JP6038739B2 - Processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a processing apparatus.

  Conventionally, in a film forming process which is one of the processes of a semiconductor manufacturing process, catalytic CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) is used to lower the film forming temperature (Patent Document 1). In catalytic CVD (hereinafter referred to as Cat-CVD), since the source gas can be activated without using plasma discharge as used in plasma CVD, damage to an object to be processed, such as a semiconductor wafer, can be reduced. There are advantages.

JP 2005-179744 A

  However, most of the Cat-CVD is a single wafer type apparatus, and there is a problem that a plurality of semiconductor wafers cannot be processed at the same time. Thus, an apparatus capable of simultaneously processing a plurality of semiconductor wafers in Cat-CVD is desired.

  This invention is made | formed in view of the said situation, and it aims at providing the processing apparatus which can process a several to-be-processed object simultaneously.

In order to achieve the above object, a processing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention provides:
A reaction chamber for accommodating the object to be processed in multiple,
A catalyst tube portion that is set at the same temperature and pressure as the reaction chamber and accommodates a catalyst plate carrying a photocatalyst;
A communication part for communicating the reaction chamber and the catalyst pipe part;
A processing gas supply means which is intubated into the catalyst pipe portion and supplies a processing gas to the catalyst plate;
It said reaction chamber and being disposed outside the catalyst tube portion, light is irradiated to the catalyst plate, and a activating means for activating the processing gas supplied into the catalyst plate,
The activated processing gas is supplied to the object to be processed accommodated in the reaction chamber through the communication portion .

The catalyst plate is configured, for example, by coating the surface of a sheet made of a net-like or fibrous material or a sheet formed of carbon nanotubes with the photocatalyst.
The activation means is, for example, a UV lamp that irradiates the photocatalyst of the catalyst plate with UV light.
The UV lamp is preferably an LED UV lamp.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the processing apparatus which can process a several to-be-processed object simultaneously can be provided.

It is a figure which shows typically the processing apparatus of this Embodiment. It is a side view of the processing apparatus of this Embodiment. It is a top view of the processing apparatus of this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows typically the control part of this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the recipe for film-forming.

  Hereinafter, the present embodiment will be described with reference to an example in which the processing apparatus of the present invention is applied to a batch type vertical processing apparatus. In the present embodiment, the present invention will be described by taking as an example the case where the processing apparatus of the present invention is applied to a film forming apparatus for forming a silicon nitride film on an object to be processed (semiconductor wafer).

  FIG. 1 schematically shows a processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment. 2 shows a side view of the processing apparatus 10, and FIG. 3 shows a plan view of the processing apparatus 10.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the processing apparatus 10 includes a reaction tube 12. The reaction tube 12 includes a substantially cylindrical tube portion 21 whose longitudinal direction is directed in the vertical direction, and a substantially rectangular parallelepiped catalyst tube portion 22 provided on a side surface of the tube portion 21. The reaction tube 12 is made of a light transmissive material. In the present embodiment, the reaction tube 12 is formed of quartz, which is a material that transmits light from a UV (Ultra Violet) lamp 16, which will be described later, provided outside the catalyst tube portion 22.

  The cylinder portion 21 functions as a reaction chamber that accommodates an object to be processed, for example, a semiconductor wafer W and forms a silicon nitride film on the semiconductor wafer W. The catalyst pipe part 22 supplies process gas and the like into the cylinder part 21. Therefore, at least one process gas supply hole 21 a is provided on the side surface of the cylinder portion 21 covered with the catalyst tube portion 22. The process gas supply hole 21a may have any shape as long as it can supply process gas from process gas supply pipes 17-1 and 17-2, which will be described later, into the cylindrical portion 21, for example, a square shape or a circular shape. It may be formed.

  A catalyst plate 13 is provided in the catalyst tube portion 22. The catalyst plate 13 carries a photocatalyst on its surface, and the process gas supplied from the process gas supply pipe 17-1 passes through the catalyst plate 13 to activate the process gas. The process gas activated in the catalyst plate 13 is supplied into the tube portion 21 of the reaction tube 12 from a process gas supply hole 21 a provided on the wall surface of the tube portion 21 of the reaction tube 12.

The catalyst plate 13 is a sheet-shaped member having predetermined heat resistance and air permeability, for example, a sheet made of a net-like or fibrous material, or a sheet formed of carbon nanotubes, and a photocatalyst, for example, It is configured by coating titanium oxide (TiO ₂ ). This is because the activation power of the photocatalyst in the catalyst plate 13 is increased by such a configuration.

