JP2001330534A - Leak check method of decompression processing apparatus and decompression processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to easily perform a leak check of a processing vessel in a short time at a low cost without increasing the number of facilities,
The aim is to reduce T and reduce return contamination from the exhaust system. SOLUTION: A processing object w is housed in a sealable processing container 1, and the processing container 1 is evacuated and evacuated by an exhaust system 16 to perform predetermined processing on the processing object w. In the checking method, an oxygen partial pressure gauge 18 is provided in the exhaust system 16, and while the inside of the processing vessel 1 is depressurized and evacuated by the exhaust system 16, the oxygen partial pressure is measured by the oxygen partial pressure gauge 18, and processing is performed based on the oxygen partial pressure. Check the container 1 for leaks.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for checking leaks in a decompression processing apparatus and a decompression processing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the manufacture of semiconductor devices, an object to be processed, such as a semiconductor wafer, is oxidized, diffused,
In order to perform processes such as CVD and annealing, a decompression processing device is used as one of semiconductor manufacturing devices. The decompression processing apparatus is configured to accommodate a target object in a process chamber (chamber) capable of being hermetically sealed, and to perform a predetermined process on the target object by depressurizing and exhausting the interior of the processing container by an exhaust system. I have.

[0003] In such a decompression processing apparatus, a leak check (leakage inspection) for confirming the airtightness of the processing container is performed before the processing is started. Conventionally, a build-up method (a neglected method, a pressure rise method) has been adopted as a method of the leak check. This build-up method
This is a method in which after confirming the depressurization reaching pressure, the exhaust valve is closed, and it is determined whether or not there is a leak in the processing container based on the degree of pressure increase in the processing container thereafter.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, by driving a vacuum pump of an exhaust system and operating an exhaust valve, slow exhaust and full open exhaust are sequentially performed to evacuate the processing chamber from atmospheric pressure to a predetermined ultimate pressure. The pressure is reduced, and the exhaust valve is closed at the time of the ultimate pressure. Then, the degree of pressure increase in the processing container is measured by a pressure gauge, for example, a total pressure gauge, and a leak check is performed by a build-up method.

[0005] If it is determined that there is a leak in the processing container based on the pressure increase, the subsequent work is stopped and maintenance of the leak location is performed. If you determine that there is no leak,
The exhaust valve is opened to perform exhaust again, and the process is started after reaching a predetermined pressure.

[0006]

However, in the leak check method of the decompression processing apparatus, about 10 minutes for slow exhaust, about 10 minutes for fully open exhaust, about 1 minute for leak check, and about 5 minutes for re-exhaust. It takes a long time, about 26 minutes, to start the process. For this reason, the TAT (Turn Aroud T
ime) That is, the object to be processed is a processing device (including a processing container)
The time between entering and coming out was longer. In the leak check method, since the exhaust valve is closed, return contamination from the exhaust system, that is, particles or degassed gas present in an upstream portion from the exhaust valve of the exhaust system flow back into the processing container to be processed. Contamination may occur.

[0007] A high vacuum mass spectrometer is known as a means for analyzing the atmospheric gas in the processing vessel, and a technique of performing a leak check using this high vacuum mass spectrometer has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-157,086). JP-A-8-45856).
However, the usual low to medium vacuum (eg 10
^{When a} high-vacuum mass spectrometer is applied to a decompression processing apparatus of the order of ⁻³ Torr, a high vacuum (for example, 10 ⁻⁵ Torr) is used.
In the following, an expensive differentially evacuated high vacuum mass spectrometer capable of securing an area is required, and a high vacuum pump, for example, a turbo molecular pump is separately required, and a back pressure is secured at a stage subsequent to the turbo molecular pump. It is necessary to connect a low vacuum to medium vacuum pump, for example, a dry pump, and there is a problem that the equipment must be increased.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and allows a leak check of a processing container to be performed easily and in a short time at a low cost without an increase in equipment, thereby reducing the TAT and reducing the exhaust system. It is an object of the present invention to provide a leak check method and a decompression processing device of a decompression processing device capable of reducing return contamination from water.

