JP3869655B2 - Lamp annealing equipment - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to lamp annealing apparatus for heat treatment more heating the substrate to morphism light irradiation was carried one by one the substrate to a heat treatment furnace.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In a semiconductor element manufacturing process, a single wafer type substrate, such as a lamp annealing apparatus or a CVD apparatus, which heats and heat-treats the substrate one by one into a heat treatment furnace and irradiates the substrate with light. Heat treatment apparatuses are widely used in various processes. For example, one example of the configuration of the lamp annealing apparatus will be briefly described. As shown in a schematic plan view of FIG. 3, the lamp annealing apparatus includes a heat treatment furnace 1, a wafer carry-in / out apparatus 2, a wafer positioning unit 3, and a wafer standby unit. The whole is composed of four.
[0003]
Although the details of the structure are not shown in FIG. 3, the heat treatment furnace 1 has an openable / closable opening for carrying in and out a substrate, for example, a semiconductor wafer, and a light incident window through which light enters. On the other hand, a wafer support ring for supporting the wafer in a horizontal posture and a wafer transfer mechanism having a plurality of support pins that can be raised and lowered to contact the lower surface of the wafer to support the wafer are provided. In addition, a gas introduction chamber into which a processing gas such as nitrogen is introduced is formed inside the heat treatment furnace 1, and the processing gas supplied from the processing gas supply source to the gas introduction chamber has a plurality of gas flow distribution plates. The process gas blown out to the upper surface of the wafer on the wafer support ring through the gas blowout holes of the wafer and discharged to the upper surface of the wafer is exhausted through the gas exhaust passage. A plurality of lamps such as halogen lamps, arc lamps, and xenon lamps are disposed above the heat treatment furnace 1 so as to face the light incident window, and light emitted from each lamp passes through the light irradiation window and is heat treated. The wafer supported on the wafer support ring in the furnace 1 is irradiated and heated.
[0004]
The wafer carry-in / out apparatus 2 includes two wafer transfer arms, a wafer carry-in arm 5 and a wafer carry-out arm 6. The wafer carry-in / out device 2 itself can be rotated in a horizontal plane, and the wafer carry-in arm 5 and the wafer carry-out arm 6 can be extended and contracted, respectively. Then, the wafer carry-in arm 5 takes out the unprocessed wafer from the wafer positioning unit 3 that performs wafer alignment, and carries the wafer into the heat treatment furnace 1 through the opening of the heat treatment furnace 1, via the wafer transfer mechanism. The wafer is supported in a horizontal position on the wafer support ring. Further, the wafer carry-out arm 6 takes out the wafer after the heat treatment from the wafer support ring via the wafer transfer mechanism, carries out the wafer from the heat treatment furnace 1 through the opening of the heat treatment furnace 1, and cools the wafer. Move to 4.
[0005]
When performing a silicide treatment of titanium, cobalt, copper or the like using the lamp annealing apparatus as described above, the wafer after the treatment is exposed to an air atmosphere (atmosphere containing oxygen) at a high temperature (for example, 200 ° C. or more). Then, since the wafer is oxidized, it is necessary to cool the wafer to a low temperature (for example, 200 ° C. or lower) in a gas atmosphere such as nitrogen or argon controlled to a predetermined concentration while holding the wafer in the heat treatment furnace. For this reason, conventionally, compressed air, nitrogen, or the like is blown from the nozzle of the gas injection device toward the outer wall surface of the heat treatment furnace, and the furnace wall of the heat treatment furnace is cooled to indirectly cool the wafer. It was.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the method of indirectly cooling the wafer by cooling the furnace wall of the heat treatment furnace, it takes a long time for the wafer to become low temperature (for example, 200 ° C. or lower). For this reason, the throughput in a series of substrate heat treatment operations decreases.
[0007]
The present invention has been made in view of the circumstances as described above, and the substrate after the heat treatment is held in a heat treatment furnace maintained in a predetermined gas concentration atmosphere, and the temperature is lowered to a low temperature within a short time. An object of the present invention is to provide a lamp annealing apparatus that can be cooled and that can improve throughput.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
Invention, at least a furnace wall of an upper portion thereof is formed of a light transmissive material, and a heat treatment furnace in which the substrate therein is held by being carried, at least the upper surface of the substrate held on the heat treatment furnace according to claim 1 heated by irradiating light to said substrate through said furnace wall which is opposite disposed formed in the light transmitting material on the lamp and the heat treatment furnace predetermined by supplying a process gas into the heat treatment furnace a gas supply means for maintaining the gas concentration atmosphere in the lamp annealing apparatus and a substrate carry-out arm for unloading the substrate after the heat treatment from the heat treatment furnace, the substrate carry-out arm, the substrate support for supporting a substrate parts and formed in the shape of a flat plate, and so as to point contact in a state in which the support plane forming the upper surface of the substrate support portion is close to the most surface contact with or said substrate lower surface of the substrate lower surface, the substrate unloading a The substrate support portion of the arm in a state where the substrate of the heat treatment is finished hot supported on the supporting plane, the process gas is maintained continues to be supplied to a predetermined gas concentration atmosphere by the gas supply means and the Oite in a heat treatment furnace, characterized in that it has a function as a cooler for cooling is lowered rapidly to a predetermined temperature which can be unloaded from the heat treatment furnace.
