JP2002280371A - Substrate processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate treatment apparatus, in which damages to the gas inlet nozzle and damages to a wafer are prevented. SOLUTION: The substrate treatment apparatus is provided with a reaction tube 50, which forms the treatment space of the carried-in wafer and a plurality of gas inlet nozzles 60, which are erected and installed inside the reaction tube 50 and which supply a source gas to the wafer. A nozzle-position adjusting means 10, by which the respective nozzles 60 are moved back and forth in the longitudinal direction of the reaction tube 50 independently of each other, is installed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus for forming an oxide film or a nitride film on a wafer by supplying a source gas into a processing chamber, and more particularly to a gas introduction nozzle used for introducing a source gas. The improvement of the nozzle position adjusting means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, formation of a CVD film such as an oxide film or a nitride film on a wafer (substrate to be processed) is performed by a substrate processing apparatus, and the wafer is loaded into a processing chamber and processed. This is done by supplying a source gas into the room. In this case, a gas introduction nozzle disposed along the inner wall in the processing chamber is used for supplying the source gas. For example, this substrate processing apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-311862.
Is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 9-203 (1995).

The substrate processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-311862 discloses a reaction tube composed of an inner tube into which a group of wafers is loaded, an outer tube surrounding the inner tube, and a source gas in the inner tube. A gas introduction nozzle for supplying, an exhaust port for exhausting the inside of the reaction tube, and a heater for heating the inside of the reaction tube, wherein the gas introduction nozzle has a plurality of source gases corresponding to a space between upper and lower wafers. The spout was opened.

Here, the raw material gas is supplied into the inner tube from the ejection port of the gas introduction nozzle, and the positional relationship between the ejection port and each of the loaded wafers (for example, corresponding to the distance between adjacent wafers). Depending on the position of the spout, ie, the position where the source gas is not effectively supplied from the spout toward the adjacent wafers), the source gas does not flow evenly to each wafer, and the CVD reaction on each wafer becomes non-uniform. In some cases. For this reason, the substrate processing apparatus is provided with nozzle position adjusting means for adjusting the position of the gas introduction nozzle in the vertical direction, and the nozzle position is adjusted by the nozzle position adjusting means to a suitable position. Hereinafter, a substrate processing apparatus having the nozzle position adjusting means will be described with reference to FIGS.
It will be described based on.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, this substrate processing apparatus is provided with an inner tube 51 made of quartz into which a wafer to be processed is loaded, and a gap provided between the inner tube 51 and the inner tube 51. A vertical reaction tube 50 having an outer tube 52; five gas introduction nozzles 60 for introducing a raw material gas into the inner tube 51; a gate 70 for closing a lower end opening of the reaction tube 50; And a boat 80 that stands on the top 70 and holds a group of wafers (not shown).

The above-described reaction tube 50 will be described in detail. In the reaction tube 50, each of the inner tube 51 and the outer tube 52 is formed into a shape in which the upper end is closed and the lower end is opened. It was overlaid. In this case, the inner diameter of the inner tube 51 is formed to be larger than the maximum outer diameter of the group of wafers to be carried in, and the group of wafers enters and exits through the opening (hereinafter referred to as “furnace opening”) 51a of the inner tube 51. .
Further, a through hole (not shown) communicating with a space between the inner tube 51 and the outer tube 52 is formed in the side wall of the inner tube 51 (for example, an exhaust hole disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-311862). The source gas after the film forming process in the tube 51 is exhausted.

Here, the reaction tube 50 is further provided with closing means 90 for closing between the open ends of the inner tube 51 and the outer tube 52, and the closing means 90 allows the space between the inner tube 51 and the outer tube 52 to be closed. The portion is provided as an exhaust chamber 53 for the source gas exhausted from the through hole of the inner tube 51.

The closing means 90 is, as shown in FIG.
A cap 91 having an annular cross section that is engaged with a lower portion of the outer tube 52 and extends downward from the lower portion;
An annular holding portion 91 erected on the inner wall of the cap 91
a, a ring-shaped reaction tube receiver 92 supporting the lower end of the inner tube 51, and a ring-shaped seal flange 93 for closing the gap between the cap 91 and the inner tube 51 via the reaction tube receiver 92. You.

Here, the inner diameters of the reaction tube receiver 92 and the seal flange 93 are set to be substantially equal to the inner diameter of the inner tube 51.
In the seal flange 93, six axial through holes 93a are formed at equal intervals in the circumferential direction (only one is shown in the figure, and the other is not shown). As shown in FIG. 5, the seal flange 93 has, in addition to the through hole 93a for inserting the flange fixing screw 94 described above, an axial screw into which an adjustment screw 102 of a nozzle position adjusting means 100 described later is screwed. Three female screw portions 93b are formed at substantially equal intervals in the circumferential direction.