  A substantially cylindrical heat insulator 11 is provided around the reaction tube 12 so as to surround the reaction tube 12. On the inner wall surface of the heat insulator 11, for example, a heater 14 for raising temperature made of a resistance heating element is provided. The inside of the reaction tube 12 is heated to a predetermined temperature by the temperature raising heater 14, and as a result, the semiconductor wafer W is heated to a predetermined temperature.

  A UV lamp cover 15 is provided on the side surface of the heat insulator 11 from the upper end to the lower end of the heat insulator 11. A plurality of UV lamps 16 are arranged inside the UV lamp cover 15. UV windows 11 a corresponding to the number of the UV lamps 16 are provided on the side surface of the heat insulator 11 facing the UV lamp 16. Then, the UV light irradiated from the UV lamp 16 reaches the catalyst plate 13 through the UV window 11a, so that the photocatalytic function of the photocatalyst in the catalyst plate 13 is expressed. The irradiation intensity of the UV lamp 16 is controlled by the control unit 100 described later.

The UV lamp 16 is a light source that emits UV light, preferably emits light having a wavelength of 300 nm to 380 nm, and more preferably emits light having a wavelength of 350 nm to 380 nm. This is because the photocatalytic function of TiO ₂ is more effectively expressed by emitting light with a wavelength in such a range.

  As the UV lamp 16, for example, an LED (Light Emitting Diode) UV lamp is preferably used. This is because when an LED UV lamp is used as the UV lamp 16, heat is hardly generated, a cooling facility such as water cooling is unnecessary, and a required space can be suppressed.

  A manifold 19 made of stainless steel (SUS) formed in a cylindrical shape is disposed below the reaction tube 12. The manifold 19 is airtightly connected to the lower end of the reaction tube 12.

  A lid 20 is disposed below the manifold 19, and the lid 20 is configured to be movable up and down by a boat elevator (not shown). When the lid 20 is raised by the boat elevator, the lower side (furnace port portion) of the manifold 19 is closed, and when the lid 20 is lowered by the boat elevator, the lower side (furnace port portion) of the manifold 19 is opened. .

  For example, a wafer boat 18 made of quartz is placed on the lid 20. The wafer boat 18 is configured to accommodate a plurality of semiconductor wafers W at a predetermined interval in the vertical direction.

  A wafer rotating mechanism 24 is provided below the lid 20 and the wafer W in the reaction tube 12 rotates.

The process gas supply pipes 17 (17-1 and 17-2) are inserted (connected) to the side surfaces of the manifold 19. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the same process gas is supplied to the catalyst plate 13 by using three process gas supply pipes 17-1 having different heights. Similarly, the same process gas is supplied directly to the cylinder portion 21 using the three process gas supply pipes 17-2. Each process gas supply pipe 17-1, 17-2 is connected to a process gas supply source (not shown) via a mass flow controller (MFC) not shown. The process gas supplied from the process gas supply pipe 17-2 includes dichlorosilane (DCS: SiH ₂ Cl ₂ ), and the process gas supplied from the process gas supply pipe 17-1 includes ammonia (NH ₃ ). Can be mentioned.

  An exhaust port (not shown) for exhausting the gas in the reaction tube 12 is provided on the side surface of the manifold 19. An exhaust pipe is hermetically connected to the exhaust port. A valve and a vacuum pump are interposed in the exhaust pipe from the upstream side. The valve controls the pressure in the reaction tube 12 to a predetermined pressure by adjusting the opening of the exhaust pipe. The vacuum pump exhausts the gas in the reaction tube 12 via the exhaust tube and adjusts the pressure in the reaction tube 12.

  The exhaust pipe is provided with traps, scrubbers and the like (not shown) so that the exhaust gas exhausted from the reaction tube 12 is rendered harmless and then exhausted out of the processing apparatus 10.

  In addition, the processing apparatus 10 includes a control unit 100 that controls each unit of the apparatus. FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the control unit 100. As shown in FIG. 4, an operation panel 121, a temperature sensor 122, a pressure gauge 123, a heater controller 124, an MFC control unit 125, a bulb control unit 126, a UV lamp control unit 127, and the like are connected to the control unit 100. .

