Electric heating – Heating devices – Combined with container – enclosure – or support for material...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-29
2001-07-17
Walberg, Teresa (Department: 3742)
Electric heating
Heating devices
Combined with container, enclosure, or support for material...
C219S390000, C118S724000, C118S725000, C392S416000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06262397
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing apparatus of semiconductors, in particularly details to a heat treatment apparatus of substrates to be processed such as glass substrates for liquid crystal display devices (hereinafter a liquid crystal display device is referred to as a “LCD”) and silicon wafers (hereinafter a silicon wafer is simply referred to as a “wafer”).
2. Description of the Related Art
So far, in implementing heat treatment to substrates to be processed such as LCDs and wafers in the manufacturing process of semiconductors, on a susceptor regulated in advance at a prescribed temperature, the substrates are disposed to be heat-treated by an amount of heat supplied from the susceptor. At this time, due to the heat treatment temperatures at which the substrates are heated, quality and yield of semiconductor products are largely determined. Accordingly, the heat treatment temperatures, in specific, the temperatures of the susceptor must be regulated with great precision. Therefore, a temperature sensor is inserted into the susceptor to regulate, based on temperatures of the susceptor detected by the temperature sensor, on off and output of a heater. Thereby, the temperatures of the susceptor are supervised. As the temperature sensor, a thermocouple temperature sensor using thermocouple is generally used.
However, there are problems of accuracy and durability such that the thermocouple temperature sensor is poor in accuracy and drastically deteriorates due to the heat. Further, the existing thermocouple temperature sensor only indirectly detects the heat treatment temperatures of the substrate through the temperatures of the susceptor. Accordingly, there is an essential problem that the sensor can not directly detect the temperatures of the substrate itself.
To the ends, various propositions have been disclosed. For instance, Japanese Patent Laid-open Application (KOKAI) No. HEI 5-99752 discloses a method for measuring temperatures in which with an infrared radiation thermometer, temperatures of the substrate during transportation by transporting arm are detected. This method, however, detects only the temperatures of the substrate during transportation. Accordingly, there is a problem that this method can not detect the temperatures when heat-treating by the susceptor.
On the other hand, a method for detecting the temperatures of the substrate in a state being disposed to process is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Application (KOKAI) No. HEI 7-134069. In this method, in the neighborhood of the center of a susceptor, a penetrating hole is vertically bored with respect to a surface of the susceptor. At the lower side of the penetrating hole, a radiation thermometer is disposed to directly detect infrared rays radiated from the substrate. Thereby, the temperatures of the substrate are directly detected.
In this method, however, a tip of the radiation thermometer inserted from between the susceptor and heating lamps disposed thereunder is disposed in the neighborhood of an upper surface of the susceptor. Accordingly, the radiation thermometer has to be bent by an approximately right angle. In the publication of the above invention, a radiation thermometer jacketed in a cylindrical covering pipe is bent by an approximately right angle to use.
However, when the covering pipe is bent, the bent portion becomes thin, or becomes brittle. As a result of this, from this portion, the infrared rays tend to enter the covering pipe. Accordingly, there is a problem that the infrared radiation thermometer tends to gather heat rays generated from other than the substrate, such as infrared rays from heating lamps.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is made to solve the above problems.
That is, the object of the present invention is to provide a heat treatment apparatus that does not detect the heat other than that radiated from a substrate to be processed as noise, and can regulate temperatures of the substrate with high precision.
A heat treatment apparatus of the present invention comprises a susceptor for heating a substrate to be processed, a sensor insertion hole, a heat rays guide hole, a temperature sensor, a heater for heating the susceptor, and a regulator for regulating the heater. The sensor insertion hole is bored from a side surface of the susceptor toward a center portion thereof. The heat rays guide hole communicates an upper surface of the susceptor and a tip of the sensor insertion hole and guides the heat rays radiated from the substrate. The temperature sensor is inserted into the sensor insertion hole.
In the above heat treatment apparatus, the temperature sensor is preferable to be a radiation thermometer.
At a junction of the tip of the sensor insertion hole and the heat rays guide hole, it is preferable for a reflector to be formed 45° slanted with respect to the surface of the susceptor.
The reflector is preferable to have a surface of emissivity of 0.1 or less.
Just below the heat rays guide hole, the tip of the temperature sensor may be disposed.
Another heat treatment apparatus of the present invention comprises a susceptor, a first sensor insertion hole, a heat rays guide hole, a first temperature sensor, a second sensor insertion hole, a second temperature sensor, a heater for heating the susceptor, and a regulator for regulating the heater. The susceptor heats a substrate to be processed. The first sensor insertion hole is bored from a side surface of the susceptor toward a center portion thereof. The heat rays guide hole communicates an upper surface of the susceptor and a tip of the first sensor insertion hole, and guides the heat rays from the substrate. The first temperature sensor is inserted into the first sensor insertion hole. The second sensor insertion hole is bored from a side surface of the susceptor toward a center portion thereof, and has the tip thereof on the same circle with the heat rays guide hole.
In the above heat treatment apparatus, the first temperature sensor is preferable to be a radiation thermometer.
The second temperature sensor may be a radiation thermometer or a thermocouple temperature sensor.
A still another heat treatment apparatus of the present invention comprises a susceptor, a sensor insertion hole, a heat rays guide hole, a radiation thermometer, heaters for heating the susceptor, a temperature estimation means, and a regulator for regulating the heaters. The susceptor heats a substrate to be processed. The sensor insertion hole is bored from a side surface of the apparatus toward a center portion thereof. The heat rays guide hole communicates an upper surface of the susceptor and a tip of the sensor insertion hole and guides heat rays radiated from the substrate. The radiation thermometer is inserted into the sensor insertion hole. The temperature estimation means estimate temperatures of each portion of the susceptor based on temperatures detected by the radiation thermometer. The regulator regulates the heaters based on the detected temperatures and the estimated temperatures.
In a heat treatment method of the present invention, heat rays radiated from a substrate to be processed is introduced into a heat rays guide hole disposed on a surface of a susceptor. Then, the heat rays is reflected toward a sensor insertion hole that is communicated with a bottom of the heat rays guide hole. Thereby, a temperature sensor that is inserted into the sensor insertion hole detects the heat rays. Based on the detected temperatures, heaters for heating the susceptor are regulated.
In another heat treatment method of the present invention, heat rays radiated from a substrate to be processed is guided into a heat rays guide hole disposed on a surface of a susceptor. Then, the heat rays are reflected toward a first sensor insertion hole communicated with a bottom of the heat rays guide hole. Thereby, a first temperature sensor that is inserted into the first sensor insertion hole detects the heat rays. Meanwhile, among the heat rays supplied from heat
Fuqua Shawntina
Pillsbury & Winthrop LLP
Tokyo Electron Ltd.
Walberg Teresa
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