Abstract: Annular groove portions are formed in each of facing surfaces of a sealing portion of a processing vessel that is kept in an atmosphere of a prescribed gas or an atmosphere at a reduced pressure, and a thin annular plate is arranged in such a manner that it is sucked against the entire periphery of the opening portions of the annular groove portions. The annular groove portions are each connected to an exhaust device, and the facing surfaces of the sealing portion are sealed in a gas-tight manner by reducing the pressure in the annular groove portions so that the thin annular plate is sucked against the entire periphery of the openings of the annular groove portions. This configuration prevents the introduction of unwanted oxygen and moisture from the atmosphere into the interior of the processing vessel, and also provides a thermal processing apparatus which has a sealing portion that prevents the emission of gases and moisture at high temperatures.

Abstract: A vertical heat treating apparatus includes a first boat elevator for carrying a first wafer boat between a wafer transfer region and a predetermined position in a heat treating furnace, and a second boat elevator for carrying a second wafer boat between the wafer transfer region and the predetermined position in the heat treating furnace. With this construction, it is possible to eliminate the problems of causing the position shift of the wafer boat, so that and it is possible to prevent the wafer boat from overturning. The apparatus also has cutouts formed in the lower end portion of the wafer boat, and guide members formed on the upper surface of a wafer transfer stage so as to be engageable with the cutouts. With this construction, if the positioning is forcibly carried out when the wafer boat is loaded on the wafer transfer stage, it is possible to correct the position shift to prevent the shift from accumulating, so that it is possible to prevent the wafer boat from overturning.

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: A temperature control method in a rapid heat treatment apparatus comprising simulatively heating dummy wafers in a process tube and previously detecting and grasping by temperature sensors a wafer temperature rising pattern, a heater temperature rising pattern and an internal atmosphere temperature rising pattern, arranging wafers to be processed in the process tube, detecting a temperature of each zone and that of each heater element by the temperature sensors, upon heating the wafers, and controlling each heater element on the basis of the detected temperatures and the wafer, heater and internal atmosphere temperature rising patterns by a controller to rapidly and uniformly raise the temperature of each wafer until the temperature of the wafers in each zone reaches the intended one and becomes stable.

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: Annular groove portions are formed in each of facing surfaces of a sealing portion of a processing vessel that is kept in an atmosphere of a prescribed gas or an atmosphere at a reduced pressure, and a thin annular plate is arranged in such a manner that it is sucked against the entire periphery of the opening portions of the annular groove portions. The annular groove portions are each connected to an exhaust device, and the facing surfaces of the sealing portion are sealed in a gas-tight manner by reducing the pressure in the annular groove portions so that the thin annular plate is sucked against the entire periphery of the openings of the annular groove portions. This configuration prevents the introduction of unwanted oxygen and moisture from the atmosphere into the interior of the processing vessel, and also provides a thermal processing apparatus which has a sealing portion that prevents the emission of gases and moisture at high temperatures.

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: In a semiconductor wafer heat-treating apparatus, there is provided a piping connection device on a gas inlet pipe leading to the heat-treating apparatus and a gas outlet pipe derived from the heat-treating apparatus. The piping connection device has a spherical convex connecting element, and a concave connecting element having a concave spherical surface into which the spherical element is snugly fitted. A pair of presser plates are placed on the outer surfaces of the two connecting elements and clamped by bolts so as to press confronting sealing surfaces of the convex and concave connecting elements against each other. Because the outer surfaces of the two connecting elements to be engaged with the pair of presser plates are spherically fashioned, the connection surfaces can present a satisfactory sealing condition without subjecting the pair of the pipes connected by the piping connection device to excessive biasing forces even though the two pipes are angled to each other.

Abstract: A clean air apparatus includes a housing having an opening through which a carrier housing semiconductor wafers is supplied into the housing and an I/O port for supporting the carrier and a furnace for treating the wafer, provided in the upper portion of the housing. The carriers are at the same time supported by a first carrier stage provided in the upper portion of the housing and supported by a second carrier stage provided in the lower portion of the housing. The carrier or carriers are selectively moved between the I/O port and the first stage, between the I/O port and the second stage, and between the first stage and the second stage. A clean air is applied to the wafers in the carriers supported by the I/O port, the first stage and the second stage.

