Epitaxial growth method

An epitaxial growth method for growing an epitaxial film on a surface of a semiconductor wafer by mounting the semiconductor wafer within a pocket of a susceptor, the susceptor comprising a substantially circular bottom wall having an upper surface and a lower surface that forms a back surface of the susceptor and a sidewall encompassing the bottom wall to form a pocket for mounting the semiconductor wafer, wherein a plurality of through-holes that pass through said bottom wall and form circular or polygonal openings in the upper surface and the lower surface of said bottom wall, each of the through-holes having a linear axis extending from the upper surface to the lower surface of said bottom wall, are provided in the bottom wall within a region of up to approximately half the radius of the bottom wall from the outer periphery to the center, in a radial direction, with the through-holes being included within at least the region of the bottom wall on which the semiconductor wafer is mounted;

• and the opening surface area of each through-hole is taken to be between 0.2 to 3.2 mm2, and the density of the through-holes is taken to be between 0.25 to 25 per cm2;
• flowing source gas and a first carrier gas on an upper surface side of the susceptor;
• and flowing a second carrier as on a lower surface side of the susceptor to create a negative pressure on the lower side of the susceptor and cause a part of the source gas flowing on the upper surface side of the susceptor to flow down to the lower side of the susceptor via the through-holes.