HEAT TREATMENT APPARATUS AND HEAT TREATMENT METHOD FOR HEATING SUBSTRATE BY IRRADIATING SUBSTRATE WITH FLASHES OF LIGHT

• US 20120076476A1
• Filed: 05/17/2011
• Published: 03/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: KUSUDA, Tatsufumi, HASHIMOTO, Kazuyuki
• Granted Patent: US 8,891,948 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 392/416
• CPC Class Codes: F27B 17/0025 Especially adapted for treating semiconductor wafers
• CPC Class Codes: F27D 11/12 with electromagnetic fields acting directly on the material being heated
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67115 mainly by radiation
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/6719 characterized by the construction of the processing chambers, e.g. modular processing chambers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67248 Temperature monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/68792 characterised by the construction of the shaft

Abstract

A photodiode excellent in responsivity receives flashes of light emitted from flash lamps in the process of heating a semiconductor wafer by irradiation with flashes of light, and the waveform of the intensity of the flashes of light versus time is acquired using voltage data obtained from an output from the photodiode. Then, a temperature calculating part performs a heat conduction simulation using the acquired data to calculate the temperature of the semiconductor wafer irradiated with the flashes of light from the flash lamps. The temperature of the semiconductor wafer is computed using data corresponding to the intensity of the flashes of light obtained from the output from the photodiode. This allows the determination of the surface temperature of the semiconductor wafer irradiated with the flashes of light, irrespective of the waveform of the emission intensity of the flash lamps.

Claims

1. A heat treatment apparatus for heating a substrate by irradiating the substrate with flashes of light, comprising:

a chamber for receiving a substrate;

a holder for holding the substrate within said chamber;

a flash lamp received in a lamp house and configured to irradiate the substrate held by said holder with flashes of light;

a photodiode for receiving the flashes of light directed from said flash lamp; and

a temperature calculating part for calculating the temperature of the substrate irradiated with the flashes of light directed from said flash lamp, based on an output from said photodiode.

2. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said temperature calculating part calculates the temperatures of regions of the substrate at predetermined time intervals, said regions being defined by dividing the substrate thereinto along the thickness of the substrate.

3. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

based on the temperature of each of said regions and heat flowing into and out of each of said regions at a first time, said temperature calculating part calculates the temperature of each of said regions at a second time, said second time being later than said first time by an amount equal to each of said predetermined time intervals.

4. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

said temperature calculating part calculates the temperature of each of said regions at the second time, using a thermal conductivity at the temperature of each of said regions at the first time.

5. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

said holder includes a heater for preheating the substrate held by said holder, and

said temperature calculating part performs a temperature calculating process, using a preheating temperature attained by said heater as an initial value.

6. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a switching element for chopper-controlling a current flowing through said flash lamp.

7. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said photodiode is positioned so as to receive a leak of flashes of light emitted from said flash lamp and directed from said lamp house toward the interior of said chamber.

8. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said photodiode has a measuring wavelength range corresponding to a visible light range.

9. A method of heating a substrate by irradiating the substrate with flashes of light, comprising the steps of:

(a) directing flashes of light from a flash lamp onto a substrate; and

(b) receiving the flashes of light directed from the flash lamp, using a photodiode, to calculate the temperature of the substrate irradiated with the flashes of light directed from said flash lamp, based on an output from said photodiode.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein

the temperatures of regions of the substrate at predetermined time intervals are calculated in said step (b), said regions being defined by dividing the substrate thereinto along the thickness of the substrate.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein

based on the temperature of each of said regions and heat flowing into and out of each of said regions at a first time, the temperature of each of said regions at a second time is calculated in said step (b), said second time being later than said first time by an amount equal to each of said predetermined time intervals.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein

the temperature of each of said regions at the second time is calculated in said step (b), using a thermal conductivity at the temperature of each of said regions at the first time.