[0009]

Means for Solving the Problems In the present invention, claim 1 is provided.
According to the invention, the object to be processed is housed in a processable container that can be closed,
In the leak check method of the decompression processing apparatus for performing a predetermined process on the object to be processed by depressurizing and exhausting the inside of the processing container by an exhaust system, an oxygen partial pressure gauge is provided in the exhaust system, and the inside of the processing container is depressurized by the exhaust system. The method is characterized in that the oxygen partial pressure is measured by the oxygen partial pressure gauge while the gas is exhausted, and the presence or absence of a leak in the processing container is checked based on the oxygen partial pressure.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the object to be processed is housed in a processable container which can be hermetically sealed, and the inside of the processing container is depressurized and evacuated by an exhaust system equipped with a decompression pump to perform predetermined processing on the object to be processed. In the leak check method of the decompression processing device to be applied,
An oxygen partial pressure gauge is provided near the upstream of the decompression pump in the exhaust system, and while the inside of the processing vessel is depressurized and evacuated by the exhaust system, the oxygen partial pressure is measured by the oxygen partial pressure gauge. It is characterized in that the presence or absence of a leak is checked.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a decompression processing apparatus for accommodating an object to be processed in a hermetically sealable processing container, depressurizing and exhausting the interior of the processing container by an exhaust system, and performing predetermined processing on the object to be processed. An oxygen partial pressure gauge for checking a leak in the processing container is provided in the exhaust system.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reduced-pressure processing apparatus for accommodating a processing object in a hermetically sealable processing container, depressurizing and exhausting the processing container by an exhaust system, and performing predetermined processing on the processing object. An oxygen partial pressure gauge for checking a leak of the processing container is provided near the upstream of the pressure reducing pump of the exhaust system.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the decompression processing apparatus according to the third or fourth aspect, a trap for capturing a reaction by-product or the like in the exhaust gas is provided upstream of the oxygen partial pressure gauge in the exhaust system. It is characterized by having been done.

The invention of claim 6 is the invention of claim 3, 4 or 5
In the reduced pressure treatment apparatus described above, the oxygen partial pressure gauge is a zirconia-type oxygen concentration meter.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a vertical heat treatment apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a diagram for comparing the method of the present invention with a conventional method.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a processing vessel (chamber) which constitutes a heat treatment furnace for accommodating an object to be processed, for example, a semiconductor wafer w, and performing predetermined processing, for example, low pressure CVD. The processing vessel 1 includes, for example, a vertically long reaction tube 2 made of quartz.
A manifold 6 made of metal, for example, stainless steel, which is connected to the reaction tube 2 and has a gas introduction section 3 and an exhaust section 4 and forms a furnace port 5, and hermetically seals the furnace port 5 formed by the manifold 6. It is mainly composed of a metal lid, for example, stainless steel.

The illustrated reaction tube 2 has an inner tube 2a and an outer tube 2b.
It has a double tube structure. The upper end and the lower end of the inner tube 2a are open. The outer tube 2b has an upper end closed and a lower end opened. A flange 8 is formed at the lower end of the outer tube 2b. The inner tube 2a forms a substantial processing space, and the annular space between the inner tube 2a and the outer tube 2b forms an exhaust passage 9 for the processing gas.

The manifold 6 is provided on the outer tube 2 of the reaction tube 2.
and a flange portion (outer tube support portion) 10 on which a lower end flange portion 8 of the outer tube 2b is mounted on the upper end portion and joined and supported by a flange holder (not shown). Are formed.

A support portion (inner tube support portion) 11 for supporting a lower end portion of the inner tube 2a is provided on an inner peripheral portion of the manifold 6. The manifold 6 is attached to a lower portion of a base plate (not shown).
Above the base plate, a cylindrical heater 12 capable of controlling the inside of the reaction tube 2 to a predetermined temperature is provided.

