Substrate processing apparatus, substrate processing method, method for manufacturing semiconductor device and program

Abstract

To provide a technology capable of suppressing thermal diffusion.SOLUTION: A substrate processing apparatus comprises a processing chamber for processing a substrate with a first film with dopants added and a second film different from the first film, an electromagnetic wave supply unit that supplies electromagnetic waves to the substrate, and a control unit configured to be able to control the electromagnetic wave supply unit to stop the supply of electromagnetic waves during heating of the dopant by the electromagnetic waves before the second film is heated.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a substrate processing apparatus, a substrate processing method, a manufacturing method for a semiconductor device, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] As one step in the manufacturing process of a semiconductor device, there is a modification process represented by an annealing process in which a substrate in a processing chamber is heated using a heating device to change the composition or crystal structure in a thin film formed on the surface of the substrate, or to repair crystal defects in the thin film. As a modification process, a heat treatment method using electromagnetic waves as shown in Patent Document 1, for example, is being considered. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2015-070045 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In conventional treatments using electromagnetic waves, heat treatment can cause thermal diffusion from a film to be treated to films other than the film to be treated.

[0005] The present disclosure provides a technique capable of suppressing thermal diffusion. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a processing chamber for processing a substrate having a first film to which a dopant is added and a second film different from the first film formed thereon; an electromagnetic wave supplying unit that supplies an electromagnetic wave to the substrate; a control unit configured to be able to control the electromagnetic wave supply unit so as to stop supplying the electromagnetic wave before the second film is heated while the dopant is being heated by the electromagnetic wave; A technique is provided that includes: Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to suppress thermal diffusion. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing, in vertical cross section, a processing furnace portion of a substrate processing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, at the position of a processing furnace. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross-sectional configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a controller of the substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a waveform obtained by pulse-controlling a microwave power source, which is preferably used in an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of settings of a microwave power supply preferably used in an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a flow of a substrate processing according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a film on a substrate, which is preferably used in an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a reaction model in the treatment target film shown in FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that all drawings used in the following description are schematic, and the dimensional relationship of each element, the ratio of each element, etc. shown in the drawings do not necessarily match the actual ones. In addition, the dimensional relationship of each element, the ratio of each element, etc. do not necessarily match between multiple drawings. In addition, between multiple drawings, substantially the same elements are given the same reference numerals, and each element is explained in the drawing in which it first appears, and the explanation is omitted in the subsequent drawings unless particularly necessary. Unless otherwise specified in the specification, each element is not limited to one, and may be present in multiple numbers.

[0010] (1) Configuration of the substrate processing device The substrate processing apparatus in this embodiment is configured as a single-wafer heat processing apparatus that performs various heat treatments on one or more wafers as substrates, and will be described as an apparatus that performs an annealing process (modification process) using electromagnetic waves, which will be described later. In the substrate processing apparatus in this embodiment, a FOUP (Front Opening Unified Pod: hereinafter referred to as a pod) is used as a storage container (carrier) that contains the wafers inside the processing chamber. The pod is also used as a transport container for transporting the wafers between various substrate processing apparatuses.

[0011] 1, 2 and 3, the substrate processing apparatus 100 includes a transfer housing 202 having therein a transfer chamber 203 for transferring a wafer 200, and cases 102-1 and 102-2, which are processing containers described below and are provided on side walls of the transfer housing 202 and have therein processing chambers 201-1 and 201-2, respectively, for processing the wafer 200. In addition, a cooling case 109 forming a cooling chamber 204 is provided between the processing chambers 201-1 and 201-2.

[0012] A load port unit (LP) 106 is disposed on the right side of FIG. 2 (lower side of FIG. 3) which is the front side of the transfer housing 202 as a pod opening / closing mechanism for opening and closing the cover of the pod 110 and loading / unloading the wafer 200 into / from the transfer chamber 203. The load port unit 106 includes a housing 106a, a stage 106b, and an opener 106c. The stage 106b is configured to place the pod 110 thereon and bring the pod 110 close to a substrate loading / unloading port 134 formed in the front of the housing of the transfer chamber 203, and the opener 106c opens and closes a cover (not shown) provided on the pod 110. The load port unit 106 may also have a function capable of purging the inside of the pod 110 with a purge gas such as N2 gas. The transfer housing 202 also has a purge gas circulation structure described later for circulating a purge gas such as N2 inside the transfer chamber 203.

