Granted Patent B2

US 12,327,724 · App. 18/109,904 · Granted Jun 10, 2025

Inventor: Akira Okabe (Ohmura, JP)

Assignee: Epicrew Corporation

H01L21/02532C30B25/10C30B25/12C30B25/14C30B25/165C30B25/20H01L21/02576H01L21/02579H01L21/0262H01L21/02658

Abstract

Claims (17)

1. A vapor phase growth system that grows a semiconductor single-crystal thin film on a main surface of a single-crystal substrate, comprising:

a reaction vessel body including a gas inlet port on a first end side and a gas outlet port on a second end side in a horizontal direction, wherein the reaction vessel body is configured such that the single-crystal substrate is substantially horizontally and rotationally held on a disk-shaped susceptor, which is rotated and driven in an inner space of the reaction vessel body, and a source gas that forms a semiconductor single-crystal thin film is introduced into the reaction vessel body through the gas inlet port, flows along the main surface of the single-crystal substrate, and then discharged through the gas outlet port, and a preheating ring is arranged to surround the susceptor;

a susceptor lifting mechanism that raises and lowers the susceptor between a first position and a second position, wherein in the first position, a top surface of the susceptor is positioned above a bottom surface of the preheating ring, and a source gas distribution space having a predetermined height dimension is defined between the top surface of the susceptor and a bottom surface of a ceiling plate of the reaction vessel body, and in the second position, the top surface of the susceptor is positioned below the bottom surface of the preheating ring, and a substrate loading/unloading space having a greater height dimension than that of the source gas distribution space is defined between the top surface of the susceptor and the bottom surface of the preheating ring, wherein the susceptor is rotationally driven via a rotary shaft member with an upper end coupled to a lower surface of the susceptor, and the susceptor lifting mechanism raises and lowers the susceptor along with the rotary shaft member, and wherein a plurality of lift pins are provided in a circumferential direction of the susceptor, with a lower end protruding downward from the susceptor, to lift up the single-crystal substrate in a form of pushing up a peripheral edge of a bottom surface of the single-crystal substrate on the susceptor from a bottom side, and below the preheating ring in the reaction vessel body, a substrate lifting portion may be provided, including: lift pin driving arms provided corresponding to the lift pins, each of which has a lift pin biasing portion formed on a tip side of the arm to bias the corresponding lift pin upward from below; and a lift sleeve that allows a rotation drive of the rotary shaft member, and is arranged outside the rotary shaft member coaxially and along an axis of the rotary shaft member where the base end of the lift pin driving arm is coupled to the lift sleeve;

a substrate transfer member having a substrate holding portion at a front end of the substrate transfer member, wherein the single-crystal substrate is loaded and unloaded in a form of being held horizontally;

a substrate transfer member driving unit that reciprocates the substrate transfer member horizontally between a substrate loading/unloading position and a preparation position, wherein in the substrate loading/unloading position, with respect to the susceptor positioned in the second position, the substrate holding portion is positioned immediately above the susceptor, and in the preparation position, the substrate holding portion is positioned in a preparation chamber formed outside the reaction vessel body; and

wherein after the retraction horizontally the preparation position of the substrate transfer member with the single-crystal substrate detached is completed, only the susceptor is raised to the first position out of the susceptor and the substrate lifting portion.

2. The vapor phase growth system according to claim 1 , wherein the first position is defined such that a height dimension of the source gas distribution space is greater than or equal to 5 mm and less than or equal to 15 mm.

3. The vapor phase growth system according to claim 1 , wherein the first position is defined such that the main surface of the single-crystal substrate on the susceptor is aligned with a top surface of the preheating ring.