A lid 7 that is opened and closed by a lifting mechanism (not shown) is hermetically joined to an opening end of the furnace port 5 opened at a lower end of the manifold 6. A quartz boat 13 that supports and mounts a large number of, for example, about 150 wafers w at predetermined intervals in a horizontal state at a predetermined interval in the upper part of the lid 7 includes a quartz heat insulating cylinder 14 that is a heat insulating means of the furnace port 5. Has been placed through.

In this case, in order to uniformly heat-treat the wafer w in the plane, the rotary table 1 is attached to the lid 7 via a rotation introducing section.
5 may be provided, and the boat 13 may be placed on the rotary table 15 via the heat retaining tube 14.
The operation of loading and unloading the boat 13 and the heat retaining tube 22 into and from the processing container 1 is performed via the lid 7 that is opened and closed by a lifting mechanism.

The tube wall (side) of the manifold 6 has a short gas inlet 3 for connecting a gas supply system (gas supply pipe) (not shown), and the inside of the processing vessel 1 can be evacuated and evacuated. And a short tubular exhaust portion 4 for connecting a simple exhaust system (exhaust pipe) 16. A plurality of gas introduction sections 3 may be formed according to the gas type. The gas supply system is provided with a supply valve (not shown).

The evacuation system 16 is provided with an evacuation valve 17 and a decompression pump (vacuum pump) 18 capable of controlling the inside of the processing vessel 1 to a desired reduced pressure or a desired degree of vacuum. Since the vertical heat treatment apparatus (decompression processing apparatus) of the present embodiment is used in a low vacuum to a medium vacuum (on the order of 10 ⁻³ Torr), for example, a dry pump is used as the decompression pump 18.

The exhaust valve 17 comprises a main exhaust valve 17A and a slow exhaust valve 17B. The exhaust system 16 includes:
A main exhaust valve 17A is provided, and a bypass pipe 19 that bypasses the main exhaust valve 17A for performing slow exhaust is provided. The bypass pipe 19 is a pipe thinner than the exhaust system 16 which is a main pipe. The bypass pipe 19 has a slow exhaust valve 17 for performing slow exhaust.
B is provided.

The processing vessel 1 is provided with heat-resistant O-rings 25 and 26, which are air-tight materials, at the junction between the manifold 6 and the outer tube 2b and at the junction between the manifold 6 and the lid 7, thereby ensuring air-tightness. However, the hermeticity may be impaired due to, for example, poor bonding at the bonding portion or deterioration of the O-ring.

Therefore, in order to ensure the airtightness of the processing container 1, the exhaust system 16 is provided with an oxygen partial pressure gauge 20 for performing a leak check of the processing container 1. The oxygen partial pressure gauge 20 may be, for example, a medium vacuum (10 ⁻³ T).
or quadruple mass spectrometer (Q)
Mass) or a zirconia oxygen meter. The oxygen partial pressure gauge 20 includes a control device for issuing an alarm (alarm) when the oxygen partial pressure is equal to or higher than a predetermined partial pressure (set partial pressure) based on the detection signal, or for stopping the subsequent work. It may be provided. The Q mass ionizes atoms collected from the atmosphere in the exhaust system 16, accelerates them by an electric field, and obtains a mass spectrum by measuring the momentum. Then, the partial pressure of oxygen can be determined from the intensity of the mass spectrum of oxygen atoms in the sampled atmosphere.

Generally, in the exhaust system 16, the distance from the processing vessel 1 to the decompression pump 18 is as long as 4 to 10 m, and a pressure gradient is generated due to the piping resistance.
8, the pressure is lower (for example, 7 × 10 ⁻³ Torr).
), The pressure increases (for example, about 8 × 10 ⁻³ Torr) as the distance from the processing container 1 increases. On the other hand, the oxygen partial pressure gauge 20 has a characteristic that it operates stably at a low pressure, particularly in the case of Q mass, and the lower the pressure, the smaller the amount of contact with various gases and the more difficult it is to deteriorate. Therefore, the oxygen partial pressure gauge 20 is provided with a pressure reducing pump 1 in the exhaust system 16 in order to stabilize operation and improve durability.
8 is preferably provided near the upstream side.