[0013] Gate valves (GV) 205-1 and 205-2 for opening and closing the processing chambers 201-1 and 201-2 are disposed on the left side of FIG. 2 (upper side of FIG. 3) which is the rear side of the transfer housing 202. A substrate transfer robot which is a substrate transfer mechanism for transferring the wafer 200, and a transfer machine 125 as a substrate transfer unit are disposed in the transfer chamber 203. The transfer machine 125 is composed of tweezers (arms) 125a-1 and 125a-2 as a placement unit for placing the wafer 200, a transfer device 125b which can rotate or linearly move each of the tweezers 125a-1 and 125a-2 in the horizontal direction, and a transfer device elevator 125c which raises and lowers the transfer device 125b. By successive operations of the tweezers 125a-1, 125a-2, the transfer device 125b, and the transfer device elevator 125c, the wafers 200 can be charged or discharged to or from the substrate holder (substrate holder) 217, the cooling chamber 204, and the pod 110, which will be described later. Hereinafter, the cases 102-1, 102-2, the processing chambers 201-1, 201-2, and the tweezers 125a-1 and 125a-2 will be simply referred to as the case 102, the processing chamber 201, and the tweezers 125a, respectively, unless there is a need to distinguish between them.

[0014] The tweezers 125a-1 are made of normal aluminum material and are used to transport low-temperature and room-temperature wafers. The tweezers 125a-2 are made of a material such as alumina or quartz, which has high heat resistance and poor thermal conductivity, and are used to transport high-temperature and room-temperature wafers. That is, the tweezers 125a-1 are low-temperature substrate transport parts, and the tweezers 125a-2 are high-temperature substrate transport parts. The high-temperature tweezers 125a-2 are preferably configured to have a heat resistance of, for example, 100° C. or higher, more preferably 200° C. or higher. A mapping sensor can be installed on the low-temperature tweezers 125a-1. By providing a mapping sensor on the low-temperature tweezers 125a-1, it becomes possible to check the number of wafers 200 in the load port unit 106, the number of wafers 200 in the processing chamber 201, and the number of wafers 200 in the cooling chamber 204.

[0015] In the substrate processing apparatus of this embodiment, the tweezers 125a-1 are low-temperature tweezers, and the tweezers 125a-2 are high-temperature tweezers, but the present invention is not limited to this. The tweezers 125a-1 may be made of a material such as alumina or quartz that has high heat resistance and low thermal conductivity, and used to transport high-temperature and room-temperature wafers, and the tweezers 125a-2 may be made of a normal aluminum material, and used to transport low-temperature and room-temperature wafers. In addition, both the tweezers 125a-1 and 125a-2 may be made of a material such as alumina or quartz that has high heat resistance and low thermal conductivity.

[0016] (Processing furnace) In an area A surrounded by a dashed line in Fig. 2, a processing furnace (processing chamber 201) having a substrate processing structure as shown in Fig. 1 is configured. As shown in Fig. 3, in this embodiment, a plurality of processing furnaces are provided, but since the processing furnaces have the same configuration, only the configuration of one of them will be described, and the description of the configuration of the other processing furnace will be omitted.

[0017] As shown in FIG. 1, the processing furnace has a case 102 as a cavity (processing vessel) made of a material that reflects electromagnetic waves, such as metal. A cap flange (closing plate) 104 made of a metal material is configured to close the upper end of the case 102 via an O-ring as a sealing member (not shown). The inner space of the case 102 and the cap flange 104 is mainly configured as a processing chamber 201 for processing a wafer 200. A reaction tube (not shown) made of quartz that transmits electromagnetic waves may be installed inside the case 102, or the processing vessel may be configured so that the inside of the reaction tube serves as the processing chamber. Alternatively, the processing chamber 201 may be configured using the case 102 with a closed ceiling without providing the cap flange 104.

[0018] A mounting table 210 is provided in the processing chamber 201, and a boat 217 is placed on the upper surface of the mounting table 210 as a substrate holder (substrate holder) for holding the wafer 200. The boat 217 holds the wafer 200 to be processed and susceptors 103a and 103b placed above and below the wafer 200 in the vertical direction so as to sandwich the wafer 200 at a predetermined interval. The susceptors 103a and 103b are made of, for example, silicon plates (Si plates) or silicon carbide plates (SiC plates) and are arranged above and below the wafer 200 to suppress concentration of electric field intensity at the edge of the wafer 200. That is, the susceptor suppresses absorption of electromagnetic waves by the edge of the wafer. Quartz plates 101a and 101b as heat insulating plates may be held at a predetermined interval on the upper and lower surfaces of the susceptors 103a and 103b. In this embodiment, the quartz plates 101a and 101b and the susceptors 103a and 103b are each composed of the same parts, and hereinafter, unless there is a need to distinguish between them, they will be referred to as the quartz plate 101 and the susceptor 103. The boat 217 is capable of holding a plurality of wafers 200. This improves the processing capacity.

