Abstract: A probe device for testing a wafer divided into IC chips has a vessel that accommodates a wafer mounting stand and a flexible probe card having contactor bumps. The vessel is configured in a separatable manner of a grounded aluminum cover portion to which the probe card is integrally fixed and a base portion fixed to the wafer mounting stand. The interior of the vessel is sealed with the wafer and the probe card facing each other therein. A space above the probe card forms a damper chamber into which a fluid is introduced in such a manner that the pressure thereof presses the bumps on the probe card against the wafer. Bumps in a peripheral edge portion of the probe card are placed into contact with electrodes in a peripheral edge portion of the vessel, and thence to a test head. The above configuration can prevent the effects of external electrical noise and thus enable stable electrical measurements unaffected by changes in ambient temperature.

Abstract: A treatment system is disclosed, which has a treatment apparatus for performing a predetermined treatment for a planar workpiece contained in a carrier, and a first air-tight carrier storage chamber for storing the carrier. The treatment apparatus may also have an air-tight second carrier storage chamber. An inert gas supply pipe and an exhaust pipe are connected to each of the treatment apparatus, the first carrier storage chamber, and the second carrier storage chamber. A open/close valve device is provided for each of the inert gas supply pipes and the exhaust pipes.

Abstract: A treatment apparatus comprises a treatment chamber for performing a treatment for a workpiece W, a loading chamber connected to the treatment chamber, for loading and unloading a holding member which contains the workpiece into and from the treatment chamber, and an input/output chamber for inputting and outputting the workpiece to and from the loading chamber. The input/output chamber includes a cassette accommodating vessel port which holds a cassette accommodating vessel. The vessel is filled with clean air or an inert gas, and is airtightly closed. A cassette receiving mechanism is disposed below the port and lowers only the cassette of the vessel so as to receive the cassette. Thus, when the cassette is input and output to and from the outside of the treatment apparatus, the workpiece contained within the cassette is not exposed to the atmosphere in a working region. Consequently, it is not necessary to improve the cleanliness level of the atmosphere in the working region.

Abstract: The present invention comprises a processing furnace for oxidizing object to be processed at a high temperature, pressure reducing means for evacuating the interior of the processing furnace, a burning apparatus disposed outside the processing furnace for burning hydrogen gas and oxygen gas to generate water vapor, a water vapor supply pipe interconnecting the burning apparatus and to the processing furnace, and a throttle disposed on the water vapor supply pipe for generating a pressure difference in the water vapor supply pipe between a side of the burning apparatus and a side of the processing furnace. Stable burning is ensured in the burning apparatus, which makes set oxidation under low pressures possible. It is possible that in place of the throttle, atomization means for atomizing pure water, or a boiling water vapor generating unit, or a microwave water vapor generating unit.

Abstract: In order to etch an object to be processed, such as a semiconductor wafer, the object to be processed is placed in a vacuum processing chamber, an etching gas is introduced into the vacuum processing chamber, and electrical power is applied to a pair of electrodes within the vacuum processing chamber by a high-frequency electrical power source. A mixed gas of carbon monoxide and a gas which does not contain hydrogen and which contains at least one element from the group IV elements and at least one element from group VII elements is used as the etching gas. A halogenated carbon gas, typically a fluorocarbon such as C.sub.4 F.sub.8, is used as the gas containing elements from the group IV and group VII elements. The concentration of carbon monoxide in the etching gas could be 50% or more. At least approximately 86% of an inert gas, such as argon, xenon, krypton, or N.sub.2 and O.sub.2 could be added to the etching gas.

Abstract: An Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 layer is formed on a surface of a wafer, which is an object to be processed, at a high temperature of, for example, 780.degree. C., using a vertical thermal processing apparatus having a reaction tube of a double-wall structure comprising an inner tube and an outer tube in which a predetermined reduced-pressure status is maintained within the reaction tube while a reaction gas comprising, for example, SiH.sub.2 Cl.sub.2 and NH.sub.3 is made to flow from an inner side to an outer side of the inner tube by the action of a first gas supply pipe and first exhaust pipe provided in the thermal processing apparatus. Next, the temperature in the interior of the reaction tube is raised to, for example, 1000.degree. C., a reaction gas comprising, for example, H.sub.2 O vapor and HCl is made to flow from the outer side to the inner side of the inner tube by the action of a second gas supply pipe and second exhaust pipe, and an SiO.sub.2 layer is formed by the oxidation of the surface of the Si.sub.