  The operation panel 121 includes a display screen and operation buttons, transmits an operation instruction of the operator to the control unit 100, and displays various information from the control unit 100 on the display screen.

The temperature sensor 122 measures the temperature of each part in the reaction tube 12 and the exhaust tube and notifies the heater controller 124 of the measured value.
The pressure gauge 123 measures the pressure in the reaction tube 12 and notifies the control unit 100 of the measured value.

  The heater controller 124 is for individually controlling the heaters 14 for raising the temperature. In response to an instruction from the control unit 100, the heater controller 124 energizes them and heats them. To the control unit 100.

  The MFC control unit 125 controls the MFC (not shown) provided in the process gas supply pipes 17-1 and 17-2 to set the flow rate of the gas flowing through these to the amount instructed by the control unit 100, and actually The flow rate of the gas that has flowed through is measured and notified to the control unit 100.

  The valve control unit 126 controls the opening degree of the valve disposed in the exhaust pipe to a value instructed by the control unit 100.

  The UV lamp control unit 127 is for individually controlling the UV lamps 16. In response to an instruction from the control unit 100, the UV lamp control unit 127 is energized to emit UV light, and the light intensity is individually set. To the control unit 100.

  The control unit 100 includes a recipe storage unit 111, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 112, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 113, an I / O (Input / Output) port 114, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 115, The bus 116 interconnects these components.

  The recipe storage unit 111 stores a setup recipe and a plurality of process recipes. At the beginning of manufacturing the processing apparatus 10, only the setup recipe is stored. The setup recipe is executed when installing and maintaining each heat treatment apparatus. The process recipe is a recipe prepared for each heat treatment (process) actually performed by the user. For example, from loading of the semiconductor wafer W to the reaction tube 12 to unloading the processed semiconductor wafer W, The temperature of each part, the pressure change in the reaction tube 12, the start and stop timing and supply amount of the process gas supply are defined.

The ROM 112 is a recording medium that includes an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), a flash memory, a hard disk, and the like, and stores an operation program of the CPU 115 and the like.
The RAM 113 functions as a work area for the CPU 115.

  The I / O port 114 is connected to the operation panel 121, the temperature sensor 122, the pressure gauge 123, the heater controller 124, the MFC control unit 125, the valve control unit 126, the UV lamp control unit 127, and the like, and inputs and outputs data and signals. Control.

The CPU 115 constitutes the center of the control unit 100, executes a control program stored in the ROM 112, and follows a recipe (process recipe) stored in the recipe storage unit 111 in accordance with an instruction from the operation panel 121. The operation of the processing apparatus 10 is controlled. That is, the CPU 115 is connected to the temperature sensor 122, the pressure gauge 123, the MFC control unit 125, and the like in the reaction tube 12, the process gas supply pipes 17-1, 17-2, and the temperature, pressure, flow rate, etc. of each part in the exhaust pipe. Based on this measurement data, control signals and the like are output to the heater controller 124, the MFC control unit 125, the valve control unit 126, the UV lamp control unit 127, and the like, and the above-described units are controlled to follow the process recipe .
The bus 116 transmits information between the units.

  Next, in order to confirm the effect of the processing apparatus 10 configured as described above, a silicon nitride film was formed on the semiconductor wafer W using the processing apparatus 10. In the present embodiment, a case where the processing recipe shown in FIG. 5 is executed and a silicon nitride film is formed on the semiconductor wafer W will be described as an example.

  In the following description, the operation of each unit constituting the processing apparatus 10 is controlled by the control unit 100 (CPU 115). In addition, as described above, the controller 100 (CPU 115) uses the heater controller 124 (heating heater 14) and the MFC controller 125 (processing gas) to determine the temperature, pressure, gas flow rate, and the like in the reaction tube 12 in each process. The conditions according to the recipe are achieved by controlling the supply pipes 17-1 and 17-2), the bulb controller 126, the UV lamp controller 127 (UV lamp 16), and the like.

  First, the CPU 115 sets the inside of the reaction tube 12 to a predetermined temperature, for example, 300 ° C. as shown in FIG. Further, as shown in FIG. 5C, a predetermined amount of nitrogen is supplied into the reaction tube 12, and a wafer boat 18 containing a semiconductor wafer W as an object to be processed for forming a silicon nitride film is covered with a lid. 20 is mounted. Then, the lid 20 is raised by the boat elevator, and the semiconductor wafer W (wafer boat 18) is loaded into the reaction tube 12 (loading step).