[0019] The case 102 as a processing vessel is, for example, circular in cross section and configured as a flat sealed vessel. The transport housing 202 as a lower vessel is, for example, configured of a metal material such as aluminum (Al) or stainless steel (SUS), or quartz. The space surrounded by the case 102 may be referred to as a processing chamber (or reaction area) 201 as a processing space, and the space surrounded by the transport housing 202 may be referred to as a transport chamber (or transport area) 203 as a transport space. The processing chamber 201 and the transport chamber 203 are not limited to being configured adjacent to each other in the horizontal direction as in this embodiment, but may be configured adjacent to each other in the vertical direction and a substrate holder having a predetermined structure may be raised and lowered.

[0020] 1, 2 and 3, a substrate loading / unloading port 206 adjacent to a gate valve 205 is provided on the side of the transfer housing 202, and the wafer 200 moves between the processing chamber 201 and the transfer chamber 203 through the substrate loading / unloading port 206. A choke structure having a length of ¼ wavelength of the electromagnetic wave used is provided around the gate valve 205 or the substrate loading / unloading port 206 as a measure against leakage of the electromagnetic wave, which will be described later.

[0021] An electromagnetic wave supplying unit serving as a heating device, which will be described in detail later, is installed on the side of the case 102, and electromagnetic waves such as microwaves supplied from the electromagnetic wave supplying unit are introduced into the processing chamber 201 to heat the wafers 200, etc., and process the wafers 200. The electromagnetic wave supplying unit is provided at a position facing the substrate load / unload port 206.

[0022] The mounting table 210 is supported by a shaft 255 serving as a rotation axis. The shaft 255 penetrates the bottom of the processing chamber 201, and is further connected to a driving mechanism 267 that performs a rotation operation outside the processing chamber 201. By operating the driving mechanism 267 to rotate the shaft 255 and the mounting table 210, it is possible to rotate the wafer 200 mounted on the boat 217. The periphery of the lower end of the shaft 255 is covered with a bellows 212, and the processing chamber 201 and the transfer area 203 are kept airtight.

[0023] Here, the mounting table 210 may be configured such that, depending on the height of the substrate loading / unloading port 206, the driving mechanism 267 raises or lowers the wafer 200 to a wafer transport position when the wafer 200 is being transported, and raises or lowers the wafer 200 to a processing position (wafer processing position) within the processing chamber 201 when the wafer 200 is being processed.

[0024] An exhaust unit that exhausts the atmosphere in the processing chamber 201 is provided below the processing chamber 201 and on the outer periphery of the mounting table 210. As shown in Fig. 1, the exhaust unit is provided with an exhaust port 221. An exhaust pipe 231 is connected to the exhaust port 221, and a pressure regulator 244 such as an APC valve that controls the valve opening depending on the pressure inside the processing chamber 201, and a vacuum pump 246 are connected in series to the exhaust pipe 231 in this order.

[0025] Here, the pressure regulator 244 is not limited to an APC valve, so long as it is capable of receiving pressure information within the processing chamber 201 and a feedback signal from a pressure sensor 245 described later and adjusting the exhaust volume, it may be configured to use a normal opening / closing valve in combination with a pressure regulating valve.

[0026] An exhaust section (also referred to as an exhaust system or an exhaust line) is mainly composed of the exhaust port 221, the exhaust pipe 231, and the pressure regulator 244. Note that exhaust ports may be provided to surround the mounting table 210, allowing gas to be exhausted from the entire circumference of the wafer 200. A vacuum pump 246 may also be included in the exhaust section.