The oxygen partial pressure gauge 20 has an on-off valve 23 on the exhaust system 16 for use only at the time of leak check.
The on-off valve 23 is normally closed, and is opened at the time of a leak check. Further, the exhaust system 16 is provided with a trap 30 for trapping reaction by-products and the like in the exhaust gas in order to improve the durability of the decompression pump 18. In this case, In order to improve the durability of the oxygen partial pressure gauge 20 by performing a leak check using the clean gas that has passed through the trap 30,
It is preferable that a trap 30 is provided in the exhaust system 16 upstream of the oxygen partial pressure gauge 20.

Here, the principle of the leak check will be described. The inside of the processing container 1 is mainly (mainly) water and nitrogen gas by exhaustion by the decompression pump 18. Moisture
It remains because it is hard to be exhausted due to its adsorptivity. Nitrogen is a return component of the purge nitrogen gas of the dry pump itself, which is often used as a decompression pump in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. On the other hand, oxygen is easily exhausted from the processing container 1 and there is no source of oxygen in the processing container 1.
Very low partial pressure for the main component.

On the other hand, the atmosphere contains about 20% oxygen. Therefore, if the atmosphere leaks into the processing container 1, the oxygen partial pressure, which should be low as described above, increases. Therefore, if the increase in the oxygen partial pressure is detected, it is possible to detect a leak with high sensitivity in an exhausted state without using the build-up method.

Next, the operation of the vertical heat treatment apparatus which is a reduced pressure treatment apparatus having the above-described structure and a method for checking the leak thereof will be described. First, the lid 7 is raised by the elevating mechanism to carry the boat 13 and the heat retaining tube 14 into the processing vessel 1, and the furnace port 5 is sealed with the lid 7. At this time, the supply valve of the gas supply system and the exhaust valve 17 (17A, 17A) of the exhaust system 16
B) is closed. The decompression pump 18 is constantly driven.

Next, the slow exhaust valve 17B of the exhaust system 16 is opened, the slow exhaust is performed for a predetermined time, for example, about 3 minutes, and then the main exhaust valve 17A is opened to start fully open exhaust.
When this fully opened exhaust is performed for a predetermined time, for example, about 2 minutes, the on-off valve 23 is opened and the leak check is performed by the oxygen partial pressure gauge 20 in the exhaust state. This leak check may be performed for a predetermined time, for example, about 30 seconds. Processing container 1
If a leak has occurred from the junction or the like, since the oxygen partial pressure in the processing vessel 1 has increased, the oxygen partial pressure gauge 20 can detect that a leak has occurred in the processing vessel 1. . If it is detected that a leak has occurred in the processing container 1, the subsequent work may be stopped and maintenance of the leak location may be performed. If no leak is detected, a predetermined process, for example, low pressure CVD is started.

In this case, first, an inert gas, for example, a nitrogen gas is introduced into the processing vessel 1 from the gas supply system.
After the inside of the processing vessel 1 is purged once, the wafer w in the processing chamber 1 is heated to a predetermined heat treatment temperature by operating the heater 12, and a predetermined processing gas is supplied to the wafer w in the processing chamber 1 by the gas supply system. Then, a predetermined process such as a decompression CV
A film forming process by D is performed. When processing is completed, heater 1
After the operation of Step 2 and the supply of the processing gas are stopped, the inside of the processing vessel 1 is purged by introducing an inert gas, the inside of the processing vessel 1 is returned to normal pressure, and then the lid 7 is lowered to lower the boat 13 and What is necessary is just to carry out the heat retaining cylinder 14 from the inside of the processing container 1.

