The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 07, 2001
Filed:
Feb. 12, 1998
Yasuhiro Inokuchi, Tokyo, JP;
Fumihide Ikeda, Tokyo, JP;
Kokusai Electric Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A wet-oxidation apparatus comprises a reaction tube capable of accommodating a semiconductor wafer; a water vapor generating apparatus for generating water vapor; a gas supply passage for supplying gas into the reaction tube; a discharge passage; an inert gas supply unit for supplying an inert gas; a gas switching unit capable of switching between the water vapor from the water vapor generating unit and the inert gas from the inert gas supply unit, so as to supply either one of the water vapor and the inert gas to the gas supply passage; and a control unit controlling such that: at least while wet-oxidation processing of the semiconductor wafer are conducted predetermined times in the reaction tube, the water vapor generating apparatus continuously generates the water vapor; whenever the wet-oxidation processing is started one time, the water vapor from the water vapor generating apparatus is switched toward the gas supply passage; and whenever the wet-oxidation processing is completed one time, the water vapor from the water vapor generating apparatus is switched toward the discharge passage, and the inert gas from the inert gas supply unit is supplied to the gas supply passage.