[0027] The cap flange 104 is provided with a gas supply pipe 232 for supplying various types of processing gases for substrate processing, such as an inert gas, a raw material gas, and a reaction gas, into the processing chamber 201. The gas supply pipe 232 is provided with a mass flow controller (MFC) 241, which is a flow rate controller (flow rate control section), and a valve 243, which is an on-off valve, in this order from upstream. A nitrogen (N2) gas source, which is an inert gas, is connected to the upstream side of the gas supply pipe 232, and the inert gas is supplied into the processing chamber 201 via the MFC 241 and the valve 243. A gas supply system is mainly configured with the gas supply pipe 232, the MFC 241, and the valve 243. A gas source may be included in the gas supply system. When multiple types of gases are used during substrate processing, multiple types of gases can be supplied by using a configuration in which a gas supply pipe provided with an MFC, which is a flow rate controller, and a valve, which is an on-off valve, is connected to the downstream side of the valve 243 of the gas supply pipe 232 in this order from the upstream side. A gas supply pipe provided with an MFC and a valve for each type of gas may be installed.

[0028] A gas supply system (gas supply unit) is mainly constituted by the gas supply pipe 232, the MFC 241, and the valve 243. When an inert gas flows in the gas supply system, it is also called an inert gas supply system.

[0029] The cap flange 104 is provided with a temperature sensor 263 as a non-contact temperature measuring device. The output of a microwave oscillator 655 (described later) is adjusted based on temperature information detected by the temperature sensor 263 to heat the substrate, and the substrate temperature has a desired temperature distribution. The temperature sensor 263 is, for example, a radiation thermometer such as an IR (Infrared Radiation) sensor. The temperature sensor 263 is provided to measure the surface temperature of the quartz plate 101a or the surface temperature of the wafer 200. If a susceptor is provided as the heating element described above, the temperature sensor 263 may be configured to measure the surface temperature of the susceptor. In this embodiment, the temperature of the wafer 200 (wafer temperature) may refer to the wafer temperature converted by temperature conversion data (described later), that is, the estimated wafer temperature, the temperature obtained by directly measuring the temperature of the wafer 200 by the temperature sensor 263, or both of them.

[0030] Temperature conversion data indicating a correlation between the temperatures of the quartz plate 101 or the susceptor 103, and the wafer 200 may be stored in the storage device 121c or the external storage device 123 by acquiring in advance the transition of temperature changes for each of the quartz plate 101 or the susceptor 103, and the wafer 200 by the temperature sensor 263. By creating the temperature conversion data in advance in this manner, the temperature of the wafer 200 can be estimated by measuring only the temperature of the quartz plate 101, and the output of the microwave oscillator 655, i.e., the heating device, can be controlled based on the estimated temperature of the wafer 200.

[0031] The means for measuring the temperature of the substrate is not limited to the radiation thermometer described above, and may be a thermocouple, or a thermocouple and a non-contact thermometer may be used in combination. However, when the temperature is measured using a thermocouple, the thermocouple must be placed near the wafer 200. That is, since the thermocouple must be placed in the processing chamber 201, the thermocouple itself is heated by microwaves supplied from a microwave oscillator (described later), and therefore the temperature cannot be measured accurately. Therefore, it is preferable to use a non-contact thermometer as the temperature sensor 263.

[0032] Furthermore, the temperature sensor 263 is not limited to being provided on the cap flange 104, but may be provided on the mounting base 210. The temperature sensor 263 may not only be directly provided on the cap flange 104 or the mounting base 210, but may also be configured to indirectly measure by reflecting radiation from a measurement window provided on the cap flange 104 or the mounting base 210 with a mirror or the like. Furthermore, the number of temperature sensors 263 provided is not limited to one, but multiple sensors may be provided.

[0033] Electromagnetic wave introduction ports (microwave introduction ports) 653-1 and 653-2 are provided on the side wall of the case 102. One end of each of waveguides 654-1 and 654-2 for supplying electromagnetic waves (microwaves) into the processing chamber 201 is connected to each of the electromagnetic wave introduction ports 653-1 and 653-2. Microwave oscillators (electromagnetic wave sources, electromagnetic wave oscillators) 655-1 and 655-2 are connected to the other ends of each of the waveguides 654-1 and 654-2 as heating sources for supplying electromagnetic waves into the processing chamber 201 to heat the inside of the processing chamber 201. The microwave oscillators 655-1 and 655-2 supply electromagnetic waves such as microwaves to the waveguides 654-1 and 654-2, respectively. In addition, magnetrons, klystrons, or the like are used as the microwave oscillators 655-1 and 655-2. Hereinafter, unless there is a need to distinguish between the electromagnetic wave introduction ports 653-1, 653-2, the waveguides 654-1, 654-2, and the microwave oscillators 655-1, 655-2, they will be referred to as the electromagnetic wave introduction port 653, the waveguide 654, and the microwave oscillator 655.