According to the leak check method of the vertical heat treatment apparatus, the wafer w is housed in the hermetically sealable processing vessel 1 and the inside of the processing vessel 1 is evacuated and evacuated by the exhaust system 16 to the wafer w. In the vertical heat treatment apparatus for performing the processing, an oxygen partial pressure gauge 20 is provided in the exhaust system 16, and the oxygen partial pressure in the exhaust is measured by the oxygen partial pressure gauge 20 while the inside of the processing vessel 1 is evacuated and evacuated by the exhaust system 16. Since the presence / absence of a leak in the processing container 1 is checked based on the oxygen partial pressure, a leak check of the processing container 1 can be easily performed at a low cost and in a short time without an increase in equipment.

That is, since a simple Q-mass that can be used in low to medium vacuum, for example, is used as the oxygen partial pressure gauge 20, unlike a case of using an expensive differential pumping high vacuum mass spectrometer, a high vacuum pump is used. For example, it can be used by attaching to an exhaust system 16 having a vacuum pump (for example, a dry pump) 18 that can be used at a low vacuum to a medium vacuum without separately requiring a turbo molecular pump, thereby reducing costs and reducing the size of equipment. Can be achieved.

According to the leak check method,
Oxygen with fast exhaust does not require long-term exhaust, and
Since re-evacuation is not required, as shown in FIG. 2, it takes about 10 minutes for slow exhaust, about 5 minutes for fully open exhaust, and about 30 seconds for leak check. It takes a relatively short time of about 15 minutes and 30 seconds, while it takes about a minute. Therefore, the TAT of the vertical heat treatment apparatus can be reduced. In the leak check method, unlike the build-up method, the exhaust valve 17 (17
A, 17B) is not closed, so that return contamination from the exhaust system 16 can be reduced or prevented.

On the other hand, according to the vertical heat treatment apparatus, the wafer w is accommodated in the process chamber 1 which can be hermetically sealed, and the interior of the process chamber 1 is evacuated and evacuated by the evacuation system 16 to perform predetermined processing on the wafer w. In the vertical heat treatment apparatus, since the oxygen partial pressure gauge 20 for checking the leak of the processing vessel 1 is provided in the exhaust system 16 of the processing vessel 1, the leak check of the processing vessel 1 can be easily performed in a short time. And TAT
And return contamination from the exhaust system 16 can be reduced.

In particular, in the leak check method or the vertical heat treatment apparatus, the pressure reducing pump 1 of the exhaust system 16 is used.
8, the oxygen partial pressure gauge 20 can be used at a low pressure near the decompression pump 18, and unlike the use at a high pressure, the amount of contact with various gases is suppressed. The stability and durability of the operation of the partial pressure gauge 20 can be improved (particularly in the case of Q mass). Further, since a trap 30 for trapping reaction by-products and the like in the exhaust gas is provided upstream of the oxygen partial pressure gauge 20 in the exhaust system 16, a clean gas that has passed through the trap 30 is used. A leak check can be performed, and the durability of the oxygen partial pressure gauge 20 can be improved.

In addition to the Q mass, an inexpensive zirconia oxygen meter can be used as the oxygen partial pressure gauge 20, and the cost can be further reduced by using this zirconia oxygen meter. In a zirconia oxygen meter, a detection cell made of zirconia ceramics is red-heated to facilitate movement of oxygen ions in a crystal structure, and a voltage (cell voltage) is generated due to a difference in oxygen partial pressure between the inner and outer surfaces of the detection cell. By contacting the inside of the detection cell with the atmosphere and the outside with the atmosphere in the exhaust system 16, the oxygen concentration in the exhaust system 16 can be detected by the cell voltage based on the oxygen concentration in the atmosphere.

FIG. 3 shows the present invention applied to a vertical heat treatment apparatus.
FIG. 14 is a configuration diagram illustrating another embodiment. Embodiment of FIG.
, The same parts as those in the embodiment of FIG.
Numbers are added and explanations are omitted. The heat treatment apparatus of FIG.
Vacuum or N at the bottom of container 1 ₂Load being purged
A lock chamber 35 is provided. This load lock chamber 35
In the case of a heat treatment apparatus equipped with
Since oxygen is not present, this part is detected by oxygen detection.
It is difficult to perform a leak check.

