value and a lower limit value.

Light irradiation type heat treatment method and heat treatment apparatus

Halogen lamps arranged in two, upper and lower, tiers to intersect each other in a lattice pattern are provided under a chamber for receiving a semiconductor wafer therein. In a location where the halogen lamps in the upper and lower tiers overlap each other, a reflector is provided such that an outer wall surface of a glass tube of each halogen lamp is open on upper and lower sides. In the location where the halogen lamps in the upper and lower tiers overlap each other, light emitted upwardly from a halogen lamp in the lower tier is transmitted through the open upper and lower portions of the outer wall surface of the glass tube of a halogen lamp in the upper tier, and is directed further upwardly. Thus, the light is prevented from entering the glass tube of the halogen lamp in the lower tier again.

Rod-shaped lamp and heat treatment apparatus

A semiconductor wafer held by a susceptor in a chamber is irradiated with halogen light radiated from a plurality of halogen lamps to be heated. A stainless steel block having an opening in a cylindrical shape is provided between the chamber and the halogen lamps. This reduces a distance from a light emitting portion in a light source region in which the plurality of halogen lamps is arranged, throughout the entire circumference of the opening in a cylindrical shape, so that the amount of reflected light from the inner wall surface of the opening toward the peripheral portion of the semiconductor wafer becomes uniform. This causes a uniform increase in illuminance of the peripheral portion of the semiconductor wafer, where temperature tends to decrease, at the time of light irradiation from the halogen lamps, so that in-plane temperature distribution of the semiconductor wafer can be made uniform.

Light irradiation type heat treatment apparatus

After treatment of a preceding lot is completed, warm up treatment is started. In the warm up treatment, an in-chamber structure such as a susceptor is kept at a constant heat-retaining temperature by light irradiation from a halogen lamp. When a signal to pay out a lot is received while the warm up treatment is performed, the treatment proceeds to conditioning treatment. In the conditioning treatment, the in-chamber structure like the susceptor and so on is temperature-controlled to a stable temperature by repeatedly performing light irradiation on a dummy wafer held on the susceptor, the light irradiation being similar to that performed on a semiconductor wafer included in a lot to be treated. Performing the conditioning treatment after the warm up treatment is performed enables the in-chamber structure to be temperature-controlled to the stable temperature in a short time.

Heat treatment method and heat treatment apparatus of light irradiation type

A transportation preparation operation for transporting a semiconductor wafer from a treatment chamber is started before a temperature of the semiconductor wafer decreases to a transportable temperature. A gate valve is closed after a treatment on the semiconductor wafer is started, and an operation of transporting the semiconductor wafer into the treatment chamber is completed. A period of time for treating the semiconductor wafer and a period of time for transporting the semiconductor wafer in and out are overlapped with each other, thus a time required for transporting the semiconductor wafer W into and out of the treatment chamber can be reduced.

Light irradiation type heat treatment method

A continuous lighting lamp irradiates a semiconductor wafer held by a quartz susceptor with light from below to perform preliminary heating, and then irradiation of a flash of light is performed by a flash lamp from above. A light absorption ring is provided so as to be close to a peripheral portion of the semiconductor wafer held by the susceptor. The light absorption ring absorbs infrared light and transmits visible light through itself. During preliminary heating, the light absorption ring absorbs light emitted from the continuous lighting lamp to be increased in temperature so that heat radiated from the peripheral portion of the wafer is compensated to cause in-plane temperature distribution of the semiconductor wafer to be uniform. Meanwhile, the flash of light is transmitted through the light absorption ring, so that the light absorption ring is prevented from being damaged by the irradiation of the flash of light.

Heat treatment apparatus of light irradiation type

An atmosphere of ammonia that absorbs infrared light in a wavelength band overlapping with the measurement wavelength band of a radiation thermometer is formed in a chamber in which a semiconductor wafer is thermally treated. A filter that selectively transmits infrared light having a wavelength not overlapping with the absorption wavelength band of ammonia is installed between an optical lens system and a detector of the radiation thermometer to avoid influence of the infrared light absorption by ammonia. A conversion table corresponding to the installed filter is selected from a plurality of conversion tables representing a correlation between energy of infrared light incident on the radiation thermometer and temperature of a black body, and is used at the radiation thermometer. Accordingly, the temperature of the semiconductor wafer can be accurately measured in the atmosphere of ammonia.