[0034] The frequency of the electromagnetic waves generated by the microwave oscillator 655 is preferably controlled to be in the frequency range of 13.56 MHz to 24.125 GHz. More preferably, it is preferably controlled to be 2.45 GHz or 5.8 GHz. Here, the frequencies of the microwave oscillators 655-1 and 655-2 may be the same or different.

[0035] In addition, in this embodiment, two microwave oscillators 655 are described as being arranged on the side surface of case 102, but this is not limiting, and one or more may be provided, and the microwave oscillators may be arranged so as to be arranged on different side surfaces, such as opposing side surfaces, of case 102. An electromagnetic wave supplying unit (also referred to as an electromagnetic wave supplying unit, a microwave supplying unit, or a microwave supplying unit) serving as a heating device is mainly configured by microwave oscillators 655-1, 655-2, waveguides 654-1, 654-2, and electromagnetic wave introduction ports 653-1, 653-2.

[0036] The microwave oscillators 655-1 and 655-2 are each connected to a controller 121, which will be described later. The controller 121 is connected to a temperature sensor 263 that measures the temperature of the quartz plate 101a or 101b or the wafer 200 housed in the processing chamber 201. The temperature sensor 263 measures the temperature of the quartz plate 101 or the wafer 200 by the above-mentioned method and transmits it to the controller 121, and the controller 121 controls the output of the microwave oscillators 655-1 and 655-2 to control the heating of the wafer 200. As a method for controlling the heating by the heating device, a method of controlling the heating of the wafer 200 by controlling the voltage input to the microwave oscillator 655, and a method of controlling the heating of the wafer 200 by changing the ratio of the time when the microwave oscillator 655 is turned on and the time when it is turned off can be used.

[0037] Here, the microwave oscillators 655-1 and 655-2 are controlled by the same control signal transmitted from the controller 121. However, this is not limiting, and the microwave oscillators 655-1 and 655-2 may be configured to be individually controlled by transmitting individual control signals from the controller 121 to the microwave oscillators 655-1 and 655-2, respectively.

[0038] (Control device) 4, the controller 121, which is a control unit (control device, control means), is configured as a computer including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 121a, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 121b, a storage device 121c, and an I / O port 121d. The RAM 121b, the storage device 121c, and the I / O port 121d are configured to be able to exchange data with the CPU 121a via an internal bus 121e. An input / output device 122 configured as, for example, a touch panel, is connected to the controller 121.

[0039] The storage device 121c is composed of, for example, a flash memory, a HDD (Hard Disk Drive), etc. A control program for controlling the operation of the substrate processing apparatus, a process recipe describing the procedure and conditions of an annealing (modification) process, etc. are readably stored in the storage device 121c. The process recipe is a combination of procedures in a substrate processing step described later that are executed by the controller 121 to obtain a predetermined result, and functions as a program. Hereinafter, the process recipe, the control program, etc. are collectively referred to simply as a program. The process recipe is also simply referred to as a recipe.

[0040] In this specification, when the word "program" is used, it means a single recipe. It may contain only the control program alone, or it may contain both. RAM1 21b temporarily holds programs and data read by the CPU 121a. It is configured as a memory area (work area) where

[0041] The I / O port 121d is connected to the above-mentioned transfer machine 125, the MFC 241, the valve 243, the pressure sensor 245, the APC valve 244, the vacuum pump 246, the temperature sensor 263, the drive mechanism 267, the microwave oscillator 655, and the like.

[0042] The CPU 121a is configured to read and execute a control program from the storage device 121c, and to read a recipe from the storage device 121c in response to an input of an operation command from the input / output device 122, etc. The CPU 121a is configured to control the transfer operation of the substrate by the transfer machine, the flow rate adjustment operation of various gases by the MFC 241, the opening and closing operation of the valve 243, the pressure adjustment operation by the APC valve 244 based on the pressure sensor 245, the start and stop of the vacuum pump 246, the output adjustment operation of the microwave oscillator 655 based on the temperature sensor 263, the ON / OFF operation of the microwave output from the microwave oscillator 655, the rotation and rotation speed adjustment operation of the mounting table 210 (or the boat 217) by the drive mechanism 267, the lifting and lowering operation, etc., in accordance with the contents of the read recipe.

