JPH04372117A - Vapor growth apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a title apparatus which can improve the productivity of epitaxial wafers and suppress an increase in the height of the apparatus. CONSTITUTION:A bottom opening of a chamber 1 is closed airtight with a turn table 2. The inside of the chamber 1 is partitioned airtight into a reactor prechamber 5 and a wafer load chamber 6 by an in-chamber partitioning gate valve 4 which crosses diametrically through the center. Two areas of the turn table 2 corresponding to the reactor prechamber 5 and the wafer load chamber 6 are provided with a first operation shaft 8 and a second operation shaft 9, respectively, passing through the turn table 2 airtight so as to rise, fall, and rotate. The first operation shaft 8 and the second operation shaft 9 are tipped with a first susceptor 14 and a second susceptor 15, respectively. A reactor 25 is installed by airtight coupling to the top of the corresponding chamber 1 on the top of the reactor prechamber 5.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vapor phase growth apparatus that can handle mass production.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art The MOCVD method for producing epitaxial wafers by forming a thin film on a GaAs or InP wafer has moved from the research stage to the mass production stage, and productivity and yield have become problems. In order to improve this, it is necessary to produce a large number of epitaxial wafers at one time using larger equipment.

[0003] In the MOCVD method, a carbon susceptor is mainly provided in a glass reactor, and a large number of substrates are placed on this susceptor. Inside the reactor, AsH3 (arsine), PH3 (phosphine) or Ga(CH3)3 (trimethylgallium, T
MG), In(CH3)3 (trimethylindium) is flowed to perform epitaxial growth on the wafer. The gas after growth is exhausted from the exhaust ring through piping.

0004

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In such a conventional vapor phase growth apparatus, the time required for one growth is 2 to 4 hours, although it varies depending on the film thickness. In this case, it actually purges,
Since processes such as baking, temperature raising, temperature lowering, and purging are performed before and after the growth process, the total working time is 3 to 5 hours. Furthermore, when work such as setting the wafer, raising and lowering the susceptor, and checking safety is involved, only one growth can be performed within one worker shift. For this reason, conventional vapor phase growth apparatuses have had the problem of not increasing productivity.

In addition, conventional vapor phase growth apparatuses have barrel-type susceptors for growing 2 inch x 9 wafers, 3 inch x 12 wafers, etc., and the loading and unloading operations of wafers are carried out in the reactor front chamber below the reactor. If this is attempted, it is necessary to increase the height of the reactor front chamber, making the apparatus increasingly large. In this case, the clean room is 3 meters from the floor to the ceiling and has a 1 meter space under the floor. It is normally not possible to reach a height higher than this. As described above, the conventional apparatus has a problem in that the height is high and the workability of wafer exchange is poor.

An object of the present invention is to provide a vapor phase growth apparatus that can improve the productivity of epitaxial wafers and suppress increases in the height of the apparatus.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] To explain the structure of the present invention to achieve the above object, the vapor phase growth apparatus according to the present invention includes a chamber, a turntable for closing an opening of the chamber, and a turntable for closing an opening of the chamber. a gate valve for partitioning the inside of the chamber into a reactor front chamber and a wafer load chamber; a first operating shaft and a second operating shaft that hermetically penetrate respective regions of the turntable corresponding to the reactor front chamber and the wafer load chamber; two operating shafts; a first susceptor and a second susceptor provided at each tip of the first operating shaft and the second operating shaft;
A susceptor, a reactor that is airtightly connected to and installed in a portion of the chamber corresponding to the reactor front chamber and communicates with the reactor front chamber, and a reactor entrance/exit partition that partitions between the reactor and the reactor front chamber. It is characterized by being equipped with a gate valve.

[0008]

[Operation] In such an apparatus, while vapor phase growth is being performed in the reactor, the wafer is attached to and detached from another susceptor in the wafer loading chamber. Therefore, the vapor phase growth operation within the reactor and the loading and unloading operations of the wafer to the susceptor can be performed in parallel.
The overall working time can be shortened.

