Abstract: According to the invention, there is provided a wafer holding member for use in a wafer prober for inspecting a semiconductor wafer, including a chuck top and a supporting member for supporting the chuck top, wherein the supporting member has a bottom portion facing to the chuck top, a cavity portion is formed between the chuck top and the bottom portion of the supporting member, and there is provided, in the cavity portion, at least a portion of a cooling mechanism for cooling at least one of the chuck top and the supporting member. Further, there is provided a wafer prober using the wafer holding member.

Abstract: A wafer holder hardly deformable under high load and capable of effectively preventing a contact failure with a wafer and further capable of preventing temperature increase of a driving system of a wafer prober is provided. In a wafer holder having a chuck top and a supporter, variation in thickness of the chuck top from a wafer-mounting surface to a contact surface with the supporter, and variation in thickness of the supporter from a bottom surface to a contact surface with the chuck top are both set to at most 50 ?m. When the supporter is of a structure having a circular tube portion and a base portion separate from each other, variation in thickness of the circular tube portion from a contact surface with the chuck top to a contact surface with the base portion, and variation in thickness of the base portion from a bottom surface to a contact surface with the circular tube portion are preferably both set to at most 25 ?m.

Abstract: Noise leakage from a heater body can be reduced by a wafer holder including a chuck top for mounting a semiconductor wafer, provided with the heater body, and a supporter supporting the chuck top, at least partially covered with a metal member, and by a heater unit for a wafer prober and the wafer prober using the wafer holder. In the wafer holder in accordance with the present invention, the metal member covers the supporter, preferably apart from the supporter by a distance of at most 5 mm, more preferably at most 1 mm and particularly preferably at most 0.2 mm.

Abstract: A heater is provided with which the temperature distribution from cooling start to cooling end can be made more uniform, as well as an device provided which the same. The heater includes a heating surface for heating a heating-subject article that is placed on the heating surface or separated a fixed distance from it, a resistive heating element on a surface of or inside a base material constituting the heater, and an isothermal plate on a side opposite the heating surface. The material of the isothermal plate includes copper or a copper alloy, or alternatively aluminum or an aluminum alloy as a main component. Thus, the heater can suppress a temperature drop in the instant a cold wafer is placed on it, and can perform swift temperature recovery.

Abstract: Heater module, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment in which the heater module is utilized, for raising the cooling speed of a post-heating heater markedly more than conventional, and that can contribute toward bettering and improving productivity, without accompanying scaling-up of and cost increases in the semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The heater module is furnished with heater part 1a for controlled heating of a wafer placed on its top face, and block part 3a provided to be shiftable relative to said heater part, for varying heat capacity in total with heater part 1a by abutting on or separating from the reverse surface of heater part 1a. By having the heat capacity of block part 3a be 20% or more of the total heat capacity of heater part 1a and block part 3a, the heater cooling speed can be made 10° C./min or more.

Abstract: A heater that enables a more even temperature distribution in the time from commencement of heating until completion of cooling, and a device is equipped with the same, are provided. The heater for a semiconductor fabrication device of the present invention comprises a substrate having a heating surface that heats an article to be processed that is placed thereupon or separated therefrom by a set distance and a resistive heating element. The heat capacity of the substrate forms a distribution within the substrate. The substrate, or a portion thereof, is preferably made from one type of metal or a composite of two or more types of metal.

Abstract: Semiconductor-manufacturing-apparatus workpiece holder whose wafer-retaining surface is superior in temperature uniformity, and that is suitable for use in thermosetting of photolithographic photoresists in coater/developers, and in baking of low dielectric constant, i.e. low-k, insulating films. The workpiece holder is made up of a wafer holder 1, and a support member 4 that supports the wafer holder 1, and features the thermal conductivity of the support member 4 being lower than the thermal conductivity of the wafer holder 1. The wafer holder 1 and the support member 4 either are not joined, or if joined are made to have a difference in thermal expansion coefficient of 2.0×10?6/° C. or less. The chief component of the wafer holder 1 preferably is AlN, and of the support member 4, mullite.

