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:
Nov. 13, 2001
Filed:
Oct. 13, 1999
Yoshinori Takamori, Kyoto, JP;
Toru Nishiwaki, Toyama, JP;
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
Wafers, each including an MOS semiconductor component thereon, are introduced one by one into a single-wafer heat treatment system. First, hydrogen is introduced into the system and the wafer is heated up to a predetermined temperature in Step,. Next, while the wafer temperature is kept constant at the predetermined temperature, the hydrogen sintering process is performed in Step,. Then, the wafer is cooled down to another predetermined temperature or less within the system in Step,. Finally, the wafer is taken out in Step,. The time taken to perform a single cycle of the sintering process may be within three minutes. Accordingly, compared to a conventional process using a diffusion furnace, the throughput can be increased and the temperature response and uniformity of the wafer can also be improved. By taking the wafer out of the system after sintering and then cooling down it once, the damage caused in MOS interface states, for example, by a previous process step can be repaired in a short time.