Method for the heat treatment of substrates
AssigneeASM International N.V.
InventorsErnst H. A. Granneman, Vladimir I. Kuznetsov, Xavier Pagès, Pascal G. Vermont
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A substrate undergoes a semiconductor fabrication process at different temperatures in a reactor without changing the temperature of the reactor. The substrate is held suspended by flowing gas between two heated surfaces of the reactor. Moving the two heated surfaces in close proximity with the substrate for a particular time duration heats the substrate to a desired temperature. The desired temperature is then maintained by distancing the heated surfaces from the substrate and holding the heated surface at the increased distance to minimize further substrate heating.
Claims51
A method for the thermal treatment of a planar substrate, comprising:
- providing a reactor having one or more furnace bodies, the one or more furnace bodies each having a substantially flat boundary surface;
- heating the one or more furnace bodies to a predetermined furnace body temperature;
- placing the substrate adjacent to and essentially parallel to the one or more furnace bodies such that a planar surface of the substrate faces the boundary surface of each of the one or more furnace bodies;
- keeping the substrate adjacent to the boundary surface of each of the one or more furnace bodies during a heat-up time to allow the substrate to heat up to a substrate temperature, wherein the substrate temperature is less than the furnace body temperature of each of the one or more furnace bodies by about 20° C. or more;
- and
- subsequently removing the substrate from the reactor while the substrate temperature is still less than the furnace body temperature of each of the one or more furnace bodies by about 20° C. or more.
A method for thermally treating a substrate, comprising:
- providing a first heated surface at a first temperature and a second heated surface at a second temperature, the first heated surface positioned facing the second heated surface;
- providing a substrate between the first and the second heated surfaces;
- heating the substrate to a desired substrate temperature less than the first and the second temperatures;
- reducing a transference of heat between the substrate and the first and the second surfaces after heating the substrate to the desired substrate temperature, wherein a set-point temperature for the first surface and a set-point temperature for the second surface is not reduced;
- and
- performing a semiconductor fabrication process while maintaining the substrate between the first and the second heated surfaces after reducing the transference of heat.
A method for semiconductor processing, comprising:
- conductively heating a first thermal treatment substrate in a reactor to a first thermal treatment temperature by positioning the first thermal treatment substrate in close proximity to a heated reactor surface;
- substantially maintaining the first thermal treatment substrate at the first thermal treatment temperature for a first holding period in the reactor, wherein the first thermal treatment temperature is less than a temperature of the heated surface;
- conductively heating a second thermal treatment substrate in the reactor to a second temperature higher than the first thermal treatment temperature by positioning the second thermal treatment substrate in close proximity to the heated reactor surface;
- and
- substantially maintaining the second thermal treatment substrate at about the second temperature for a second holding period in the reactor,
- wherein the reactor is configured to conductively heat only one substrate at a time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.