In this case, the upper surface (upper surface shown in FIG. 4) of the reaction tube receiver 92 is on the lower end surface of the inner tube 51, and the upper surface (upper surface shown in FIG. 4) of the seal flange 93 is on the reaction tube receiver 92. It is disposed in contact with the lower surface of the holding portion 91a. Then, the flange fixing screw 94 is inserted from below through the through hole 93 a of the seal flange 93, and the reaction tube receiver 92 is inserted.
The seal flange 93 is fixed to the reaction tube receiver 92 by being screwed into the female screw portion 92 a of the reaction tube.

Subsequently, an exhaust port 91b shown in FIG. 5 for exhausting the source gas in the exhaust chamber 53 to the outside and a gas introduction nozzle 60 in the inner tube 51 are connected to the side of the cap 91 described above. And a nozzle through-hole 91c extending to the outside of the nozzle. In this case, the exhaust port 91b
Is provided between the outer tube 52 and the reaction tube receiver 92, and the nozzle through-hole 91 c is provided below the seal flange 93. Further, the lower end of the cap 91 is set so as to be located below a nozzle position adjusting means 100 described later.

Next, the gas introduction nozzle 60 will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, the gas introduction nozzle 60 is bent in a substantially L shape in a reaction chamber 54 described later, and one of the substantially L shapes is disposed along the inner wall of the inner tube 51. The other is extended outside the reaction tube 50 through the nozzle through hole 91 c of the cap 91. A reaction tube 50 is provided on the other side of the gas introduction nozzle 60.
Is connected to and communicates with a source gas supply device (not shown) provided outside the container. On one side, a not-shown pore (not shown) for supplying the source gas delivered from the source gas supply device into the inner tube 51. JP-A-2000-3118
62 is disclosed. Further, a substantially rectangular plate member 6 which comes into contact with a nozzle position adjusting means 100 described later is provided at the lower end on the other side of the gas introduction nozzle 60.
1 is provided integrally by, for example, welding.

Subsequently, the gate 70 is configured to move vertically by an elevator (not shown) in the vertical direction (vertical direction in FIG. 4), and the outer peripheral portion of the gate 70 is substantially the same as the shape of the lower end portion of the cap 91. Molded into a shape.
For this reason, by closing the gate 70 with the lower end of the cap 91, a closed internal space (hereinafter, referred to as “reaction chamber”) 54 inside the inner tube 51 is formed. Here, a boat 80 holding a wafer group is erected on the gate 70 as described above.
By raising 0 with the boat 80 by an elevator, a group of wafers is carried into the reaction chamber 54 from the furnace port 51a, and a film forming process is performed on each wafer.

Here, as described above, the gas introduction nozzle 6
The raw material gas is supplied into the inner tube 51 from the pore 0, but the positional relationship between the pore and each of the loaded wafers (for example, the pore is not located corresponding to the interval between adjacent wafers. Depending on the position where the raw material gas is not ejected toward the space between the fine holes), the raw material gas may not flow evenly on each wafer, and this may result in a non-uniform CVD reaction on each wafer. was there. For this reason, the substrate processing apparatus is provided with nozzle position adjusting means 100 for adjusting the position of the gas introduction nozzle 60 in the vertical direction (vertical direction in FIG. 4). The nozzle position adjusting means 100 adjusts the position of the pores. By doing so, the inconvenience described above is sought to be improved. Hereinafter, the nozzle position adjusting means 100 will be described with reference to FIGS.

The nozzle position adjusting means 100 includes an annular fixing ring 101 provided below the gas introducing nozzle 60 and opposed to the lower surface (the lower surface shown in FIG. 6) of the seal flange 93. An adjusting screw 102 for adjusting the position of the fixing ring 101 in the vertical direction, and a nut 1 for fixing the position of the fixing ring 101 adjusted by the adjusting screw 102
03.

Here, the inner diameter of the fixing ring 101 is set to be substantially equal to the inner diameter of the inner tube 51, and an axial through hole 10 for inserting the adjusting screw 102 is provided.
Three 1a are formed in the circumferential direction at substantially equal intervals corresponding to the female screw portions 93b of the seal flange 93. The adjusting screw 102 is provided with a disk-shaped head at one end of the screw part. When the fixing ring 101 is installed in the substrate processing apparatus as described later, the fixing ring 10 is fixed by the head.
1 is supported.