[0009]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the lamp annealing apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein a liquid flow path through which the cooling medium flows is formed inside the substrate support portion of the substrate carry-out arm, and the inside of the liquid flow path is formed. Cooling medium supply means for flowing the cooling medium through is provided.
[0010]
The lamp annealing apparatus of the invention according to claim 1, by light to the upper surface of the substrate through the upper furnace wall of the heat treatment furnace is irradiated from the lamp, the substrate is heat treated is heated, the substrate heat treatment is over, the substrate In the heat treatment furnace that is transferred to the carry-out arm and is supported on the substrate support portion of the substrate carry-out arm and maintained in a predetermined gas concentration atmosphere before being carried out of the heat treatment furnace by the substrate carry-out arm. The substrate is cooled to a predetermined temperature by the substrate support portion, quickly becomes a low temperature, and is then carried out of the heat treatment furnace by the substrate carry-out arm.
[0011]
In the lamp annealing apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, the cooling medium supply means causes the cooling medium to flow through the liquid passage formed inside the substrate support portion of the substrate carry-out arm, and Since the substrate support portion is cooled, the substrate support portion cools the substrate to a low temperature more quickly.
[0012]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0013]
FIG. 1 shows an example of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1A shows a heat treatment furnace in which a substrate, for example, a semiconductor wafer is carried into a heat treatment furnace of a lamp annealing apparatus for performing a silicide treatment of titanium, cobalt, copper or the like. It is a top view of the wafer support part of the wafer carrying-out arm which is one of the components of the wafer carrying-in / out apparatus which carries out a wafer from the inside, (b) is a BB arrow longitudinal cross-sectional view of (a). . The basic configuration and functions of the wafer carry-in / out apparatus are the same as those of the conventional apparatus described with reference to FIG. 3, and a description thereof will be omitted.
[0014]
The upper surface of the wafer support portion of the wafer carry-out arm 10 shown in FIG. 1 is recessed in a circular shape so as to correspond to the outer peripheral shape of the wafer W, and the bottom surface of the recess is in surface contact with most of the lower surface of the wafer W. Thus, the support plane 12 for supporting the wafer W in a horizontal posture is obtained. Further, the inner peripheral surface of the concave portion becomes a movement restricting surface 14 that faces and is close to the outer peripheral end surface of the wafer W supported on the support plane 12. Further, the wafer support portion of the wafer carry-out arm 10 is formed with a plurality of grooves cut out in the shape of a groove from the front end surface in a direction perpendicular to the width direction, in the illustrated example, two groove-shaped notches 16. Yes. When a plurality of support pins (not shown) of the wafer transfer mechanism disposed in the heat treatment furnace enter these groove-shaped notches 16, the wafer carry-out arm 10 enters the heat treatment furnace and heat treatment is performed. Each operation of the wafer unloading arm 10 withdrawing from the furnace and the lifting / lowering operation of the support pins of the wafer transfer mechanism do not interfere with each other. For this reason, the wafer carry-out arm 10 can enter the position directly below the wafer while the wafer is supported and the support pins are raised.
[0015]
In addition, a liquid flow path 18 through which a cooling medium, for example, cooling water flows, is formed inside the wafer support portion of the wafer carry-out arm 10 so as to circulate substantially the entire wafer support portion. Each end of the liquid flow path 18 is connected to an outlet and an inlet of a cooling water supply device (not shown). Then, the cooling water sent out from the cooling water supply device flows through the liquid flow path 18 of the wafer support portion of the wafer carry-out arm 10 while cooling the support plane 12 of the wafer support portion, and then the cooling water. It is designed to return to the supply device.
[0016]
In the lamp annealing apparatus (not shown here) having a wafer carry-in / out device having the wafer carry-out arm 10 shown in FIG. 1, when the heat treatment of the wafer in the heat treatment furnace is finished, the support pins of the wafer transfer mechanism Rises, contacts the lower surface of the wafer, floats the wafer from the wafer support ring and transfers it to the support pins, and then the wafer carry-out arm 10 enters the heat treatment furnace through the opening of the heat treatment furnace and supports it. It moves to just below the wafer supported by the pins. Next, when the support pins are lowered, the wafer is transferred from the support pins onto the wafer carry-out arm 10, and the wafer W is supported by the support plane 12 of the wafer carry-out arm 10 as shown in FIG. It is supported in the state of surface contact with. The wafer W is brought into surface contact with the cooled support plane 12 of the wafer carry-out arm 10, so that the temperature is quickly lowered. During these periods, a processing gas such as nitrogen or argon is continuously supplied into the heat treatment furnace, and the heat treatment furnace is maintained in a predetermined gas concentration atmosphere. When the wafer W is cooled to a predetermined temperature, the wafer carry-out arm 10 moves out of the heat treatment furnace, carries the wafer W out of the heat treatment furnace, and moves the wafer W to the wafer standby unit.