Since the wafer loading chamber is installed next to the reactor front chamber, the height of the wafer loading chamber alone can be adjusted to a height convenient for loading and unloading operations without increasing the height of the entire device. can do.

0010

Embodiment FIGS. 1 and 2 show an embodiment of a vapor phase growth apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the vapor phase growth apparatus of this embodiment has a chamber 1 whose peripheral wall is cylindrical.
has. A lower opening of the chamber 1 is hermetically closed by a turntable 2. The turntable 2 is rotatably driven by a rotating shaft 3. The inside of the chamber 1 is divided into a reactor front chamber 5 by a gate valve 4 for partitioning the chamber diametrically across the center of the chamber 1.
and a wafer load chamber 6. A valve operating device 7 such as an air cylinder for operating the gate valve 4 is provided outside the chamber 1 .

Two areas of the turntable 2 corresponding to the reactor front chamber 5 and the wafer loading chamber 6 are provided with a first operation shaft 8 and a first operation shaft that pass through the turntable 2 in an airtight manner so as to be able to rise and fall freely and rotatably. 2 operating shafts 9 are provided. These first operating shaft 8 and second operating shaft 9 are adapted to be moved up and down and rotated by means not shown. In addition, in order to airtightly seal the portions of the first operating shaft 8 and the second operating shaft 9 that pass through the turntable 2, the first operating shaft 8 and the second operating shaft 9 protrude downward from the turntable 2. Bellows tubes 10 and 11 are fitted into the portions. The upper ends of these bellows tubes 10 and 11 are connected to the turntable 2
is fixed airtight. In addition, these bellows pipes 10, 1
Rotary seals 12 and 13 are connected to the lower end of 1.

A first susceptor 14 made of carbon is attached to the tip of the first operating shaft 8. A second susceptor 15 made of carbon is attached to the tip of the second operating shaft 9. A predetermined number of wafers 16 are supported on the outer circumferences of these susceptors 14 and 15, respectively. Flow guides 17 and 18 are attached to the first operating shaft 8 and the second operating shaft 9 below each of the susceptors 14 and 15, respectively, for causing exhaust gas to flow toward an exhaust ring, which will be described later.

Doors 21 and 22 for opening and closing openings 19 and 20 are provided in the chamber 1 corresponding to the reactor front chamber 5 and the wafer loading chamber 6. The chamber 1 above the wafer load chamber 6 is provided with a lid 24 that opens and closes the opening 23 .

A reactor 2 made of quartz glass is airtightly connected above the chamber 1 corresponding to the upper part of the reactor front chamber 5.
5 is installed. A gas inlet 26 is provided at the top of the reactor 25, an exhaust ring 27 is provided at the bottom, and an exhaust pipe 28 is connected to the exhaust ring 27. In order to close the lower part of the reactor 25 when the susceptor 14 or 15 is present in the reactor front chamber 5, a gate valve 29 for partitioning the reactor entrance/exit is provided. A high frequency induction heating coil 30 is provided around the outer periphery of the reactor 25 to heat the wafer 16 by inductively heating the susceptor 14 or 15 raised into the reactor 25.

Next, the operation of such a vapor phase growth apparatus will be explained. With the reactor front chamber 5 and the wafer loading chamber 6 airtightly partitioned by the chamber partition gate valve 4, source gas is flowed into the reactor 25 from above, and the A thin film is grown in a vapor phase on a wafer 16 supported by a susceptor 14 and heated by a high-frequency induction heating coil 30. The gas after the reaction is guided by the flow guide 17 and then discharged from the exhaust pipe 28. When the vapor phase growth of the wafer 16 is completed, the reactor 25 and the reactor front chamber 5 are purged, and then the first susceptor 14 is lowered to the reactor front chamber 5, and the reactor entrance/exit partition gate valve 29 is closed.

On the other hand, on the wafer loading chamber 6 side, the door 22 is opened and the wafer 16 is loaded and unloaded onto the second susceptor 15 in parallel by an automatic machine (not shown).

