Semiconductor substrate boat and methods of using the same
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsTung-Huang CHEN, Chi-Hao KUNG, Yen-Yu CHEN
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Abstract
A substrate boat for use in heat treatment of semiconductor wafers includes support rods and fingers for supporting a substrate in a horizontal orientation in process tools, e.g., furnaces. The substrate is supported in the substrate boat by groups of fingers lying in a common horizontal plane. The fingers contact the substrate at support locations on the back side of the substrate. The fingers have a plurality of different shapes and a substrate surface no contact region.
Claims20
A method of processing a substrate, comprising:
- supporting a substrate having a front side and a backside in a substrate boat including:
- a top plate;
- a bottom plate;
- and
- a plurality of boat rods extending between the top plate and the bottom plate, each of the plurality of boat rods including a finger, the finger including an underside surface, a substrate contact surface, which, in operation, contacts the backside of the substrate, and a substrate no-contact region overlapped by the substrate, wherein a surface area of the substrate contact surface is less than a sum of an area of the substrate no-contact region and the surface area of the substrate contact surface,
- forming a film on the backside of the substrate;
- and
- patterning a front side of the substrate.
A substrate boat, comprising:
- a top plate;
- a bottom plate;
- and
- a plurality of boat rods extending between the top plate and the bottom plate, each of the plurality of boat rods including a finger, the finger including an underside surface, a plurality of substrate contact surfaces, which, in operation, contact a backside of a substrate, and one or more substrate no-contact regions overlapped by the substrate and located between adjacent ones of the plurality of substrate contact surfaces.
A thermal processing system, comprising:
- a substrate boat including:
- a top plate;
- a bottom plate;
- and
- a plurality of boat rods extending between the top plate and the bottom plate, each of the plurality of boat rods including a finger, the finger including an underside surface, a substrate contact surface, which, in operation, contacts a backside of a substrate, and a substrate no-contact region overlapped by the substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.