Abstract: The present invention provides a wafer holder, a wafer support member, a wafer boat and a heat treatment furnace, which are capable of sufficiently suppressing slip dislocations, without lowering productivity and at low cost, in the high temperature heat treatment of silicon wafers, and said wafer holder is characterized in that: the wafer holder is composed of a wafer support plate and three or more wafer support members mounted on said wafer support plate, each of the wafer support members having a wafer support portion or more; at least one of said wafer support members is a tilting wafer support member which has a plurality of upward-convex wafer support portions on the upper surface and is tiltable with respect to said wafer support plate; and the wafer is supported by at least four wafer support portions.

Abstract: There is provided an SOI substrate having an SOI structure with an insulating layer and a surface single crystal silicon layer successively formed on a single crystal wafer, the SOI substrate having no pit generation in the SOI layer, being producible at low cost and at high productivity and having excellent gettering capacity, wherein the SOI substrate contains nitrogen and carbon with a nitrogen content of no greater than 1×1016 atoms/cm3 and a carbon content of no greater than 1×1018 atoms/cm3.

Abstract: There is provided an SOI substrate having an SOI structure with an insulating layer and a surface single crystal silicon layer successively formed on a single crystal wafer, the SOI substrate having no pit generation in the SOI layer, being producible at low cost and at high productivity and having excellent gettering capacity, wherein the SOI substrate contains nitrogen and carbon with a nitrogen content of no greater than 1×1016 atoms/cm3 and a carbon content of no greater than 1×1016 atoms/cm3.

Abstract: A SOI substrate of high quality which allows LSI to be formed thereon in an improved yield and realizes excellent electric properties and a method for the production thereof are provided. The SOI substrate is obtained by forming an embedded oxide layer on a silicon single crystal substrate and forming a SOI layer for the formation of a device on the embedded oxide layer and is characterized by the SOI layer containing pit-like defects at a density of not more than 5 cm−2 or the embedded oxide layer containing pinhole defects at a density of less than one piece/cm2.

Abstract: The present invention provides a wafer holder, a wafer support member, a wafer boat and a heat treatment furnace, which are capable of sufficiently suppressing slip dislocations, without lowering productivity and at low cost, in the high temperature heat treatment of silicon wafers, and said wafer holder is characterized in that: the wafer holder is composed of a wafer support plate and three or more wafer support members mounted on said wafer support plate, each of the wafer support members having a wafer support portion or more; at least one of said wafer support members is a tilting wafer support member which has a plurality of upward-convex wafer support portions on the upper surface and is tiltable with respect to said wafer support plate; and the wafer is supported by at least four wafer support portions.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing an SOI semiconductor substrate and a manufacturing apparatus therefor in which a mean implantation depth and a dose of each of a series of oxygen ion implantations are continuously or stepwise changed, a depthwise distribution of an oxygen atom concentration has a single peak and uniform in a plane at a predetermined depth, a maximum oxygen atom concentration is preferably no larger than 2.25.times.10.sup.22 atoms/cm.sup.3 and no smaller than 1.0.times.10.sup.22 atoms/cm.sup.3, a total oxygen dose is equal to a desired thickness of a buried oxide film multiplied by 4.48.times.10.sup.22 (in ions/cm.sup.3), and preferably a thermal process at a temperature of 1300.degree. C. or higher is applied after the completion of the oxygen ion implantation to form the buried oxide film.

Abstract: A process for producing a semiconductor substrate, including the phases of implanting oxygen ions into a semiconductor silicon substrate through one surface thereof to form a high oxygen concentration layer in the semiconductor silicon substrate, and then heat-treating the semiconductor substrate to cause a chemical reaction to occur between the implanted oxygen ions and the silicon, thereby forming an insulating silicon oxide film in the semiconductor silicon substrate, wherein the heat treatment phase includes at least a heat treatment step using an atmosphere having an oxygen partial pressure of 5.times.10.sup.3 Pa or more.