[0043] The controller 121 can be configured by installing the above-mentioned program stored in an external storage device (for example, a magnetic disk such as a hard disk, an optical disk such as a CD, a magneto-optical disk such as an MO, or a semiconductor memory such as a USB memory) 123 into a computer. The storage device 121c and the external storage device 123 are configured as computer-readable recording media. Hereinafter, these are collectively referred to simply as recording media. When the term recording media is used in this specification, it may include only the storage device 121c alone, only the external storage device 123 alone, or both. The program may be provided to the computer using a communication means such as the Internet or a dedicated line, without using the external storage device 123.

[0044] As shown in FIG. 5, the microwave oscillator 655 supplies electromagnetic waves in a pulsed manner, being ON for a first predetermined time (T1) and OFF for a second predetermined time (T2). Here, the first predetermined time and the second predetermined time are variable. For example, the pulse frequency can be set from 1 to 100 kHz. In other words, the pulse period (T=T1+T2) can be set from 10 microseconds to 1 second. Also, for example, the duty ratio (D=T1 / T) can be set from 10 to 90%. With this setting, electromagnetic waves are output by the power supply frequency (for example, 2.45 GHz), and the output power amount per time is reduced by the value of the duty ratio.

[0045] The pulse frequency and duty ratio of the electromagnetic wave output from the microwave oscillator 655 can be set from the input / output device 122. In this setting, as shown in Fig. 6, the operator first checks the parameter settings, then inputs the pulse value (pulse frequency) and the duty ratio, and finally checks the power output.

[0046] (2) Substrate processing An example of a method for modifying (crystallizing) a processing target film FL1 that is to be subjected to a heat treatment (modification treatment) formed on a wafer 200 as one step in a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device using the processing furnace of the above-mentioned substrate processing apparatus 100 will be described in accordance with the processing flow shown in FIG.

[0047] 8, an oxide film FL2 as a second film and a processing target film FL1 as a first film are formed on the wafer 200. The processing target film FL1 is, for example, an amorphous silicon (Si) film to which a dopant (impurity) is added. The dopant is, for example, phosphorus (P) or boron (B). A silicon film to which P is added (doped) is called a P-doped-Si film. The oxide film FL2 is, for example, a silicon oxide film (SiO film).

[0048] The SiO film is a film formed by diffusing oxygen (O) on the surface of the silicon substrate in an oxygen atmosphere in a reaction chamber. The P-doped-Si film is a film into which P (phosphorus) is ion-implanted. These SiO films and P-doped-Si films are formed on the wafer 200 by a substrate processing apparatus other than the substrate processing apparatus 100 described above, for example, a batch-type substrate processing apparatus or an ion implantation apparatus.

[0049] In the following description, the operation of each component of the substrate processing apparatus 100 is controlled by a controller 121. As in the above-described processing furnace structure, in the substrate processing step of this embodiment, the same processing content, i.e., recipe, is used in the multiple processing furnaces, so only the substrate processing step using one of the processing furnaces will be described, and a description of the substrate processing step using the other processing furnace will be omitted.

[0050] The term "wafer" used in this specification may mean the wafer itself or a laminate of the wafer and a predetermined layer or film formed on its surface. The term "surface of a wafer" used in this specification may mean the surface of the wafer itself or the surface of a predetermined layer or the like formed on the wafer. When described in this specification, "forming a predetermined layer on a wafer" may mean forming a predetermined layer directly on the surface of the wafer itself or forming a predetermined layer on a layer or the like formed on the wafer. When used in this specification, the term "substrate" is synonymous with the term "wafer".

[0051] First, after a substrate removal step (S801), a substrate loading step (S802) is performed, and the wafers 200 are loaded (boat loaded) into a predetermined processing chamber 201 by opening and closing the gate valve 205. That is, two wafers placed on the low-temperature tweezers 125a-1 and the high-temperature tweezers 125a-2 are loaded into the processing chamber 201.

[0052] (Furnace pressure / temperature adjustment process (S803)) After the wafer 200 has been loaded into the processing chamber 201, the atmosphere in the processing chamber 201 is controlled to a predetermined pressure (for example, 10 to 102000 Pa). Specifically, while exhausting the gas by the vacuum pump 246, the valve opening of the pressure regulator 244 is feedback-controlled based on pressure information detected by the pressure sensor 245, so that the pressure in the processing chamber 201 is set to the predetermined pressure.

[0053] In this specification, a numerical range such as "10 to 102000 Pa" means that the lower limit and the upper limit are included in the range. Therefore, for example, "10 to 102000 Pa" means "10 Pa or more and 102000 Pa or less." The same applies to other numerical ranges.

