Substrate processing apparatus and manufacturing method of semiconductor device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10998205-B2
Application number	US-201916570753-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 13, 2019
Priority date	Sep 14, 2018
Publication date	May 4, 2021
Grant date	May 4, 2021

Abstract

A substrate processing a technology including: a substrate holder; a tubular reactor that houses the substrate holder; an inlet flange connected to the tubular reactor including a plurality of gas introduction ports; a lid that closes a lower opening of the inlet flange in a manner such that the substrate holder can be carried in and out; heater elements disposed along the outer peripheral surface of the inlet flange while avoiding the gas introduction ports; temperature sensors thermally coupled to the inlet flange or any heater element and adapted to detect temperatures; and a temperature controller that divides of the heater elements into groups and controls power supply to the respective heater elements independently for each of the groups based on temperatures detection temperatures detected by the temperature sensors.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A substrate processing apparatus comprising:
a substrate holder that holds a plurality of substrates arrayed at predetermined intervals;
a tubular reactor that has a cylindrical shape that extends in a vertical direction, the tubular reactor including a ceiling at an upper end and an opening portion at a lower end, and housing the substrate holder in a manner such that the substrate holder can be carried in and out through the opening portion, and;
a cylindrical inlet flange hermetically connected to the opening portion of the tubular reactor and including a plurality of gas introduction ports on an outer peripheral surface;
a lid that closes a lower end opening of the inlet flange in a manner such that the substrate holder can be carried in and out;
temperature sensors thermally coupled to the inlet flange or heater elements installed on the inlet flange and configured to detect temperatures, the heater elements divided in circumferential direction and disposed along the inlet flange while avoiding the gas introduction ports; and
a temperature controller configured to divide the heater elements into groups of N, where N is a number of sensors more than 1 and less than a number of the heater elements, and control power supplied to the respective groups of heater elements independently based on detection temperatures detected by the corresponding temperature sensors;
wherein the inlet flange includes an upper flange hermetically connected to the opening portion of the tubular reactor at an upper end and fixed by a clamp, a lower flange hermetically connected to the lid at a lower end, and a cylindrical portion connecting the upper flange and the lower flange,
the inlet flange or the clamp includes an embedded cooling water channel,
wherein the temperature controller performs a feed-forward control for the power supply to at least one of the groups based on an exhaust state of the tubular reactor and a cooling state of the cooling water channel.

2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the tubular reactor includes, in a vicinity of the opening portion, an exhaust pipe configured to exhaust an internal gas and receive heat from the internal gas while exhausting;
wherein the heater elements are divided at least into a first group that includes a first heater element and a second group that includes a second heater element arranged farther from the exhaust pipe than the first heater element;
wherein the temperature controller applies different compensation values to the first group and second group depending on the exhaust state from the exhaust pipe and the cooling state.

3. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the upper flange or the clamp includes the cooling water channel embedded piecewise in an entire periphery, and a height of the cylindrical portion is set substantially equal to or less than a maximum diameter of connectors included in the plurality of gas introduction ports, and
the heater elements are connected electrically in series or in parallel in each of the groups, and have an equal heat generation amount per unit length.

4. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising a cooler provided adjacent to at least a lower side of the exhaust pipe and configured to cool the exhaust pipe;
wherein the temperature controller compensates a deviation between a temperature measured by one of the temperature sensors and the temperature at the inside of the inlet flange while the deviation is varied by the disturbances caused by receiving heat from the internal gas and cooling by the cooler.

5. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the temperature controller is configured to:
control power supply to the heater elements such that the detection temperatures by the N pieces of the temperature sensors coincide with a determined set temperature, and
store or calculate the compensation values that modify the set temperature for the first group and the second group.

6. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the set temperature for each of the groups is determined such that the higher a partial pressure of a by-product on the inner peripheral surface becomes, the higher the set temperature is set.

7. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 5 , the set temperature for each of the groups is determined such that the thicker deposits to be removed become, the higher the set temperature is set.

8. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the temperature controller is configured to control power supply to the heater elements such that the detection temperatures by the N pieces of the temperature sensors coincide with a set temperature compensated by the compensation values, the compensation value for the first group decrease the set temperature in proportion to an estimated thermal dose from the exhaust gas to the exhaust pipe and the compensation value for the second group increase the set temperature in proportion to an flow rate in the cooling water channel.

9. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising struts that press the heater elements against the outer peripheral surface of the inlet flange.

10. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein each of the heater elements is pressed by two to three struts via an adiabatic pressure plate.

11. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the heater elements includes an auto trace heater that changes ohmic resistance thereof in accordance with a temperature.

12. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the tubular reactor includes:
in a vicinity of the opening portion, an exhaust port configured to exhaust an internal gas and receive heat from the internal gas while exhausting;
an overlaid portion formed around a connection between the tubular reactor and the exhaust pipe, a lower end of the overlaid portion is located closer to a lower end to an extent connected to a lower end flange of the tubular reactor.

13. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 12 , further comprising:
a cooling block provided in the vicinity of the exhaust port and a cooling water can circulate in the cooling block; and
a tongue portion that is made from metal, extends from the cooling block and enters the cut-away portion of the overlaid portion.

14. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the heater elements includes an inner-side heater element contacting an outer peripheral surface of the inlet flange and an outer-side heater element provided on an outer side of the inner-side heater element via a heat insulation layer.

Assignees

• Kokusai Electric Corp

Inventors

• Miyashita Tomoyasu
• Kamimura Daigi
• Umekawa Atsushi

Classifications

• H10P72/0602

  Temperature monitoring · CPC title

• H10P34/00

  Irradiation with electromagnetic or particle radiation of wafers, substrates or parts of devices · CPC title

• H10P14/43

  Chemical deposition, e.g. chemical vapour deposition [CVD] · CPC title

• H10P72/0441

  Apparatus for sealing, encapsulating, glassing, decapsulating or the like · CPC title

• C23C16/4412

  Details relating to the exhausts, e.g. pumps, filters, scrubbers, particle traps · CPC title