Therefore, in order to enable a leak check of the above-mentioned portion, an O-ring 26 is provided at the junction of the manifold 6 and the lid 7, and an annular passage 36 between the O-rings 26, 26 is provided. A gas introducing pipe 3 for introducing, for example, an inert gas, preferably an argon (Ar) gas, as a gas to be detected.
7 and the gas discharge pipe 38 are connected. And Q
By detecting the presence / absence of Ar using the mass 20, it is possible to perform a leak check of the aforementioned portion.

After the leak check, N ₂ gas is introduced from the gas introduction pipe 37 and the Ar gas in the annular passage 36 is exhausted from the gas exhaust pipe 37 so that unnecessary Ar gas when the lid 7 is opened is removed. It can be prevented from entering the load lock chamber 35 or the processing container 1. The annular passage 36
Oxygen (O ₂ ) may be used as the detection gas introduced into the inside. In the system having the load lock chamber 35,
Since in the processing container 1 O ₂ is not present, it is possible to further shorten the time of the vacuum fully open exhaust.

[0043]

EXAMPLE A quadrupole mass spectrometer (Q mass) as an oxygen partial pressure gauge was attached to a processing vessel of a vertical heat treatment apparatus to detect leaks. The oxygen partial pressure without leak is 2.7 ×
It was 10 ^-4 Pa. In contrast, when a leak was intentionally generated, the oxygen partial pressure was increased to 2.7 × 10 ⁻³ Pa. Assuming that all of these partial pressures are caused by leaks, the leak amount can be calculated as follows.

The amount of oxygen leak is determined by the product of the pumping speed of the pressure reducing pump and the oxygen partial pressure at the time of the leak. Therefore, if the pumping speed of the pressure reducing pump is 10 l / s, Becomes

Further, since the total atmospheric pressure / atmospheric oxygen partial pressure is about 5 times, the amount of leakage as air = 5 × 2.7 × 10 ⁻⁵ Pam ³ /s=1.4×10 ⁻⁴ Pam ³ / S.

In the above-mentioned leak state, the measured leak amount by the build-up method was 9.3 × 10 ⁻⁵ Pam ³ / s, and a result almost coincident with that obtained from the oxygen partial pressure was obtained.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various design changes and the like can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. Is possible. The object to be processed may be, for example, a glass substrate or the like other than the semiconductor wafer. Further, the decompression processing apparatus of the present invention may be configured to be suitable for processing such as oxidation, diffusion, and annealing, in addition to CVD. Further, the decompression processing apparatus of the present invention is not limited to a batch type vertical heat treatment apparatus, and may be, for example, a horizontal type or a single wafer type.

[0048]

In summary, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) According to the first aspect of the present invention, the object to be processed is accommodated in a sealable processing container, and the inside of the processing container is evacuated to a reduced pressure by an exhaust system to perform a predetermined process on the object to be processed. In the leak check method of the decompression processing device to be performed, an oxygen partial pressure gauge is provided in the exhaust system, an oxygen partial pressure is measured by the oxygen partial pressure gauge while the inside of the processing vessel is depressurized and evacuated by the exhaust system, and the oxygen partial pressure is measured based on the oxygen partial pressure. In order to check for leaks in the processing container, it is possible to easily check the processing container for leaks at a low cost without increasing the number of facilities in a short time, and to shorten the TAT and reduce return contamination from the exhaust system. Reduction can be achieved.

(2) According to the second aspect of the present invention, the object to be processed is housed in a sealable processing container, and the inside of the processing container is evacuated and evacuated by an exhaust system equipped with a decompression pump. In the leak check method of the decompression processing device for performing a predetermined process, an oxygen partial pressure gauge is provided near an upstream of a decompression pump of the exhaust system, and the oxygen partial pressure gauge is used by the oxygen partial pressure gauge while the inside of the processing container is depressurized and exhausted by the exhaust system. The oxygen partial pressure gauge can be used at a low pressure near the decompression pump to measure the pressure and check for leaks in the processing vessel based on the oxygen partial pressure. This improves the operation stability and durability of the oxygen partial pressure gauge. Therefore, the leak check of the processing container can be easily performed in a short time at a low cost without increasing the equipment.