[0054] (Inert gas supply process (S804)) When the pressure and temperature in the process chamber 201 are controlled to predetermined values ​​by the furnace pressure / temperature adjustment step S803, the drive mechanism 267 rotates the shaft 255 to rotate the wafer 200 via the boat 217 on the mounting table 210. At this time, an inert gas such as nitrogen gas is supplied via the gas supply pipe 232 (S804). Furthermore, at this time, the pressure in the process chamber 201 is adjusted to a predetermined value in the range of 10 to 102000 Pa, for example, 101300 to 101650 Pa. Note that the shaft may be rotated during the substrate loading step S402, that is, after the wafer 200 has been loaded into the process chamber 201.

[0055] As the inert gas, in addition to nitrogen (N2) gas, for example, rare gases such as argon (Ar) gas, helium (He) gas, neon (Ne) gas, and xenon (Xe) gas can be used.

[0056] (Preheating process (S805)) Next, when the pressure inside the processing chamber 201 reaches a predetermined level, the microwave oscillator 655 supplies microwaves into the processing chamber 201 via the above-mentioned components. The microwave output is smaller than the microwave output in the modification process described below, and a preheating process is performed to heat the wafer 200 by repeating an ON time of the microwave supply and an OFF time that is shorter than the ON time a predetermined number of times or for a predetermined period of time. This makes it possible to prevent the wafer 200 from warping or cracking by slowing down the temperature rise of the wafer.

[0057] (Modification process (S806)) While maintaining the inside of the processing chamber 201 at a predetermined pressure, the microwave oscillator 655 supplies microwaves into the processing chamber 201 via the above-mentioned components to process the wafers 200 (perform a modification process). The microwaves are irradiated with microwave pulses, which are repeated by turning off the supply of microwaves before thermal conduction, and turning on the supply of microwaves to maintain temperature rise and heating (thermal equilibrium). In other words, the rate of temperature rise is suppressed, and heating is performed while maintaining thermal equilibrium up to internal thermal conduction (selective heating and internal heating). If the continuous microwave irradiation time is long, heating by Joule heating (thermal conduction) becomes dominant, but this is suppressed by microwave pulse irradiation up to internal thermal conduction. Since the ON and OFF times of the microwave supply can be changed, it is possible to repeat ON / OFF in a short cycle. This maintains a thermal equilibrium state, and it is expected that heating selectivity can be maintained. In order to suppress thermal diffusion, the ON time is preferably on the order of 1 microsecond. The controller 121 is configured to be capable of controlling the microwave oscillator 655 to turn on microwave pulse irradiation in order to heat the dopants in the film FL1 to be processed by microwave pulse irradiation, and to turn off microwave irradiation before the oxide film FL2 is heated, i.e., so that the oxide film FL2 is not heated.

[0058] For example, the frequency of the microwave power supply is 2.45 GHz. For example, the wafer 200 is heated by repeating an ON time of the microwave supply and an OFF time longer than the ON time a predetermined number of times or for a predetermined period of time. Here, the ON time is preferably more than 0.6 microseconds and less than 10 microseconds. If the ON time is 0.6 microseconds or less, heating is insufficient and the dopant is not activated. If the ON time is 10 microseconds or more, heating becomes predominantly due to thermal conduction.

[0059] The reaction model is explained using FIG. 9, taking a P-doped-Si film as an example of the processing target film FL1 to which a dopant is added by ion implantation. In the P-doped-Si film, not only are there unbonded parts (Si around the V surrounded by the dashed circle and P as a dopant are unbonded), but also dipoles DP are formed at the same time. When microwaves are supplied, the dipoles DP are present in the P-doped-Si film, so P can be activated by microwave heating, and the dipoles DP are gradually reduced by the energy of the microwaves while the unbonded parts are gradually complemented. Since the dipoles DP are lost due to the activation of P, heating with the same energy is not possible. In other words, due to self-limitation, activation continues only in areas where heating is insufficient. Therefore, only P is activated by microwave heating, and impurity diffusion due to thermal conduction is suppressed. In other words, thermal diffusion is suppressed, and only the processing target film FL1 can be heated without heating the oxide film FL2.