Abstract: A vertical heat treatment apparatus includes a casing, a vertical heat treatment furnace provided in the casing, a substrate holding unit mounted in the casing for holding substrates to be heat-treated in the vertical heat treatment furnace, a loading/unloading unit having a wafer boat for supporting the substrates, the loading/unloading unit being adapted to put the substrates in and take the same out of the vertical heat treatment furnace, and a transportation robot for moving the substrates between the substrate holding unit and the wafer boat. The vertical heat treatment apparatus further includes a clean air supplying unit for supplying clean air sideways to the wafers supported by the wafer boat when the loading/unloading unit is at an unloading position, a and duct for introducing air from the outside of the apparatus. The clean air supplying unit is provided with an air filter disposed opposed to the wafer boat.

Abstract: A clean air apparatus comprises a body in which clean air is supplied, an I/O port having an opening for carrying a carrier housing objects to be treated in/out of the body, a door which opens/closes the opening, and dust preventing device for preventing dusts from entering the body from the outside through the opening, when the door is opened.

Abstract: A semiconductor processing apparatus comprises a main body having an air passage, a plurality of filter units connected in series with the air passage in the main body, each filter unit having an air intake port, an air otlet port and an air blower, the air intake port of each filter unit communicating with the air outlet ports of the filter units disposed upstream side of the air passage, and a mechanism for arranging articles to be processed close to the air outlet port of each filter unit such that air is supplied to the articles to be processed after the air has passed through the corresponding filter units.

Abstract: A wafer transferring method for transferring wafers between a cassette and a boat having grooves to hold the wafers, comprises the steps of providing an identification mechanism for positional alignment on the boat in advance, detecting the identification mechanism, and aligning the boat to a predetermined position based on a detection result and transferring the wafers from the cassette to the boat. A wafer transferring apparatus comprises a loading device for extracting wafers from a cassette and transferring the wafers onto a boat, a detection device for detecting an identification section provided on the boat in order to identify a wafer transferring position on the boat, a control device for acquiring the wafer transferring position on the boat based on a detection result attained from the detection device and controlling a mutual position between the boat and the cassette to come to a predetermined position.

Abstract: A heat-treatment apparatus of the invention includes a collective exhaust unit for constantly performing gas exhaust from a clean room to keep the room in a clean atmosphere, a heat-treatment furnace for receiving a gas and/or a liquid for forming a desired film on a surface of an object to be treated in a heating atmosphere, an exhaust path, communicating with the collective exhaust unit and the heat-treatment furnace, for introducing a gas filling the heat-treatment furnace into the collective exhaust unit, an outer air intake unit for taking in outer air in the exhaust path to adjust an exhaust pressure of the exhaust path, and a trap unit, arranged below the exhaust path, for trapping a waste liquid collected in the exhaust path.

Abstract: A wafer transferring method for transferring wafers between a cassette and a boat having grooves to hold the wafers, comprises the steps of providing an identification mechanism for positional alignment on the boat in advance, detecting the identification mechanism, and aligning the boat to a predetermined position based on a detection result and transferring the wafers from the cassette to the boat. A wafer transferring apparatus comprises a loading device for extracting wafers from a cassette and transferring the wafers onto a boat, a detection device for detecting an identification section provided on the boat in order to identify a wafer transferring position on the boat, and a control device for acquiring the wafer transferring position on the boat based on a detection result attained from the detection device and controlling a mutual position between the boat and the cassette to come to a predetermined position.

Abstract: A pitch changing device of the present invention includes a lift mechanism for unloading a plurality of wafers arranged in a cassette at predetermined pitches from the cassette while the pitches are kept unchanged, and a chuck mechanism for holding the unloaded wafers while the pitches are kept unchanged. The chuck mechanism includes moving pieces mounted to be movable in an arrangement direction of the wafers, for respectively supporting the wafers, elastic members mounted in the movable pieces to be expandible/contractible in the arrangement direction of the wafers, and a driving mechanism for expanding/contracting the elastic members. When the elastic members expand/contract by the driving mechanism, the pitches of the wafers are changed while the wafers are held. The lift mechanism includes a handler for variably moving wafer stands in the arrangement direction of the wafers, and changes the pitches while the wafers are lifted.

Abstract: According to this invention, a boat carried by an elevator is put on a boat supporting unit installed at a boat delivery position and capable of moving up and down and then, the boat is delivered from the boat supporting unit to transfer means for a heat-treating furnace. Therefore, boats can be transferred by the common elevator to the boat delivery positions at heat-treating furnace arranged in multiple stages. Even when heat-treating furnaces of different types are installed in multiple stages, boats can be transferred to those furnaces by using the common elevator. As a result, when boats to be sent to different types of furnaces arrive at the work position, for example, boats can be delivered to the furnaces with extremely high efficiency and by simple devices.