With the doors 21 and 22 closed, the chamber partition gate valve 4 is opened, and with the chamber partition gate valve 4 retracted from the chamber 1, the turntable 2 is rotated, and the first Each susceptor is replaced by moving the susceptor 14 to the wafer load chamber 6 and moving the second susceptor 15 to the reactor front chamber 5. In this state, the chamber internal partition gate valve 4 is closed, and then the reactor entrance/exit partition gate valve 29 is closed.
open. In this state, the second susceptor 15 is connected to the reactor 2.
5, and vapor phase growth is performed on the wafer 16 on the susceptor 15 in the same manner as described above.

In parallel with this operation, each wafer 16 on the first susceptor 14 is checked once on the wafer loading chamber 6 side.
The pieces are processed one by one using an automatic machine and placed in a case. Next, a new wafer 16 is set on the first susceptor 14.

In this way, by taking out the wafer 16 after vapor phase growth and setting a new wafer 16 in the wafer loading chamber 6, the working time can be shortened.

When the vapor phase growth continues for about two weeks, the susceptors 14 and 15 are also contaminated by the reaction products. In that case, the lid 24 of the wafer load chamber 6 is opened, the susceptor 14 or 15 is taken out from the opening 23, and replaced with a new susceptor. Note that the susceptor can also be replaced using the opening 20.

This vapor phase growth apparatus can mass-produce epitaxial wafers with almost no human involvement if the chamber 1 is equipped with an automatic machine for loading and unloading.

[0022]Furthermore, by arranging the wafer loading chamber side by side with the reactor front chamber, it is possible to overcome the height limit of the equipment, which has conventionally been increased in size only in the vertical direction.

[0023]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the vapor phase growth apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a reactor front chamber at the entrance and exit of the reactor,
A wafer loading chamber is installed next to the reactor front chamber, and the susceptor can be moved back and forth between the reactor front chamber and the wafer loading chamber using a turntable, so that the susceptor can be moved back and forth between the reactor front chamber and the wafer load chamber, so that the susceptor can be moved back and forth between the reactor front chamber and the wafer load chamber. Additionally, the wafer can be attached to and removed from another susceptor on the wafer loading chamber side. Therefore, the vapor phase growth work in the reactor and the loading and unloading of wafers from the susceptor can be performed in parallel, reducing the overall work time and making the vapor phase growth work more efficient. Can be done.

Furthermore, in the present invention, since the wafer loading chamber is arranged side by side with the reactor front chamber, the height of the wafer loading chamber alone is convenient for loading and unloading operations without increasing the height of the entire apparatus. can be made to a good height.

Furthermore, the use of a turntable allows circular movement of the susceptor between the reactor front chamber and the wafer loading chamber while occupying the smallest possible footprint of the apparatus.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a vapor phase growth apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line XX in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

1...Chamber, 2...Turntable, 3...Rotating shaft, 4
...Chamber internal partition gate valve, 5...Reactor front chamber, 6...Wafer load chamber, 7...Valve operating device, 8...First
Operating shaft, 9... Second operating shaft, 10, 11... Bellows tube, 12,
13... Rotating seal, 14... First susceptor, 15... Second susceptor, 16... Wafer, 17, 18... Flow guide, 1
9, 20...Opening, 21, 22...Door, 23...Opening, 2
4...Lid, 25...Reactor, 26...Gas inlet, 27...Exhaust ring, 28...Exhaust pipe, 29...Reactor entrance/exit partition gate valve, 30...High frequency induction heating coil.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A chamber, a turntable for closing an opening of the chamber, a gate valve for partitioning the chamber into a reactor front chamber and a wafer load chamber, and a gate valve for partitioning the chamber into a reactor front chamber and a wafer load chamber. a first operating shaft and a second operating shaft that hermetically penetrate respective regions of the turntable corresponding to the chamber; a first susceptor and a second susceptor provided at respective tips of the first operating shaft and the second operating shaft; A susceptor, a reactor that is airtightly connected to and installed in a portion of the chamber corresponding to the reactor front chamber and communicates with the reactor front chamber, and a reactor entrance/exit partition that partitions between the reactor and the reactor front chamber. A vapor phase growth apparatus characterized by comprising a gate valve.