[0060] (Substrate unloading process (S807)) After the pressure in the processing chamber 201 is returned to atmospheric pressure, the gate valve 205 is opened to spatially communicate the processing chamber 201 with the transfer chamber 203. Thereafter, the single wafer 200 after heating (processing) placed on the boat 217 is transferred to the transfer chamber 203 by the high-temperature tweezers 125a-2 of the transfer machine 125 (S807).

[0061] (Substrate cooling process (S808)) The single wafer 200 after heating (processing) is transported by the high-temperature tweezers 125a-2 to the cooling chamber 204 by the continuous operation of the transfer device 125b and the transfer device elevator 125c, and two wafers 200 are placed in the cooling chamber 108 by the high-temperature tweezers 125a-2 and cooled by being left there for a predetermined time (S808).

[0062] (Substrate accommodation process (S809)) The two wafers 200 cooled in the substrate cooling step S808 are removed from the cooling chamber 108 and transferred to a predetermined pod.

[0063] While the above describes one step in the manufacturing process of a semiconductor device, the present invention is not limited to this and can also be applied to techniques for processing substrates, such as patterning processes in the manufacturing process of liquid crystal panels, patterning processes in the manufacturing process of solar cells, and patterning processes in the manufacturing process of power devices.

[0064] The present disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and further includes various modified examples. For example, the above-described embodiment has been described in detail to easily explain the present disclosure, and is not necessarily limited to those having all of the configurations described.

[0065] Furthermore, although the above-mentioned configurations, functions, and controllers serving as control units have been described mainly with reference to examples in which programs are created to realize all or a part of them, it goes without saying that all or a part of them may be realized in hardware, for example, by designing them as integrated circuits. In other words, all or a part of the functions of the processing unit may be realized by integrated circuits, such as ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits) and FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), instead of programs.

[0066] In the above-mentioned embodiment, an example of forming a film using a single-wafer type substrate processing apparatus that processes one or several substrates at a time has been described. The present disclosure is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and can be suitably applied to, for example, a case where a film is formed using a batch type substrate processing apparatus that processes several substrates at a time. In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, an example of forming a film using a substrate processing apparatus having a cold-wall type processing furnace has been described. The present disclosure is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and can be suitably applied to a case where a film is formed using a substrate processing apparatus having a hot-wall type processing furnace.

[0067] When using these substrate processing apparatuses, each process can be performed under the same process procedures and conditions as in the above embodiment, and the same effects as in the above embodiment can be obtained. [Explanation of symbols]

[0068] 100 Substrate processing apparatus 121 Controller (control unit) 201 Processing Room 655-1, 655-2 Microwave Oscillator (Electromagnetic Wave Oscillator)

Claims

1. a processing chamber for processing a substrate having a first film to which a dopant is added and a second film different from the first film formed thereon; an electromagnetic wave supplying unit that supplies an electromagnetic wave to the substrate; a control unit configured to be able to control the electromagnetic wave supply unit so as to stop supplying the electromagnetic waves before the second film is heated while the dopant is being heated by the electromagnetic waves; A substrate processing apparatus comprising:

2. 2 . The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic wave is a pulse wave that is ON for a first predetermined time period and OFF for a second predetermined time period.

3. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the second predetermined time is longer than the first predetermined time.

4. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the first predetermined time and the second predetermined time are variable.

5. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the first predetermined time is set to be greater than or equal to 0.6 μsec.

6. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the dopant has a dipole.

7. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the dopant is at least one of boron and phosphorus.

8. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the first film is ion-implanted with at least the boron or the phosphorus.

9. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first film is at least a silicon film.

10. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the second film is at least an oxide film.

11. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first film is formed on the second film.

12. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic wave is a microwave.

13. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a substrate holding section capable of holding a plurality of the substrates.

14. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic wave supplying unit is provided on a side surface of the processing chamber.

15. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 14 , further comprising a transfer entrance for transferring the substrate thereinto and outwardly, the transfer entrance being disposed at a position opposite to the electromagnetic wave supply unit.

16. A step of applying an electromagnetic wave to a substrate having a first film to which a dopant is added and a second film different from the first film formed thereon; while heating the dopant with the electromagnetic waves, stopping the supply of the electromagnetic waves before the second film is heated; A substrate processing method comprising:

17. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the substrate processing method according to claim 16.

18. A step of applying an electromagnetic wave to a substrate having a first film to which a dopant is added and a second film different from the first film formed thereon; while heating the dopant with the electromagnetic waves, stopping the supply of the electromagnetic waves before the second film is heated; A program for causing a computer to execute the above in a substrate processing apparatus.

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