4. The vapor phase growth system according to claim 1 , wherein:

a direction of distribution of the source gas is determined such that a side where the preparation chamber is provided is the first end and a side opposite to the preparation chamber with respect to a rotation axis of the susceptor is the second end of the reaction vessel body, and a portion in the inner space of the reaction vessel body between a preparation chamber shutter and the preheating ring serves as a gas passage, wherein the preparation chamber shutter partitions the space from the preparation chamber in an openable and closable manner, and

the gas passage includes a partition plate horizontally positioned at a height position determined such that a front edge of the plate faces a side of the preheating ring, a space above the partition plate in the gas passage defines an upper passage space in communication with the source gas distribution space, and a space below the partition plate of the gas passage defines a lower passage space in communication with a system arrangement space below the preheating ring.

5. The vapor phase growth system according to claim 4 , wherein a top surface of the partition plate is set to be aligned with a top surface of the preheating ring.

6. A method of manufacturing an epitaxial wafer comprising:

using a vapor phase growth system that grows a semiconductor single-crystal thin film on a main surface of a single-crystal substrate, the vapor phase growth system comprising: a reaction vessel body including a gas inlet port on a first end side and a gas outlet port on a second end side in a horizontal direction, wherein the reaction vessel body is configured such that the single-crystal substrate is substantially horizontally and rotationally held on a disk-shaped susceptor, which is rotated and driven in an inner space of the reaction vessel body, and a source gas that forms a semiconductor single-crystal thin film is introduced into the reaction vessel body through the gas inlet port, flows along the main surface of the single-crystal substrate, and then discharged through the gas outlet port, and a preheating ring is arranged to surround the susceptor; a susceptor lifting mechanism that raises and lowers the susceptor between a first position and a second position, wherein in the first position, a top surface of the susceptor is positioned above a bottom surface of the preheating ring, and a source gas distribution space having a predetermined height dimension is defined between the top surface of the susceptor and a bottom surface of a ceiling plate of the reaction vessel body, and in the second position, the top surface of the susceptor is positioned below the bottom surface of the preheating ring, and a substrate loading/unloading space having a greater height dimension than that of the source gas distribution space is defined between the top surface of the susceptor and the bottom surface of the preheating ring, wherein the susceptor is rotationally driven via a rotary shaft member with an upper end coupled to a lower surface of the susceptor, and the susceptor lifting mechanism raises and lowers the susceptor along with the rotary shaft member, and wherein a plurality of lift pins are provided in a circumferential direction of the susceptor, with a lower end protruding downward from the susceptor, to lift up the single-crystal substrate in a form of pushing up a peripheral edge of a bottom surface of the single-crystal substrate on the susceptor from a bottom side, and below the preheating ring in the reaction vessel body, a substrate lifting portion may be provided, including: lift pin driving arms provided corresponding to the lift pins, each of which has a lift pin biasing portion formed on a tip side of the arm to bias the corresponding lift pin upward from below; and a lift sleeve that allows a rotation drive of the rotary shaft member, and is arranged outside the rotary shaft member coaxially and along an axis of the rotary shaft member where the base end of the lift pin driving arm is coupled to the lift sleeve;

a substrate transfer member having a substrate holding portion at a front end of the substrate transfer member, wherein the single-crystal substrate is loaded and unloaded in a form of being held horizontally; and a substrate transfer member driving unit that reciprocates the substrate transfer member horizontally between a substrate loading/unloading position and a preparation position, wherein in the substrate loading/unloading position, with respect to the susceptor positioned in the second position, the substrate holding portion is positioned immediately above the susceptor, and in the preparation position, the substrate holding portion is positioned in a preparation chamber formed outside the reaction vessel body;

wherein after the retraction horizontally the preparation position of the substrate transfer member with the single-crystal substrate detached is completed, only the susceptor is raised to the first position out of the susceptor and the substrate lifting portion;

obtaining an epitaxial wafer by placing the single-crystal substrate on the susceptor in the reaction vessel with the susceptor in the second position, raising the susceptor in which the single-crystal substrate is placed to the first position, distributing the source gas in the reaction vessel, and epitaxially growing a vapor phase of the semiconductor single-crystal thin film on the single-crystal substrate.

Assignments (2)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (20)