  Next, as shown in FIG. 5 (c), a predetermined amount of nitrogen is supplied into the reaction tube 12, and the reaction tube 12 is given a predetermined temperature, for example, 400 ° C. as shown in FIG. 5 (a). Set to. Further, the gas in the reaction tube 12 is discharged, and the reaction tube 12 is depressurized to a predetermined pressure, for example, 40 Pa (0.3 Torr) as shown in FIG. Then, the temperature and pressure operation in the reaction tube 12 is performed until the reaction tube 12 is stabilized at a predetermined pressure and temperature (stabilization step).

  When the inside of the reaction tube 12 is stabilized at a predetermined pressure and temperature, the supply of nitrogen is stopped. Next, ammonia is supplied from the processing gas supply pipe 17-1 into the catalyst pipe portion 22 (catalyst plate 13), and the UV lamp 16 is caused to emit light. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5 (d), 2 liters / min of ammonia is supplied into the catalyst tube portion 22 (catalyst plate 13), and as shown in FIG. 5 (f), the UV lamp The control unit 127 is controlled to cause the UV lamp 16 to emit light (ON). Further, as shown in FIG. 5 (e), 0.2 liter / min of DCS is supplied into the reaction tube 12 from the processing gas supply tube 17-2.

  The UV light emitted from the UV lamp 16 reaches the catalyst plate 13 through the UV window 11a. Ammonia supplied from the process gas supply pipe 17-1 is activated by passing through the catalyst plate 13. Thus, the activated ammonia is supplied to the semiconductor wafer W in the cylindrical portion 21 of the reaction tube 12 from the process gas supply hole 21 a provided on the wall surface of the cylindrical portion 21 of the reaction tube 12. For this reason, even if the inside of the reaction tube 12 is not heated to a high temperature, the activated ammonia is supplied to the semiconductor wafer W, reacts with the DCS supplied from the processing gas supply tube 17-2, and the surface of the semiconductor wafer W A silicon nitride film is formed (film formation step).

  When a silicon nitride film having a predetermined thickness is formed on the surface of the semiconductor wafer W, the supply of the process gas from the process gas supply pipes 17-1 and 17-2 is stopped. Then, as shown in FIG. 5C, the gas in the reaction tube 12 is discharged, and a predetermined amount of nitrogen is supplied, and the gas in the reaction tube 12 is discharged to the exhaust pipe (purge process). In addition, in order to discharge | emit the gas in the reaction tube 12 reliably, it is preferable to repeat discharge | emission of the gas in the reaction tube 12, and supply of nitrogen gas in multiple times.

  Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 5C, a predetermined amount of nitrogen is supplied into the reaction tube 12, and the pressure in the reaction tube 12 is returned to normal pressure as shown in FIG. 5B. Further, the inside of the reaction tube 12 is set to a predetermined temperature, for example, 300 ° C. as shown in FIG. Then, the semiconductor wafer W (wafer boat 18) is unloaded from the reaction tube 12 by lowering the lid 20 by the boat elevator (unloading step). Thereby, the film forming process is completed.

  As a result of confirming the state of the semiconductor wafer W on which the silicon nitride film is formed in this way, damage to the semiconductor wafer W is reduced as compared with the case of using plasma discharge as used in plasma CVD. It was confirmed. For this reason, it was confirmed that a processing apparatus capable of processing a plurality of semiconductor wafers W simultaneously can be provided.

  As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to provide a processing apparatus capable of processing a plurality of semiconductor wafers W simultaneously.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications and applications are possible.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the processing apparatus 10 of the present invention is used as a silicon nitride film forming apparatus has been described as an example. For example, the processing apparatus 10 of the present invention can be changed by appropriately changing the process gas. Can also be used in an etching apparatus or a surface modification treatment apparatus. Moreover, when using the processing apparatus 10 of this invention as a film-forming apparatus, the kind of the thin film is arbitrary, For example, a silicon oxide film and a polysilicon film may be sufficient. Further, the film forming gas for forming the silicon nitride film is not limited to DCS and ammonia, and may be, for example, HCD and ammonia.

In the above embodiment, although the case of using TiO ₂ as a photocatalyst was described as an example, if it has a photocatalytic function, it is not limited to TiO _2, also be used other catalysts Good. Moreover, it is preferable that the crystal structure of TiO ₂ as a photocatalyst is a rutile type (tetragonal crystal). This is because the rutile type is the most stable structure and has a large activation power.

