Fluid sprinkling – spraying – and diffusing – Processes
Reexamination Certificate
2001-01-03
2002-11-05
Yuen, Henry C. (Department: 3752)
Fluid sprinkling, spraying, and diffusing
Processes
C239S587100, C239S587200, C239S587300
Reexamination Certificate
active
06474562
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a gas injector having a gas injection nozzle for forming a reactive deposition film, which is used in manufacture of semiconductor circuit substrates such as ICs and LSIs, and to a gas injection direction adjusting method using such a gas injector.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventionally known is a semiconductor manufacturing device having the structure as shown in
FIG. 13
for forming a reactive deposition film on wafers
51
as semiconductor substrates. The semiconductor manufacturing device as shown in
FIG. 13
includes a quartz bell jar
52
of a hollow vessel, a susceptor
53
, and a pair of reaction gas injection nozzles
54
. The susceptor
53
is a wafer holder in the form of a polygonal pillar which is detachably stored in and coaxial with the quartz bell jar
52
.
The reaction gas injection nozzles
54
are provided on the upper portion of the quartz bell jar
52
. The reaction gas injection nozzles
54
are provided to inject reaction gas, for example, such as hydrogen gas or silan gas while controlling pressure (e.g., at 25 PSI (pounds per square inch)) and flow rate. The injected reaction gas circulates inside the quartz bell jar
52
to allow a reactive deposition film to grow on the surface of the wafers
51
and flows towards a vent
52
a
provided on the lower portion of the quartz bell jar
52
. The susceptor
53
is arranged to also rotate about the axis. This allows the reactive deposition film to have an even thickness with respect to the wafers
51
held on the susceptor
53
.
In the semiconductor manufacturing device having the foregoing arrangement, in the event where jet flows of the reaction gas injected from the pair of reaction gas injection nozzles
54
are not aligned in direction or angle, the density of the gas flows inside the quartz bell jar
52
will not be uniform, and the reactive deposition film formed on the wafers
51
comes to have uneven film thickness. In order to solve this problem, the direction or angle of the reaction gas injection nozzles
54
needs to be adjusted.
The following explains how the reaction gas injection nozzles
54
were fastened and adjusted conventionally based on FIG.
14
(
a
) through FIG.
14
(
c
).
First, the fastening procedure will be explained referring to FIG.
14
(
a
). A nozzle case
61
is fixed on a fastening screw
52
c
formed on each inner wall of a pair of gas supply openings
52
b
which are provided on the upper portion of the quartz bell jar
52
. To the nozzle case
61
are attached a nozzle
62
and a nozzle retainer
64
. The nozzle
62
is temporarily fixed in place with a nozzle fixing screw
64
a.
Here, a spherical portion
62
a
at the rear end of the nozzle
62
is held between a ring-shaped front end of the nozzle case
61
and the front end of the nozzle retainer
64
and is slidable. This allows the front end of the nozzle
62
to be adjusted at any angle in the horizontal and vertical directions by the sliding spherical portion
62
a.
The following describes how the injection angle is adjusted in the reaction gas injection nozzle
54
. First, as shown in
FIG. 13
, a direction indicator board
65
is placed at a predetermined position in the injection direction of the reaction gas at the upper portion of the quartz bell jar
52
. Then, a nozzle direction indicator rod
66
(FIG.
14
(
b
)) is inserted into a gas injection opening
62
b
of the nozzle
62
(FIG.
14
(
a
)). Thereafter, the tip of the nozzle direction indicator rod
66
is adjusted to point
0
(target direction) on the center of the direction indicator board
65
by changing the direction of the nozzle
62
. The nozzle fixing screw
64
a
is then tightened from the side of a gas supply joint section
68
on the side of the base end to fix the adjusted direction or angle of the nozzle
62
.
Here, the spherical portion
62
a
of the nozzle
62
is fixed by the front end of the nozzle case
61
and the front end of the nozzle retainer
64
by the pressure of the screwed nozzle fixing screw
64
a.
As a result, the spherical portion
62
a
becomes unslidable. Thereafter, the nozzle direction indicator rod
66
is removed from the nozzle
62
, and the direction indicator board
65
is removed from the quartz bell jar
52
.
Then, as shown in FIG.
14
(
c
), the gas supply joint section
68
is connected to the nozzle case
61
so as to seal the quartz bell jar
52
. Afterwards, the connected portion of the nozzle case
61
and the gas supply joint section
68
is checked for gas leakage while reducing pressure inside the quartz bell jar
52
using a vacuum pump. Then, the gas and wafers
51
are fed to start forming the reactive deposition film on the wafers
51
.
However, the foregoing prior art has the problem of low productivity in formation of the reactive deposition film on the wafers
51
.
That is, in the foregoing prior art, the nozzle
62
is fixed after adjusting the direction or angle of the nozzle
62
by once loosening the nozzle fixing screw
64
a,
which necessitates tightening the nozzle fixing screw
64
a
from the gas supply side.
Therefore, the foregoing prior art required unfastening and fastening of the gas supply joint section
68
before and after adjustment, respectively. That is, there were additional operations of fastening the nozzle
62
, attaching or detaching the gas supply joint section
68
to adjust the nozzle direction, and checking for gas leakage at the connected portion of the nozzle case
61
and the gas supply joint section
68
. As a result, productivity suffered.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a gas injector which can improve productivity without requiring the conventionally required additional operations, and to provide an adjusting method thereof.
In order to achieve this object, a gas injector in accordance with the present invention includes: a nozzle main body having on its front end portion a nozzle for injecting gas; and a nozzle main body supporting section for supporting the nozzle main body, wherein the nozzle main body includes first and second members, and displacing means for changing relative positions of the first and second members, and fixed state/unfixed state of the nozzle main body with respect to the nozzle main body supporting section is switched by a change in relative positions of the first and second members by the displacing means, and injection direction of the gas from the nozzle is changed by changing a disposition direction of the nozzle main body in an unfixed state.
In this arrangement, the nozzle main body having the nozzle on its front end portion is supported by the nozzle main body supporting section. Further, the fixed state/unfixed state of the nozzle main body with respect to the nozzle main body supporting section is switched by changing relative positions of the first and second members by the displacing means. By the nozzle main body switched to the unfixed state, the disposition direction of the nozzle main body is changed, thereby changing the gas injection direction.
Thus, the gas injection direction can easily be changed by switching the nozzle main body to the unfixed state, and the adjusted gas injection direction can be fixed by switching the nozzle main body to the fixed state after the adjustment.
Switching of the nozzle main body to the fixed state/unfixed state is carried out by the displacing means of the nozzle main body.
Thus, compared with, for example, the arrangement of the foregoing prior art which requires adjusting the nozzle fixing screw and the like from the gas supply side, the gas injection direction can be adjusted more easily and quickly.
Further, it is possible to omit additional operations, such as checking for gas leakage, which were required when adjusting the nozzle fixing screw and the like from the gas supply side, thus improving productivity.
Further, in order to achieve the foregoing object, a gas injection direction adjusting method in accordance with the present invention is for a gas injector whic
Fujita Mitsuhiro
Harada Hiromitsu
Imanaka Yasuo
Miyaki Yukio
Hwu Davis
Nixon & Vanderhye P.C.
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
Yuen Henry C.
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