In this case, the fixing ring 101 is inserted into the through hole 101a of the fixing ring 102 from below, and the adjusting screw 102 is screwed into the female screw portion 93b of the seal flange 93, thereby causing the fixing ring 101 to engage with the seal flange 93. It is held at intervals. The nut 103 described above is screwed into the screw portion of the adjusting screw 102 between the seal flange 93 and the fixing ring 101.
03 to the seal flange 93 side,
The position of the fixing ring 101 is fixed.

Here, as shown in FIG. 6, each gas introducing nozzle 60 is connected to the fixing ring 1 via the above-described plate member 61.
The adjustment screw 102 is mounted on the upper surface of the fixing ring 101, and is moved in the vertical direction together with the fixing ring 101 by turning each adjustment screw 102 left or right to adjust the position of the pore. When the positioning of each gas introduction nozzle 60 is completed in this way, each nut 1
03 to the seal flange 93 side to fix the fixing ring 1
01 is fixed at that position, and the position adjustment of each gas introduction nozzle 60 ends.

[0019]

However, when adjusting the vertical position of the five gas introducing nozzles 60, the nozzle position adjusting means 100 in the above-mentioned conventional example rotates the three adjusting screws 102 one by one. One fixing ring 10
1 is moved up and down at the same time, the fixing ring 101 is tilted at that time, and the gas introduction nozzle 60 is also tilted accordingly. For this reason, there has been a disadvantage that the tip of the gas introduction nozzle 60 placed on the fixing ring 101 comes into contact with the inner tube 51. In the worst case, the tip of the gas introduction nozzle 60 may be damaged. In addition, there is an inconvenience that particles are generated and adhere to the wafer, thereby contaminating the wafer.

An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus capable of improving the disadvantages of the conventional example and effectively preventing damage to the gas introduction nozzle and contamination of the wafer when adjusting the position of the gas introduction nozzle. And

[0021]

In order to achieve the above object,
According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus having a reaction tube forming a processing space for a loaded wafer, and a plurality of gas introduction nozzles standing in the reaction tube and supplying a raw material gas to the wafer. Nozzle position adjusting means for independently reciprocating each gas introduction nozzle in the longitudinal direction of the reaction tube is provided.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 4, the substrate processing apparatus according to the present embodiment has an inner tube 51 into which a wafer to be processed is loaded and a space provided between the inner tube 51 as in the conventional example described above. A vertical reaction tube 50 having a covered outer tube 52; and a gas introduction nozzle 60 for introducing a raw material gas into the inner tube 51.
A gate 70 for closing the lower end opening of the reaction tube 50;
A boat 80 erected on the gate 70 and holding a group of wafers (not shown), and a closing means 9 for closing between the open ends of the inner tube 51 and the outer tube 52.
0 and a nozzle position adjusting means 10 for adjusting the vertical position of the gas introduction nozzle 60. Note that, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG.
Although four 0s are provided, the number is not necessarily limited.

Here, the substrate processing apparatus of the present embodiment is a modification of the above-described conventional substrate processing apparatus in which the nozzle position adjusting means 100 is changed, and the other components are provided in the same manner as the conventional example. It is. For this reason, the nozzle position adjusting means 10 will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. The same reference numerals as those of the conventional example in the reference numerals shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 denote the same components as those of the conventional example.

The nozzle position adjusting means 10 of the present embodiment comprises:
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an annular fixing ring 11 disposed opposite to the lower surface (the lower surface shown in FIG. 2) of the sealing flange 93 of the closing means 90, and the fixing ring 11. And a ring fixing screw 13 for screwing the fixing ring 11 to the seal flange 93 below each gas introducing nozzle 60.

The inner diameter of the above-described fixing ring 11 is set to be substantially equal to the inner diameter of the inner tube 51, similarly to the above-described conventional fixing ring 101. The fixing ring 11 has female threads 93 of the seal flange 93.
b, three axially formed through holes 11a formed in the circumferential direction at substantially equal intervals (only one is shown in the figure, and the other is not shown), and substantially the same central axis of each through hole 11a. And a cylindrical body 11b erected on the upper side.

Further, a recess 11c corresponding to the shape of a head 12b of an adjustment screw 12 described later is formed on the upper surface of the fixing ring 11 and below the four gas introduction nozzles 60.
Are formed, and a female screw portion 11d that penetrates in a substantially central axis direction for screwing the adjusting screw 12 is formed in each formed portion of the concave portion 11c. Here, the concave portion 11c of this embodiment has a depth equal to or less than the thickness of the head portion 12b of the adjusting screw 12, and is fixed so that the head portion 12b fits when the adjusting screw 12 is tightened. The ring 11 is cut from the inner shell to the outer shell. In this case, the concave portion 11c is not necessarily limited to the shape of the present embodiment. When the fixing ring 11 is formed, the fixing ring 11 may be integrally formed using, for example, a mold.