Abstract: The object of the present invention is to prevent damage due to thermal stress induced into a substrate holding table in a substrate holding structure for holding a substrate to be processed. In the substrate holding structure having the substrate holding table arranged at the top of a support column, a flanged part is defined by an inner circumferential surface and an outer circumferential surface at a joint between the support column and the substrate holding table. The inner circumferential surface is formed of an inclined surface, which is inclined such that the inner diameter of the flanged part successively increases as approaching the lower surface of the substrate holding table. On the lower surface of the substrate holding table to which the flanged part is joined, a U-shaped groove is formed so as to correspond to the outer circumferential surface of the flanged part.

Abstract: The invention provides a wafer-prober wafer holder that allows positional precision and temperature uniformity to be increased, and also allows the chip to be heated and cooled rapidly, and a wafer prober device provided with the same. The wafer-prober wafer holder of the invention is constituted by a chuck top having a chuck top conducting layer on its surface, and a support member for supporting the chuck top, and has a cavity in a portion between the chuck top and the support member. The chuck top preferably is provided with a heating member.

Abstract: Joint formations that, in joining together joining members employed in a variety of electrical and electronic components, yield sufficiently high joint strength in the direction perpendicular to the plane in which two joining members join, and meanwhile in the direction parallel to the joint plane. First and second joining members have respective joint phases each formed with a different number of distinct yet continuous conformational faces, defining the joint phases so that neither is the matching complement of the other. A bonding agent interposed between the joint phases joins the joining members together. The difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the two joining members, and between them and the bonding agent, is 5.0×10?6/° C. or less. The joining members are a metal such as tungsten or Cu—W, or a ceramic such as AlN or Si3N4; and glass or a solder material is utilized for the bonding agent.

Abstract: Temperature gauge, and ceramic susceptors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment utilizing the temperature gauge, in which the thermocouple may be easily replaced even if damaged, and in which heat from the temperature-gauging site is readily transmitted to the temperature-gauging contact, shortening time until the measurement temperature stabilizes. A temperature-gauging contact (12) in the tip of the thermocouple contacts, in an exposed-as-it-is state, a temperature-gauging site on a ceramic susceptor (1), and by means of a circular cylindrical-shaped retaining member (11) screwed into female threads in the ceramic susceptor (1) is detachably pressed upon and retained against the ceramic susceptor. Thermocouple lead lines (13), passing through a through-hole (14) in the retaining member (11), stretch from one end face to the other end face thereof. The retaining member may be provided with a flange having threaded holes and screwlocked into female screws in the ceramic susceptor.

Abstract: For semiconductor manufacturing equipment, a ceramic susceptor that without occurrence of cracking in the course of heating wafers suppresses thermal radiation from the circumferential surface of a wafer placed on the ceramic susceptor, to heighten isothermal quality in the wafer face. A semiconductor-manufacturing-equipment ceramic susceptor (1) including a resistive heating element (3) in the face or interior of ceramic substrates (2a, 2b) has a wafer pocket (5) consisting of a recess that can accommodatingly carry a wafer. The angle that the perimetric inside surface and the bottom face of the wafer pocket (5) form is over 90° and 170° or less, and/or the curvature of the bottom-portion circumferential rim where the perimetric inside surface and the bottom face of the pocket join is 0.1 mm or more. A plasma electrode furthermore may be disposed in the face or interior of the ceramic substrates (2a, 2b) of the ceramic susceptor (1).

Abstract: The object of the present invention is to provide a susceptor with superior thermal uniformity by minimizing pores in an aluminum nitride sintered body. In an aluminum nitride sintered body according to the present invention, the tin content and sulfur content are controlled so that they are no more than a fixed amount. More specifically, in an aluminum nitride sintered body having as its main component aluminum nitride, the tin content in the aluminum nitride sintered body is no more than 50 ppm and the sulfur content is no more than 100 ppm. It would be preferable for a resistance heating body to be formed in the aluminum nitride sintered body and it would be preferable for the aluminum nitride sintered body to be used as a semiconductor heating unit.