(3) According to the third aspect of the present invention, the object to be processed is housed in a sealable processing container, and the inside of the processing container is evacuated to a reduced pressure by an exhaust system to perform predetermined processing on the object to be processed. In the pressure reducing apparatus to be applied, since an oxygen partial pressure gauge for checking a leak of the processing container is provided in the exhaust system,
The leak check of the processing container can be easily performed in a short time at a low cost without increasing the number of facilities, and the TAT can be reduced and return contamination from the exhaust system can be reduced.

(4) According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the object to be processed is housed in a hermetically sealable processing container, and the inside of the processing container is evacuated and evacuated by an evacuation system to perform predetermined processing on the object to be processed. In the decompression processing device to be applied, since the oxygen partial pressure gauge for checking the leak of the processing vessel is provided near the upstream of the pressure reduction pump of the exhaust system, the oxygen partial pressure gauge can be used at a low pressure, and the operation of the oxygen partial pressure gauge can be reduced. Stability and durability can be improved, and a leak check of the processing container can be easily performed in a short time at a low cost without increasing the equipment.

(5) According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, a trap for trapping reaction by-products and the like in the exhaust gas is provided upstream of the oxygen partial pressure gauge in the exhaust system. The leak can be checked using the clean gas that has passed
The durability of the oxygen partial pressure gauge can be improved.

(6) According to the invention of claim 6, since the oxygen partial pressure meter is a zirconia oxygen concentration meter, the cost can be further reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a vertical heat treatment apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for comparing a method of the present invention with a conventional method.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing another embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a vertical heat treatment apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 w Semiconductor wafer (object to be processed) 1 Processing container 16 Evacuation system 18 Decompression pump 20 Oxygen partial pressure gauge 30 Capturer

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A leak check method of a decompression processing apparatus for accommodating an object to be processed in a hermetically sealable processing container, depressurizing and exhausting the inside of the processing container by an exhaust system, and performing predetermined processing on the object to be processed. An oxygen partial pressure gauge is provided in the exhaust system, and while the inside of the processing vessel is depressurized and evacuated by the exhaust system, the oxygen partial pressure is measured by the oxygen partial pressure gauge, and the presence or absence of a leak in the processing vessel is checked based on the oxygen partial pressure. A leak check method for a decompression processing device, characterized by comprising: 2. A decompression processing apparatus for accommodating an object to be processed in a hermetically sealable processing container, evacuation of the inside of the processing container by an exhaust system equipped with a decompression pump, and performing predetermined processing on the object to be processed. In the leak check method, an oxygen partial pressure gauge is provided near the upstream of a pressure reducing pump of the exhaust system, and the oxygen partial pressure is measured by the oxygen partial pressure gauge while the inside of the processing chamber is evacuated and evacuated by the exhaust system. A method for checking a leak in a decompression processing apparatus, wherein the method checks whether or not there is a leak in the processing container. 3. A decompression processing apparatus for accommodating an object to be processed in a sealable processing container, depressurizing and exhausting the inside of the processing container by an exhaust system and performing a predetermined process on the object to be processed. An apparatus for reducing pressure, comprising an oxygen partial pressure gauge for checking a leak in a processing container. 4. A decompression processing apparatus for accommodating an object to be processed in a hermetically sealable processing container and depressurizing and exhausting the interior of the processing container by an exhaust system to perform a predetermined process on the object to be processed. A decompression processing apparatus comprising: an oxygen partial pressure gauge for checking a leak in a processing container near an upstream of a decompression pump. 5. The decompression process according to claim 3, wherein a trap for capturing a reaction by-product or the like in the exhaust gas is provided upstream of the oxygen partial pressure gauge in the exhaust system. apparatus. 6. The decompression processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the oxygen partial pressure gauge is a zirconia-type oxygen concentration meter.