The fixing ring 11 formed as described above is
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the ring fixing screw 13 is inserted through the through hole 11 a of the fixing ring 11 and the cylindrical body 11 b from below, and is screwed into the female screw portion 93 b of the seal flange 93. It is fixed to the flange 93.

Here, the cylinder 11 provided on the fixing ring 11
b, the axial length thereof is set to be longer than the sum of the diameter of the gas introduction nozzle 60 and the plate thickness of the plate member 61, and the difference between the length of the cylindrical body 11b and the sum thereof is determined by the gas introduction nozzle. The position adjustment width is 60. Thus, the cylindrical body 11b
Since the difference between the length and the sum corresponds to the position adjustment width of the gas introduction nozzle 60, the position of the pores of the gas introduction nozzle 60 can be adjusted more effectively by increasing the difference, for example. .

As shown in FIG. 3, the adjusting screw 12 has a one-character cut 12 at one end of the screw portion.
While a is formed, a disk-shaped head 12b is formed at the other end, and is screwed into a female screw portion 11d described below from the upper surface of the fixing ring 11 and provided in the substrate processing apparatus.

Next, a method of adjusting the gas introduction nozzle 60 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the initial state is a state in which the adjusting screw 12 is screwed into the concave portion 11c of the fixing ring 11 and the gas introduction nozzle 60 is mounted on the upper surface of the fixing ring 11 via the plate member 61. And In the present embodiment, the description will be made assuming that the adjustment screw 12 for the right screw is used. Therefore, when the adjustment screw 12 of the left screw is applied, the directions of the arrows shown in FIG.

The position of the gas introduction nozzle 60 is adjusted by using a flathead screwdriver shown in FIG.
And turning it in the direction of arrow R shown in FIG.
To rise. Then, the head 12b of the adjusting screw 12 is brought into contact with the plate member 61, and the gas introduction nozzle 60 is raised in the direction of the arrow U to perform the operation. Here, the position at the time of the adjustment may be confirmed by, for example, visually checking the interval between the upper surface of the fixing ring 11 and the lower surface of the plate member 61 and adjusting the interval.

Such position adjustment is performed individually at each gas introduction nozzle 60. For this reason, at the time of the position adjustment, it is possible to prevent the gas introduction nozzle 60 from tilting as in the conventional example, and it is possible to prevent the tip of the gas introduction nozzle 60 from contacting the inner tube 51.
Thus, damage to the tip of the gas introduction nozzle 60 and contamination of the wafer can be effectively prevented.

The notch 12a of the adjusting screw 12 is not necessarily limited to a single character as in this embodiment. For example, when a cross shape is formed as the cut 12a, the position may be adjusted using a Phillips screwdriver.

The gas introduction nozzle 60 whose position has been adjusted as described above is fixed by an adapter 62 shown in FIG. Specifically, the gas introduction nozzle 60 is inserted through an O-ring provided in the adapter 62, and is fixed by the O-ring.

[0036]

The substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a nozzle position adjusting means capable of independently reciprocating a plurality of gas introduction nozzles, so that the inclination of the gas introduction nozzle as in the conventional example can be reduced. Thus, it is possible to obtain an unprecedented excellent substrate processing apparatus capable of effectively preventing breakage of the gas introduction nozzle and contamination of the wafer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention, in which an outer tube of a reaction tube is removed and a part of an inner tube is cut away, and the inside of the inner tube and a nozzle position; FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an adjusting unit.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view for explaining a nozzle position adjusting means of the present embodiment, and is a partial cross-sectional view of a furnace port as viewed from a side of the substrate processing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing a portion A in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view of the substrate processing apparatus as viewed from a side.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state in which an outer tube of a reaction tube has been removed and a part of an inner tube has been cut away in a conventional substrate processing apparatus, and an explanation of the inside of the inner tube and a nozzle position adjusting means; FIG.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view for explaining a conventional nozzle position adjusting means, and is a partial cross-sectional view of a furnace port as viewed from a side surface of the substrate processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 nozzle position adjusting means 50 reaction tube 60 gas introduction nozzle

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Kiyohiko Maeda 3-14-20 Higashinakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo F-term in Hitachi Kokusai Electric Co., Ltd. 4K030 BA38 BA42 CA12 EA06 KA45 5F045 AA03 AA20 BB20 DP19 DQ05 EC07

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a reaction tube that forms a processing space for a loaded wafer; and a plurality of gas introduction nozzles that stand inside the reaction tube and supply a source gas to the wafer. A substrate processing apparatus comprising a nozzle position adjusting means for independently reciprocating each of the gas introduction nozzles in a longitudinal direction of the reaction tube.