Abstract: The present invention refers to a wafer transfer robot for a wafer boat of a wafer processing apparatus wherein a turntable within a chamber of a turntable apparatus is provided with a prescribed number of stations formed thereon. Each of the stations is provided with protrusions that hold a wafer cassette that is transferred thereto and orientated thereon in such a manner that a base surface thereof is inclined at an angle to the outward direction. Although, while the wafer cassette is being transferred and orientated, it is transferred and orientated reliably with the base surface thereof held horizontal by an elevator apparatus. By providing a loadlock chamber of a rotational configuration, the apparatus of the present invention ensures good sealing, and also ensures that when regions within the apparatus are being evacuated or being filled with an inert gas, they are kept reliably airtight.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a probe needle wherein a conductive film is formed over a first insulating film formed around the outer periphery of a rod-like member through which a signal current flows, a second insulating film is formed over the outer periphery of the conductive film, and the conductive film is grounded. Since the rod-like member through which a signal current flows is thereby shielded, it is not affected by noise, and mutual crosstalk between signal currents is also prevented. Moreover, since ill effects caused by mutual contact with other probe needles is prevented by the second insulating film, reliable and stable measurement is possible.

Abstract: An object holder is raised, a mount portion is stopped at a middle stop position higher than a lower stop position, and an object of treatment is preheated. Thereafter, the object holder is further raised, the mount portion is stopped at an upper stop position in a processing tube higher than the middle position, and the object is heat-treated. A first temperature sensor for measuring a temperature on the obverse side of the object on the mount portion is located opposite the obverse side. A second temperature sensor for measuring a temperature on the reverse side of the object on the mount portion is located opposite the reverse side. The temperature of the object is detected in accordance with the respective outputs of the first and second temperature sensors.

Abstract: A static chuck and a workpiece push-up pin are disposed on a susceptor which is one of opposed electrodes generating plasma. The push-up pin and the susceptor are electrically connected. A grounding circuit which discharges electric charges remaining on the susceptor is disposed in parallel with an RF power supply circuit which supplies RF power to the susceptor. Thus, electric charges remaining in the power supply circuit can be discharged and an abnormal discharging between the push-up pin and the susceptor can be prevented.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a thermal processing method wherein a cylindrical process tube that has at one end an entrance/exit is provided at the other end thereof with a heat source, and thermal processing is performed on a workpiece which has been brought in from the entrance/exit of the process tube to a prescribed position therein. This thermal processing method and an apparatus therefor is characterized in that, when the workpiece is moved to the prescribed position, it is first moved to a proximity position that is closer to the heat source than the prescribed position, then it is returned therefrom to the prescribed position.

Abstract: A heat treatment device including a handling chamber that has a carriers feed in/out opening for carriers holding plural sheets of objects to be treated parallelly vertical, a vertical heat treatment furnace for heat treating the objects and a posture changer for swinging the carriers near the carriers feed in/out opening of the handling chamber on a rotational center into a territory of lower sides of the carriers to change the posture of the objects to be treated from the vertical position to the horizontal position. The heat treatment device also has a carriers storage unit disposed above the posture changing means for storing a plural number of posture changed carriers, conveying device for conveying the carriers between the storage unit and the posture changing device and the heat treatment furnace side. Also, provided is a transferrer for transferring the objects-to-be-treated to/from an objects-to-be-treated holder for loading and unloading into/out of the heat treatment furnace side.

Abstract: A treatment system is disclosed, which has a treatment apparatus for performing a predetermined treatment for a planar workpiece contained in a carrier, and an first air-tight carrier storage chamber for storing the carrier. The treatment apparatus may also have an air-tight second carrier storage chamber. An inert gas supply and exhaust are connected to each of the treatment apparatus, the first carrier storage chamber, and the second carrier storage chamber. A valve device is provided for the inert gas supply and exhaust.

Abstract: A heat treating apparatus for mounting objects to be treated on an object-to-be-treated boat (wafer boat) provided on a heat insulating cylinder, and loading the object-to-be-treated boat into a processing vessel for a heat treatment, a temperature detecting sensor is provided in a film depositing area of a relatively large heat capacity, which is a lower part of a gap defined between an inner tube of the processing vessel and an outer tube thereof so as to detect temperatures of those of the objects to be treated located there and control temperatures of the heating unit. Thus heat response is improved, and temperatures of the objects to be treated can be accurately detected.

