Substrate processing apparatus, and method for manufacturing semiconductor device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10689758-B2
Application number	US-201815910888-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 2, 2018
Priority date	Sep 4, 2015
Publication date	Jun 23, 2020
Grant date	Jun 23, 2020

Abstract

Provided is a technique capable of purging a adiabatic region without adversely affecting a processing region. A process chamber including a processing region for processing a substrate and a adiabatic region located below the processing region is included inside. A first exhaust portion for discharging an atmosphere of the processing region, and a second exhaust portion for discharging an atmosphere of the adiabatic region, formed at a position overlapping with the adiabatic region in a height direction, are included.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A substrate processing apparatus comprising:
a boat configured to hold a plurality of substrates while the substrates are arranged in a horizontal posture with centers thereof aligned at a predetermined interval in a vertical direction;
a heat insulating portion disposed below the boat;
a reaction tube formed in a cylindrical shape with an upper end closed and a lower end open and including a process chamber containing a processing region in which the boat is disposed and a adiabatic region in which the heat insulating portion is disposed;
a flange formed on a lower end of the reaction tube so as to protrude toward an outer peripheral side;
a supply buffer chamber protruding outwardly from a side wall of the reaction tube and formed in a vertical direction;
an exhaust buffer chamber protruding outwardly from a side wall of the reaction tube so as to face the supply buffer chamber and formed in a vertical direction;
a first exhaust port configured to discharge an atmosphere of the processing region, the first exhaust port being formed in a partition portion serving as a partition between the reaction tube and the exhaust buffer chamber and constituting a part of a side wall of the reaction tube;
an exhaust port communicating with the exhaust buffer chamber;
a purge gas supply portion configured to supply a purge gas to the adiabatic region; and
a second exhaust port configured to discharge an atmosphere of the adiabatic region to the exhaust buffer chamber, the second exhaust port being formed at a position overlapping with the adiabatic region in a height direction in the partition portion.

2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the heat insulating portion is formed in a cylindrical shape, and a narrow gap for making the purge gas flow to the processing region exists around the heat insulating portion between the heat insulating portion and an inner wall of the reaction tube.

3. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising:
a manifold configured to support the flange, the manifold having an opening at a lower end thereof;
a furnace lid capable of hermetically closing the opening of the manifold; and
a rotation mechanism configured to rotate the boat, the rotation mechanism being disposed on the opposite side of the process chamber of the furnace lid,
wherein the purge gas supply portion is connected to the rotation mechanism, and supplies the purge gas upward from a lower portion of the adiabatic region.

4. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein a third exhaust port configured to cause a lower portion of the process chamber to communicate with the exhaust buffer chamber to discharge an atmosphere of the adiabatic region is disposed in the flange.

5. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein an opening area of the second exhaust port is larger than an opening area of the third exhaust port.

6. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the second exhaust port is formed at a height position where at least a part of the opening of the second exhaust port overlaps with an opening region of the exhaust port.

7. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the heat insulating portion is divided into a cylindrical upper heat insulator and a cylindrical lower heat insulator, and the upper heat insulator is configured to be supported by a support portion at a predetermined interval from the lower heat insulator, and
the second exhaust port is formed at a position where at least a part of the opening of the second exhaust port overlaps with a part of the formed predetermined interval in a height direction.

8. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first exhaust port includes a plurality of horizontally elongated exhaust slits disposed from a lower portion to an upper portion of the processing region.

9. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein a plurality of horizontally elongated supply slits is formed in a partition portion serving as a partition between the reaction tube and the supply buffer chamber and constituting a part of a side wall of the reaction tube from a lower portion to an upper portion of the processing region.

10. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising a nozzle configured to supply a plurality of kinds of process gases and an inert gas to the processing region, the nozzle being disposed in the supply buffer chamber, wherein
a plurality of gas supply holes open so as to face a center of the reaction tube is formed at positions corresponding to the plurality of supply slits on a side surface of the nozzle.

11. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising:
on an upper surface of the furnace lid,
a seal member in contact with a lower end of the manifold; and
a disc-shaped cap plate configured to protect the furnace lid, the disc-shaped protection plate being disposed in an inner region of the seal member.

12. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the heat insulating portion includes a plurality of plate-shaped heat insulators and a cylindrical portion surrounding the heat insulators,
a heater configured to heat the processing region is further included between the substrate and the heat insulators, and
the purge gas supply portion supplies the purge gas into the cylindrical portion.

13. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the heat insulating portion includes:
a receiving portion having a disc shape with a through-hole formed at a center thereof, and fixed onto a hollow rotary shaft of the rotation mechanism;
a heat insulator configured by stacking a plurality of reflection plates and a plurality of heat insulating plates;
a retainer having a cylindrical shape with upper and lower ends open, disposed on an upper surface of the receiving portion, and holding the heat insulator;
a cylindrical portion having a cylindrical shape with an upper end closed, disposed on an upper surface of the receiving portion, and covering the heat insulator; and
a sub-heater including a support portion inserted into the retainer and a heat generating portion horizontally disposed in a space between an upper end of the support portion and an inner wall of the cylindrical portion, and
a space between an inner surface of the retainer and an outer surface of the support portion configures a supply path of the purge gas.

14. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the substrate processing apparatus according to claim 3 , comprising:
loading the substrates into the processing region; alternately supplying a plurality of process gases to the substrates in the processing region, discharging an atmosphere of the processing region from the first exhaust port, and processing the substrates; and
supplying the purge gas to the adiabatic region, discharging an atmosphere of the adiabatic region from the second exhaust port, and purging the adiabatic region.

Assignees

• Hitachi Int Electric Inc
• Kokusai Electric Corp

Inventors

• Yoshida Hidenari
• Taniyama Tomoshi
• Nakada Takayuki

Classifications

• H10P72/0431

  Apparatus for thermal treatment · CPC title

• H10P95/00

  Generic processes or apparatus for manufacture or treatments not covered by the other groups of this subclass · CPC title

• H10P72/0402 Primary

  Apparatus for fluid treatment (H10P72/0441, H10P72/0448 take precedence) · CPC title

• C23C16/45546

  specially adapted for a substrate stack in the ALD reactor · CPC title

• C23C16/45574

  Nozzles for more than one gas · CPC title