[0017]
In this lamp annealing apparatus, even when silicide treatment of titanium, cobalt, copper or the like is performed, the wafer W is rapidly exposed to a predetermined temperature at which the wafer W is not oxidized in the heat treatment furnace without being exposed to the atmospheric air. The temperature can be lowered.
[0018]
When the wafer unloading arm has a certain heat capacity and the wafer is cooled even if the wafer is in surface contact with the wafer unloading arm at room temperature, a plan view is shown in FIG. As shown in the vertical cross-sectional view taken along the line B-B in FIG. 5B, a liquid flow path for flowing cooling water may not be formed inside the wafer support portion of the wafer carry-out arm 20. The wafer unloading arm 20 shown in FIG. 2 has the same structure as the wafer unloading arm 10 shown in FIG. 1 except that no liquid flow path is formed inside the wafer support portion. The same reference numerals are attached to the respective components in FIG.
[0019]
In the apparatus having the wafer carry-out arm 20 having the structure shown in FIG. 2, a cooling plate is installed outside the heat treatment furnace, and the wafer carry-out arm 20 is brought into contact with or close to the cooling plate. After cooling, the wafer carry-out arm 20 may enter the heat treatment furnace.
[0020]
In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the wafer W is brought into surface contact with the support plane 12 of the wafer carry-out arms 10 and 20, but a plurality of protrusions are provided on the support plane to bring the wafer into point contact. The wafer may be cooled by supporting the wafer and bringing the wafer close to the support plane.
[0021]
【The invention's effect】
When the lamp annealing apparatus of the invention according to claim 1 is used, a substrate heated by light irradiation and heat-treated is supported on a substrate support portion of a substrate carry-out arm in a heat treatment furnace maintained in a predetermined gas concentration atmosphere. In this state, since it can be cooled to a low temperature within a short time, the throughput in a series of heat treatment operations can be improved.
[0022]
In the lamp annealing apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, the substrate after the heat treatment can be cooled more quickly to a low temperature while being supported on the substrate support portion of the substrate carry-out arm.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 shows an example of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1A is a plan view of a wafer support portion of a wafer carry-out arm that is one of the components of a wafer carry-in / out device provided in a lamp annealing apparatus. (B) is a BB arrow longitudinal cross-sectional view of (a).
2 shows a modified example of the wafer carry-out arm shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 (a) is a plan view of a wafer support portion of the wafer carry-out arm, and FIG. 2 (b) is a view taken along line BB in FIG. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view.
FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view showing an example of the configuration of a lamp annealing apparatus.
[Explanation of symbols]
10, 20 Wafer unloading arm 12 Wafer unloading arm support plane 14 Wafer unloading arm movement restricting surface 16 Wafer unloading arm groove-shaped notch 18 Cooling water liquid flow path W Semiconductor wafer

Claims (2)

A heat treatment furnace in which at least an upper furnace wall is formed of a light-transmitting material, and a substrate is carried and held therein;
A lamp for heating by irradiating light to the substrate through the furnace wall formed at least the upper surface to face disposed in the light transmitting material of the substrate held on the heat treatment furnace,
Gas supply means for supplying a processing gas into the heat treatment furnace and maintaining the inside of the heat treatment furnace in a predetermined gas concentration atmosphere;
A substrate carry-out arm for unloading the substrate after the heat treatment from the heat treatment furnace,
In a lamp annealing apparatus equipped with
Of the substrate carry-out arm, the substrate support portion for supporting the substrate is formed into a flat plate, the support plane forming the upper surface of the substrate support portion is close to the most surface contact with or said substrate lower surface of the substrate lower surface Make point contact in the state ,
The substrate support portion of the substrate carry-out arm is
In a state where the high temperature of the substrate heat treatment was finished was supported on the support plane, the process gas is continuously supplied in the heat treatment furnace that is maintained at a predetermined gas concentration atmosphere by the gas supply means, the heat treatment furnace A lamp annealing apparatus characterized by having a function as a cooler for quickly lowering and cooling to a predetermined temperature that can be carried out from the inside . Claims wherein the substrate supporting portion inside the cooling medium is flowed fluid flow path of the substrate carry-out arm is Katachi設, cooling medium supply means for flowing the cooling medium through the liquid flow path is provided Item 2. The lamp annealing apparatus according to Item 1.

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