Abstract: The workpiece, which is horizontally held in the treatment chamber, is heated by the planar heat generating members disposed on the upper and lower surfaces of the treatment chamber and controlled to predetermined temperature through respective heat equalizing members. Thus, the workpiece can be quickly heated with an equal temperature distribution and high repeatability on the entire surface regardless of the diameter thereof. Further, a stream that is vertically symmetrical is obtained due to the shapes of the shoulder portions. Thus, since an eddy current and a turbulence that tend to take place upon supply of a process gas is prevented, the process gas can be equally contacted to the entire surface of the workpiece.

Abstract: A semiconductor wafer probing method for reducing the number of times of an "indexing" or wafer transfer operation and improving verification efficiency. In the semiconductor wafer probing method, a probe card has a first plurality of upright probe needles (e.g. sixteen) corresponding to chips (e.g. eight) arranged in a vertical or "row" direction and chips (e.g. 2) arranged in a horizontal or "column" direction. A first plurality of chips that can be verified by such a probe card is defined as an index region. A (second) plurality of index regions are arranged so as to minimize the number of occurrences where the probe needles will not have a chip to contact as the wafer and needles are moved relative to each other. Such (second) plurality of index regions is defined as a contact region 23.

Abstract: A heat treating unit for semiconductor processing is adapted to conduct normal pressure high temperature processing and low pressure thermal processing using corrosive gases. The unit includes an inner tube for receiving a boat which carries objects to be processed, an outer tube concentrically disposed outside the inner tube, a cylindrical manifold which has a gas feed port and an exhaust port, and a cap which tightly closes an opening of the manifold. The inner tube, outer tube and manifold are formed of quartz which is heat resistant and corrosion resistant, and these three components are integrally joined together by melting. The interior surface of the cap is provided with a protecting layer which is heat resistant and corrosion resistant. A connection between the cap and the manifold includes a high temperature heat resistant seal in which O-rings are cooled by a cooling system.

Abstract: An object holder is raised, a mount portion is stopped at a middle stop position higher than a lower stop position, and an object of treatment is preheated. Thereafter, the object holder is further raised, the mount portion is stopped at an upper stop position in a processing tube higher than the middle position, and the object is heat-treated. A first temperature sensor for measuring a temperature on the obverse side of the object on the mount portion is located facing the obverse side. A second temperature sensor for measuring a temperature on the reverse side of the object on the mount portion is located facing the reverse side. The temperature of the object is detected in accordance with the respective outputs of the first and second temperature sensors.

Abstract: A treatment apparatus comprises a treatment chamber for performing a treatment for a workpiece W, a loading chamber connected to the treatment chamber, for loading and unloading a holding member which contains the workpiece into and from the treatment chamber, and an input/output chamber for inputting and outputting the workpiece to and from the loading chamber. The input/output chamber includes a cassette accommodating vessel port which holds a cassette accommodating vessel. The vessel is filled with clean air or an inert gas, and is airtightly closed. A cassette receiving mechanism is disposed below the port and lowers only the cassette of the vessel so as to receive the cassette. Thus, when the cassette is input and output to and from the outside of the treatment apparatus, the workpiece contained within the cassette is not exposed to the atmosphere in a working region. Consequently, it is not necessary to improve the cleanliness level of the atmosphere in the working region.

Abstract: When an object of treatment is subjected to, for example, a gas treatment in an airtight chamber, reaction products adhere to the inner wall surface of the chamber, an object holder therein, and the corner portions of the chamber. When a cleaning medium is injected into the chamber, according to the present invention, the reaction products are dissolved in the cleaning medium by hydrolysis. Thereafter, the cleaning medium is discharged from the chamber. Then, the chamber is heated and evacuated, so that water vapor is discharged to provide a predetermined degree of vacuum, whereupon the treatment can be started anew. Therefore, a wiping operation can be omitted. Moreover, the reaction products remaining at the corner portions of the chamber can be removed without forming a source of polluted particles, so that the necessity of overhauling can be obviated. Thus, fully automatic cleaning, so to speak, can be effected, and the chamber need not be open to the atmosphere, so that the throughput can be improved.