Epitaxial growth method

1. An epitaxial growth method for growing an epitaxial film on a surface of a semiconductor wafer by mounting the semiconductor wafer within a susceptor pocket and supplying source gas and carrier gas to the upper surface side of the susceptor and supplying carrier gas to the lower surface side of the susceptor, wherein the susceptor comprises a substantially circular bottom wall having an upper surface and a lower surface that forms a back surface of the susceptor and a sidewall encompassing the bottom wall to form a pocket for mounting a semiconductor wafer, having a clearance between a back surface of the semiconductor wafer to be mounted on the susceptor and the bottom wall, and a plurality of through-holes that pass through said bottom wall and form circular or polygonal openings in the upper surface and the lower surface of said bottom wall, an axis of each of the through-holes extending from the upper surface to the bottom surface of said bottom wall being a straight line, said plurality of through-holes being provided in the bottom wall only within a region of the bottom wall which is approximately half the radius of the bottom wall from the outer periphery to the center and which is located under the semiconductor wafer to be mounted on the susceptor and not between an outer edge of the semiconductor wafer to be mounted on the susceptor and said side wall, said plurality of through-holes being provided uniformly over the entirety of said region, and uneven portions are provided on a surface of the susceptor at an outer periphery of the susceptor on which the wafer is to be mounted so as to support the wafer by point contact, adjacent holes in a row of said through-holes in a bottom wall area located under the semiconductor wafer being connected by a channel to form a circular channel in an upper surface of the bottom wall of said pocket in the susceptor, said channel being a flat shallow channel having a width that is up to 1.5 times the diameter of a through-hole and a depth such that a cross-sectional area of a channel is from about 50% to about 100% an opening surface area of a through-hole.

2. The epitaxial growth method of claim 1 , wherein a SiC film is adhered to a surface of the susceptor and to the inner wall surfaces of each of the through-holes.

3. The epitaxial growth method of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the bottom wall that includes the through-holes is made of a solid SiC material.

4. The epitaxial growth method of claim 1 , wherein the carrier gas supplied to the lower surface side of the susceptor is hydrogen-containing gas supplied at between 3 to 100 liters per minute.

5. The epitaxial growth method of claim 1 , wherein the through-holes are inclined with respect to the thickness direction of the bottom wall.

6. An epitaxial growth method for growing an epitaxial film on a surface of a semiconductor wafer by mounting the semiconductor wafer within a pocket of a susceptor and supplying source gas and carrier gas to the upper surface side of the susceptor and supplying carrier gas to the lower surface side of the susceptor, wherein the susceptor comprises a substantially circular bottom wall having an upper surface and a lower surface that forms a back surface of the susceptor and a sidewall encompassing the bottom wall to form a pocket for mounting a semiconductor wafer, having a clearance between a back surface of the semiconductor wafer to be mounted on the susceptor and the bottom wall; a support unit configured so as to support the semiconductor wafer by contacting an outer peripheral part of the semiconductor wafer without contacting a central part of the semiconductor wafer; and a plurality of through-holes that pass through said bottom wall and form circular or polygonal openings in the upper surface and the lower surface of said bottom wall, an axis of each of the through-holes extending from the upper surface to the bottom surface of said bottom wall being a straight line, provided in the bottom wall only within a region of the bottom wall which is approximately half the radius of the bottom wall from the outer periphery to the center and which is located under the semiconductor wafer to be mounted on the susceptor and not between an outer edge of the semiconductor wafer to be mounted on the susceptor and said side wall, said plurality of through-holes being provided uniformly over the entirety of said region, and adjacent holes in a row of said through-holes in a bottom wall area located under the semiconductor wafer being connected by a channel to form a circular channel in an upper surface of the bottom wall of said pocket in the susceptor, said channel being a flat shallow channel having a width that is up to 1.5 times the diameter of a through-hole and a depth such that a cross-sectional area of a channel is from about 50% to about 100% an opening surface area of a through-hole.

7. The epitaxial growth method of claim 6 , wherein the opening surface area of each through-hole is taken to be between 0.2 to 3.2 mm 2 , and the density of the through-holes is taken to be between 0.25 to 25 per cm 2 .

8. The epitaxial growth method of claim 6 , wherein a SiC film is adhered to a surface of the susceptor and to the inner wall surfaces of each of the through-holes.

9. The epitaxial growth method of claim 6 , wherein at least a portion of the bottom wall that includes the through-holes is made of a solid SiC material.

10. The epitaxial growth method of claim 6 , wherein the carrier gas supplied to the lower surface side of the susceptor is hydrogen-containing gas supplied at between 3 to 100 liters per minute.

11. The epitaxial growth method of claim 7 , wherein the through-holes are inclined with respect to the thickness direction of the bottom wall.