Abstract: A heating body and a device equipped with the same provide greater uniformity in temperature distribution between the start of heating and the end of cooling. A semiconductor fabrication device heating body includes a base having a heating surface upon which an object is mounted or positioned at a fixed distance away and is heated, and a resistance heating body. All or part of the base of the heating body has a thermal capacity per unit volume of at least 2.0 J/K·cm3 and a thermal conductivity of at least 50 W/mK.

Abstract: An inexpensive workpiece holder having high reliability and a processing apparatus equipped with the workpiece holder are provided, in which damage caused by oxygen in the air is prevented. The holder comprises: a ceramic body which has an electrode and a heater circuit and which can holds a workpiece; a tubular member having an end portion connected to the ceramic body; a sealing member which is disposed inside the tubular member and which isolates a space inside the tubular member into two regions: a region on the first end portion (“sealed portion”) and a region on the opposite side (“opposite region”); and power supply conductive members which extend from the opposite region side, penetrating the sealing member to the sealed region side, and which are electrically connected to the electrode and the heater circuit.

Abstract: The present invention provides a metallized substrate that has little warping and a fine, smooth surface. In the metallized substrate of the present invention, a conductive film is formed by spraying on the surface of a ceramic substrate or a composite substrate of a ceramic and a metal. The surface roughness of the conductive film formed by the spraying is preferably Ra?1.0 ?m. The surface of the conductive film may be a machined surface. The spraying is preferably arc spraying, plasma spraying, or flame spraying.

Abstract: An inexpensive workpiece holder having high reliability and a processing apparatus equipped with the workpiece holder are provided, in which damage caused by oxygen in the air is prevented. The holder comprises: a ceramic body which has an electrode and a heater circuit and which can holds a workpiece; a tubular member having an end portion connected to the ceramic body; a sealing member which is disposed inside the tubular member and which isolates a space inside the tubular member into two regions: a region on the first end portion (“sealed portion”) and a region on the opposite side (“opposite region”); and power supply conductive members which extend from the opposite region side, penetrating the sealing member to the sealed region side, and which are electrically connected to the electrode and the heater circuit.

Abstract: In an aluminum nitride sintered body, the bismuth and chlorine contents are restricted to be no more than fixed amounts. More specifically, in an aluminum nitride sintered body having aluminum nitride as its main component, the bismuth content in the aluminum nitride sintered body is no more than 30 ppm and the chlorine content is no more than 100 ppm. It would be preferable to form a resistance heating body on the aluminum nitride sintered body, and it would be preferable for the aluminum nitride sintered body to be used as a semiconductor heating part.

Abstract: The present invention provides a semiconductor heating apparatus, in which, when measuring the electrical properties of multiple chips formed on a large size wafer, only one or a several chips are heated uniformly, and the other chips are on standby at a low temperature. The present invention is a semiconductor heating apparatus, comprising a heating part for mounting and heating the workpiece, a support part which supports the heating part, and a cooling module which contacts the support part. A plurality of heating parts and supporting parts are joined together. The workpiece mounting surfaces of the plurality of heating parts are preferably constructed in the same plane. In addition, there is preferably a thermal insulating material distributed underneath the support part. The heating part is preferably a ceramic heater.

Abstract: The present invention provides a heating device which is rigid with little likelihood of warping. The workpiece mounting surface has a high thermal conductivity, and there is improved heat uniformity, and rapid cooling is possible. The heating device of the present invention comprises: a mounting part for mounting the workpiece; a heating part which has a resistance heating element and which heats the mounting part; and a support part which supports the mounting part and heating part. The Young's modulus for each of the mounting part and support part is 100 GPa or greater. By having a Young's modulus of 100 GPa or greater, even if the mounting part is thin, there is little deformation when pressed by a probe card.