In the above embodiment, the case where UV light is irradiated to TiO ₂ as a photocatalyst has been described as an example. However, for example, visible light of 400 nm to 600 nm may be irradiated. In this case, it may be doped such as nitrogen to TiO _2, even visible light by implanting different metals may have a photocatalytic function to the TiO _2.

  In the above embodiment, the present invention has been described by taking as an example the case where three (17-1) for ammonia and three (17-2) for DCS are used as the process gas supply pipe 17, but the process gas supply pipe 17 The number of -1 and 17-2 is not limited to three, and may be two or four or more. Furthermore, the process gas supply pipes 17-1 and 17-2 may be one. When the number of process gas supply pipes 17-1 and 17-2 is one, the process gas supply pipes 17-1 and 17-1 are arranged so that the process gas is sufficiently supplied to the lower end and the upper end of the catalyst plate 13. It is preferable to provide a thing like a hole in 17-2.

  In the above embodiment, in order to promote the activation of ammonia in the catalyst pipe part 22, the conductance of the process gas supply hole 21 a for supplying ammonia from the catalyst pipe part 22 to the reaction pipe 12 is reduced to reduce the catalyst pipe part 22. It is preferable to increase the pressure.

  In the above embodiment, the present invention has been described by taking the case of a batch type processing apparatus having a single pipe structure as an example. For example, a batch type vertical type having a double pipe structure in which the reaction tube 12 is composed of an inner pipe and an outer pipe. It is also possible to apply the present invention to a mold processing apparatus. The present invention is not limited to the processing of semiconductor wafers, and can be applied to processing of, for example, an FPD (Flat Panel Display) substrate, a glass substrate, a PDP (Plasma Display Panel) substrate, and the like.

  The control unit 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention can be realized using a normal computer system, not a dedicated system. For example, the above-described processing is executed by installing the program from a recording medium (such as a flexible disk or a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory)) storing the program for executing the above-described processing in a general-purpose computer. The control unit 100 can be configured.

  The means for supplying these programs is arbitrary. In addition to being able to be supplied via a predetermined recording medium as described above, for example, it may be supplied via a communication line, a communication network, a communication system, or the like. In this case, for example, the program may be posted on a bulletin board (BBS: Bulletin Board System) of a communication network and provided via the network. Then, the above-described processing can be executed by starting the program thus provided and executing it in the same manner as other application programs under the control of an OS (Operating System).

  The present invention is particularly useful for a processing apparatus using a catalytic chemical vapor deposition method.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Processing apparatus 11 Heat insulator 11a UV window 12 Reaction tube 13 Catalyst plate 14 Heating heater 15 UV lamp cover 16 UV lamp 17 (17-1, 17-2) Process gas supply pipe 18 Wafer boat 19 Manifold 20 Lid 21 Tube portion 21a Process gas supply hole 22 Catalyst tube portion 24 Wafer rotation mechanism 100 Control portion 111 Recipe storage portion 112 ROM
113 RAM
114 I / O port 115 CPU
116 Bus 121 Operation Panel 122 Temperature Sensor 123 Pressure Gauge 124 Heater Controller 125 MFC Control Unit 126 Valve Control Unit 127 UV Lamp Control Unit W Semiconductor Wafer

Claims (4)

A reaction chamber for accommodating the object to be processed in multiple,
A catalyst tube portion that is set at the same temperature and pressure as the reaction chamber and accommodates a catalyst plate carrying a photocatalyst;
A communication part for communicating the reaction chamber and the catalyst pipe part;
A processing gas supply means which is intubated into the catalyst pipe portion and supplies a processing gas to the catalyst plate;
It said reaction chamber and being disposed outside the catalyst tube portion, light is irradiated to the catalyst plate, and a activating means for activating the processing gas supplied into the catalyst plate,
The processing apparatus, wherein the activated processing gas is supplied to the target object accommodated in the reaction chamber via the communication portion .   2. The catalyst plate according to claim 1, wherein the photocatalyst is coated on a surface of a sheet made of a net-like or fibrous material, or a sheet formed of carbon nanotubes. Processing equipment.   The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the activating means is a UV lamp that irradiates the photocatalyst of the catalyst plate with UV light.   The processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the UV lamp is an LED UV lamp.

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