Unlock instant, AI-driven research and patent intelligence for your innovation.

Heat-treatment furnace

a heat-treatment furnace and furnace technology, applied in the field of heat-treatment furnaces, can solve the problems of introducing standby time and system not being ready for insertion of next batch, and achieve the effect of saving the running cost of the heat-treatment process and improving productivity

Inactive Publication Date: 2013-06-27
SHIN ETSU CHEM IND CO LTD
View PDF2 Cites 4 Cited by
  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention helps improve productivity by reducing the time it takes to cool down semiconductor substrates between heat treatments. This is achieved by using a simple cylindrical shape, which reduces the number of gas inlet conduits that need to be replaced. This results in significant savings and lower running costs for the heat treatment process.

Problems solved by technology

When it is desired to continuously carry out a predetermined heat treatment, the system remains unready for insertion of a next batch, introducing a standby time between consecutive heat treatment batches.

Method used

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
View more

Image

Smart Image Click on the blue labels to locate them in the text.
Viewing Examples
Smart Image
  • Heat-treatment furnace
  • Heat-treatment furnace
  • Heat-treatment furnace

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

example 1

[0063]Lapped boron-doped p-type silicon wafers having a diameter of 100 mm, a thickness of 200 μm and face orientation (100) prepared by the CZ method (resistivity 1-3 Ω-cm) were provided.

[0064]Ten lapped wafers were manually arrayed on a boat of high-purity quartz having a length of 540 mm, a width of 100 mm, and a height of 30 mm, and having 100 channels at a pitch of 2.5 mm.

[0065]The heat-treatment furnace of the invention included, as shown in FIG. 1, a quartz core tube 1 of outer diameter 150 mm, inner diameter 142 mm, and length 3,000 mm, provided at opposite ends with openings of inner diameter 142 mm, and lids 7a, 7b each comprising a quartz disk of diameter 170 mm and thickness 4 mm, a cylindrical quartz box of outer diameter 141.5 mm and width 50 mm fusion bonded to the disk, and a gas inlet conduit 8a or 8b of inner diameter 5 mm penetrating through the disk and the box.

[0066]As the boat standby position before and after heat treatment, boat stations of high-purity quartz...

example 2

[0071]A quartz core tube of outer diameter 150 mm, inner diameter 142 mm, and length 3,000 mm, having openings of inner diameter 142 mm at opposite ends and a gas inlet conduit of inner diameter 5 mm at a position spaced a distance of 1,500 mm from the longitudinal opposite ends of the core tube as shown in FIG. 3 was provided. Using the same semiconductor substrates and heat-treatment furnace as in Example 1 aside from the core tube of the above structure, diffusion heat treatment was carried out in accordance with the heat treatment flow of FIG. 6 and the time sequence of FIG. 9.

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to View More

PUM

No PUM Login to View More

Abstract

The disclosed heat-treatment furnace, used in a semiconductor-substrate heat-treatment step, is characterized by the provision of a cylindrical core, both ends of which have openings sized so as to allow insertion and removal of semiconductor substrates. This reduces standby time between batches during consecutive semiconductor heat treatment, thereby improving productivity. Furthermore, the use of a simple cylindrical shape for the structure of the core reduces the frequency at which gas-introduction pipe sections fail, thereby decreasing the running cost of the heat-treatment process.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]This invention relates to a heat-treatment furnace for use in the heat treatment of semiconductor substrates, typically silicon substrates.BACKGROUND ART[0002]In the prior art, a semiconductor heat treating process is generally carried out in a furnace of the following design in order to prevent any contamination from the ambient air, heater or the like. As shown in FIG. 4, a furnace core tube 21 of high-purity quartz or the like which is provided with an opening 22 at one end and a gas inlet conduit 23 at the other end is disposed inside a cylindrical heater 24 which is previously installed in the furnace. A boat 26 of high-purity quartz or the like having semiconductor substrates 25 rested thereon is moved into the furnace core tube 21 through the opening 22 and set in place. A lid 27 of high-purity quartz or the like is closed to establish a substantially tight seal. High-purity gas such as nitrogen or argon is fed from the gas inlet conduit 23 whereas the ga...

Claims

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to View More

Application Information

Patent Timeline
no application Login to View More
Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): H01L21/22
CPCH01L21/67109H01L21/22H01L21/67754H01L21/324
Inventor MURAKAMI, TAKASHIWATABE, TAKENORIOTSUKA, HIROYUKI
Owner SHIN ETSU CHEM IND CO LTD