Electric heating – Heating devices – With power supply and voltage or current regulation or...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-31
2001-12-11
Paik, Sang (Department: 3742)
Electric heating
Heating devices
With power supply and voltage or current regulation or...
C432S241000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06329643
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 11-248912, filed Sep. 2, 1999, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method of temperature-calibrating a second heat treating apparatus based on a heat treatment result obtained by a first heat treating apparatus for reference in a semiconductor process. The term “semiconductor process” used herein includes various kinds of processes which are performed to manufacture a semiconductor device or a structure having wiring layers, electrodes, and the like to be connected to a semiconductor device, on a target substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer or an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) substrate, by forming semiconductor layers, insulating layers, and conductive layers in predetermined patterns on the target substrate.
In the semiconductor process, a vertical heat treating apparatus is known as a batch type process apparatus that permits applying heat treatments such as a film forming process, an oxidizing process and a diffusion process to a number of semiconductor wafers at a time. The vertical heat treatment apparatus is used such that a number of wafers are arrayed and held with a gap therebetween in a vertical direction in a holder called a wafer boat, and then the holder is loaded into a vertical heat treating chamber and a heat treatment such as an oxidizing process is performed.
For subjecting a wafer to a heat treatment, it is necessary to control accurately the wafer temperature. For example, where an oxide film is formed on a wafer by an oxidizing process, the temperature of the wafer influences the thickness of the formed oxide film. Therefore, it is necessary to calibrate the temperature controller of the heater with a high accuracy.
Conventionally, a wafer equipped with a thermocouple is placed in a process chamber of a heat treating apparatus, in which the temperature is to be calibrated, so as to measure the wafer temperature and to perform the calibration on the basis of the measured value and the value indicated by a temperature controller. In a vertical heat treating apparatus disclosed in, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 3-145121, the temperature control of the heat treating apparatus is performed on the basis of the relationship among the temperature of a wafer equipped with a thermocouple, the temperature within a process chamber, and the temperature of a heater. However, if the wafer equipped with the thermocouple is put in the heat treating chamber, the metals forming the thermocouple are scattered within the heat treating chamber so as to be attached to the heat treating chamber. The attached metals tend to be attached to a wafer to be processed (target wafer) so as to bring about contamination with the metals.
On the other hand, it is being studied to use in place of the thermocouple a radiation type thermometer, in which a radiant light radiated from a wafer is caught and is converted into an electric signal by a photoelectric element so as to measure the temperature of the wafer. In this case, the radiant light coming from portions other than the wafer is also incident on the light receiving section, thereby making it difficult to correct the thermal emissivity.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object or the present invention is to provide a method that makes it possible to temperature-calibrate a heat treating apparatus with a high accuracy with little possibility of contamination of a target object.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method of temperature-calibrating a second heat treating apparatus based on a heat treatment result obtained by a first heat treating apparatus for reference, the first heat treating apparatus comprising a first process chamber, a first heating unit for heating an inside of the first process chamber, and a first controller for setting a temperature of the first heating unit, the second heat treating apparatus comprising a second process chamber, a second heating unit for heating an inside of the second process chamber, and a second controller for setting a temperature of the second heating unit, the first and second process chambers being substantially equal to each other in construction and the first and second heating units being substantially equal to each other in construction, the method comprising:
a temperature measuring step of heating a measurement substrate for measuring temperature at a selected position within the first process chamber by the first heating unit, and obtaining a first set value of temperature of the first controller for converging a measured temperature of the measurement substrate to a target value of temperature;
a heat treating step on a primary side of forming a first thin film on a first substrate by heating the first substrate at the selected position within the first process chamber by the first heating unit while setting the first controller at the first set value of temperature, the first thin film being formed under a selected process pressure and selected process gas conditions that are selected such that a growth rate of the first thin film is changed as a function of temperature;
a heat treating step on a secondary side of forming a second thin film equal in material to the first thin film on a second substrate substantially equal in size and material to the first substrate under the selected process pressure and selected process gas conditions by heating the second substrate at a position, corresponding to the selected position, within the second process chamber by the second heating unit; and
a calibrating step of obtaining a second set value of temperature of the second controller at the time when a thickness of the first thin film and a thickness of the second thin film are made equal to each other, and temperature-calibrating the second heat treating apparatus based on an assumption that the target value of temperature is obtained at the position, corresponding to the selected position, within the second process chamber at a time when a set temperature of the second controller is the second set value of temperature.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.
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patent: 3-145121 (1991-06-01), None
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Sakamoto Koichi
Suzuki Fujio
Wang Wenling
Yasuhara Moyuru
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
Paik Sang
Tokyo Electron Limited
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