HEAT TREATMENT METHOD AND HEAT TREATMENT APPARATUS

• Main Author: NISHIHARA HIDEO
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 20.05.2010
• Subjects: BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; ELECTRIC SOLID STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRICITY; SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a heat treatment method and a heat treatment apparatus capable of further increasing the surface temperature of a semiconductor substrate, while suppressing cracks of the substrate. SOLUTION: Two-step photoirradiation heat treatment is performed so that a total photoirradiation time is not longer than one second and that a first step of photoirradiation of a semiconductor wafer is performed by using a light-emission output L1 as an average value, and subsequently; and a second step of photoirradiation of the semiconductor wafer is performed according to the output waveform that peaks at the average light-emission output L1 of the first step and a second light-emission output L2 which is larger than the maximum light-emission outputs in the first step. Performing preliminary photoirradiation with a relatively low light-emission output in the first step and then performing intense photoirradiation with a higher peak in the second step enables the surface temperature of a semiconductor wafer to further increase with an amount of energy smaller than those in the conventional cases, while suppressing cracks in the semiconductor wafer. COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT