Heat treatment apparatus and heat treatment method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11114319-B2
Application number	US-201916690712-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 21, 2019
Priority date	Nov 27, 2018
Publication date	Sep 7, 2021
Grant date	Sep 7, 2021

Abstract

A heat treatment apparatus includes a heating unit provided around a processing container accommodating a substrate; a plurality of blowing units configured to blow a cooling medium into a space between the processing container and the heating unit; and a shutter configured to simultaneously opens/closes at least two of the plurality of blowing units and including a slit formed corresponding to each of the blowing units.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A heat treatment apparatus comprising:
a processing container configured to accommodate a substrate;
a heater provided around the processing container;
a plurality of blowing paths configured to blow a cooling medium into a space between the processing container and the heater; and
a shutter configured to simultaneously open/close at least two of the plurality of blowing units and including a slit formed corresponding to each of the blowing units.

2. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a medium flowing path configured to supply the cooling medium to the plurality of blowing units,
wherein the shutter is provided in the medium flowing path.

3. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein each of the blowing paths includes:
a branch that communicates with the medium flowing path; and
a blowing hole that penetrates the heater and has one end communicating with the branch and the other end communicating with the space, and
wherein the branch is provided with a butterfly valve.

4. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising:
a blower provided in the medium flowing path and configured to send the cooling medium to the plurality of blowing paths.

5. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 4 , further comprising:
a heat exhaust having one end communicating with the space above the plurality of the blowing paths and the other end communicating with the medium flowing path and configured to discharge the cooling medium in the space; and
a heat exchanger provided in the medium flowing path and configured to cool the cooling medium discharged by the heat exhaust.

6. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 5 , further comprising:
a driver configured to move the shutter between a closed position covering the plurality of blowing paths and an opened position spaced apart from the plurality of blowing paths.

7. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 6 , further comprising:
a temperature detector configured to detect a temperature in the processing container or the space; and
a controller configured to switch between a small flow rate mode for controlling the heater based on the temperature in a state where the shutter is moved to the closed position and a large flow rate mode for controlling the heater based on the temperature in a state where the shutter is moved to the opened position.

8. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the controller switches to the large flow rate mode in at least one of cases of processing a substrate at a low temperature in the processing container and cooling an inside of the processing container at a high speed.

9. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the processing container is extended in a vertical direction, and the plurality of blowing paths are provided along a longitudinal direction of the processing container.

10. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising:
a blower provided in the medium flowing path and configured to send the cooling medium to the plurality of blowing paths.

11. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising:
a heat exhaust having one end communicating with the space above the plurality of the blowing paths and the other end communicating with the medium flowing path and configured to discharge the cooling medium in the space; and
a heat exchanger provided in the medium flowing path and configured to cool the cooling medium discharged by the heat exhaust.

12. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a driver configured to move the shutter between a closed position covering the plurality of blowing paths and an opened position spaced apart from the plurality of blowing paths.

13. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 12 , comprising:
a temperature detector configured to detect a temperature in the processing container or the space; and
a controller configured to switch between a small flow rate mode for controlling the heater based on the temperature in a state where the shutter is moved to the closed position and a large flow rate mode for controlling the heater based on the temperature in a state where the shutter is moved to the opened position.

14. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the controller switches to the large flow rate mode in at least one of cases of processing a substrate at a low temperature in the processing container and cooling an inside of the processing container at a high speed.

15. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing container is extended in a vertical direction, and the plurality of blowing paths are provided along a longitudinal direction of the processing container.

16. A heat treatment method of a heat treatment apparatus including: a heater provided around a processing container accommodating a substrate; a plurality of blowing paths configured to blow a cooling medium into a space between the processing container and the heater; and a shutter configured to simultaneously open/close at least two of the plurality of blowing paths and including a slit formed corresponding to each of the blowing units, the heat treatment method comprising:
switching to a small flow rate mode for controlling the heater based on a temperature in the processing container or the space in a state where the shutter is moved to a closed position and a large flow rate mode for controlling the heater based on the temperature in the processing container or the space in a state where the shutter is moved to an opened position, in response to a processing performed in the heat treatment apparatus.

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Yamaguchi Tatsuya
• Kikuchi Yasuaki
• Yoshii Koji
• Nakajima Wataru
• Baba Norio

Classifications

• H10P95/90

  Thermal treatments, e.g. annealing or sintering · CPC title

• H10P74/27

  Structural arrangements therefor · CPC title

• H10P72/0434 Primary

  mainly by convection · CPC title

• H10P72/0602

  Temperature monitoring · CPC title

• H01L21/2636

  Electricity · mapped topic