Light-irradiation thermal treatment apparatus

In a state where nothing is held on a quartz susceptor provided in a chamber, a lower chamber window made of quartz is heated to and maintained at a stable temperature by light irradiation from a continuous lighting lamp. Then, immediately before a semiconductor wafer to be treated is transferred into the chamber, an object to be heated that absorbs infrared light is held on the susceptor, and the object to be heated is heated by light irradiation from the continuous lighting lamp. The susceptor is preliminary heated to a stable temperature by the heated object to be heated. The lower chamber window and the susceptor are each heated to the stable temperature when a semiconductor wafer to be treated first is transferred into the chamber, so that temperature histories of all semiconductor wafers constituting one lot can be made uniform. This enables dummy running, before a semiconductor wafer to be treated first is transferred, to be eliminated.

Heat treatment method of light irradiation type

A plurality of support pins that support a semiconductor wafer are located upright on a top surface of a susceptor. A condenser lens is located on a bottom surface of the susceptor opposite to the support pins with respect to the susceptor. The condenser lens is located such that its optical axis coincides with the central axis of the corresponding support pin. Of light emitted from halogen lamps from below, light entering the condenser lens is condensed at a contact portion between the corresponding support pin and the semiconductor wafer, so that the vicinity of the contact portion rises in temperature. The vicinity of the contact portion of the semiconductor wafer in contact with the support pin in which the temperature tends to drop is relatively intensely heated in order to suppress the temperature drop, and an in-plane temperature distribution of the semiconductor wafer during light irradiation can thus be made uniform.

A semiconductor wafer with (100) plane orientation has two orthogonal cleavage directions. A notch is provided so as to indicate one of these directions. During irradiation with a flash, the semiconductor wafer warps about one of two radii at an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the cleavage directions such that the upper surface thereof becomes convex, and the opposite ends of the other radii become the lowest position. Eight support pins in total are provided in upright position on the upper surface of a holding plate of a susceptor while being spaced at intervals of 45 degrees along the same circumference. The semiconductor wafer is placed on the susceptor such that any of the support pins supports a radius at an angle of 45 degrees with respect to a cleavage direction.

Thermal processing apparatus for heating substrate, and susceptor

Thermal processing method and thermal processing apparatus for heating substrate, and susceptor

A susceptor for holding a semiconductor wafer to be flash-heated by a flash of light emitted from flash lamps is formed of transparent quartz. The susceptor has a backside surface only which is roughened by shot blasting to provide a ground-glass-like surface. When a flash of light is emitted, part of the flash of light emitted from the flash lamps and passing by a peripheral portion of the semiconductor wafer held by the susceptor into the susceptor reaches the ground-glass-like backside surface and is diffusely reflected therefrom. Part of the diffusely reflected light impinges on the peripheral portion of the semiconductor wafer held by the susceptor to thereby heat the low temperature regions which have appeared in the peripheral portion of the semiconductor wafer.

Susceptor for heat treatment and heat treatment apparatus

A substrate heat treatment apparatus irradiating a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer with light and performing heat treatment is provided. 19 lamps are arranged on a plane in the form of a honeycomb to form a lamp group The lamp group has 6-fold rotation symmetry about a symmetry axis XR. A substrate W is rotated about a rotation axis XW in a plane parallel to that formed by the lamp group The symmetry axis XR of the lamp group and the rotation axis XW of the substrate W are displaced for relaxing peaks and bottoms of illuminance distribution on the substrate W resulting from regularity of arrangement of the lamp group Consequently, fluctuation of radial illuminance distribution on the substrate W is reduced and improving uniformity is improved. When the uniformity of radial illuminance distribution on the substrate W is improved, temperature uniformity of the substrate W in heat treatment can be ensured.

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Kyoto, Japan

Yoshio Ito