Heat processing method and apparatus for semiconductor process

A heat processing method for forming an oxide film in a semiconductor process, the method comprising:

• placing a plurality of target substrates stacked at intervals in a vertical direction within a process field of a process container, each of the target substrates including a process object layer on its surface;
• supplying an oxidizing gas and a deoxidizing gas to the process field while heating the process field, thereby causing the oxidizing gas and the deoxidizing gas to react with each other to generate oxygen radicals and hydroxyl group radicals, and performing oxidation on the process object layer of the target substrates by use of the oxygen radicals and the hydroxyl group radicals;
• heating the process object layer processed by the oxidation, within an atmosphere of a nitriding gas, thereby performing nitridation on the process object layer;
• and
• heating the process object layer processed by the nitridation, within an atmosphere of annealing gas comprising ozone or oxidizing radicals, thereby performing annealing on the process object layer,
• wherein the oxidizing gas comprises one or more gases selected from the group consisting of O2, N2O, NO, NO2, and O3, and the deoxidizing gas comprises one or more gases selected from the group consisting of H2, NH3, CH4, HCl, and deuterium, and
• wherein the oxidation is arranged to use a process temperature of 500 to 1,200° C. and a process pressure of 0.02 Torr (2.7 Pa) to 3.0 Torr (400 Pa).

A computer readable medium containing program instructions for execution on a processor, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the processor, control a heat processing apparatus for a semiconductor process to conduct a heat processing method comprising:

• placing a plurality of target substrates stacked at intervals in a vertical direction within a process field of a process container, each of the target substrates including a process object layer on its surface;
• supplying an oxidizing gas and a deoxidizing gas to the process field while heating the process field, thereby causing the oxidizing gas and the deoxidizing gas to react with each other to generate oxygen radicals and hydroxyl group radicals, and performing oxidation on the process object layer of the target substrates by use of the oxygen radicals and the hydroxyl group radicals;
• and
• supplying an annealing gas comprising ozone or oxidizing radicals to the process field while heating the process field, to heat the process object layer processed by the oxidation, within an atmosphere of the annealing gas, thereby performing annealing on the process object layer,
• wherein, after the oxidation and before the annealing, the method further comprises supplying a nitriding gas to the process field while heating the process field, to heat the process object layer processed by the oxidation, within an atmosphere of the nitriding gas, thereby performing nitridation on the process object layer.