Apparatus for thermal treatment of substrates

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses are provided for cooling semiconductor substrates prior to handling. In one embodiment, a substrate and support structure combination is lifted after high temperature processing to a cold wall of a thermal processing chamber, which acts as a heat sink. Conductive heat transfer across a small gap from the substrate to the heat sink speeds wafer cooling prior to handling the wafer (e.g., with a robot). In another embodiment, a separate plate is kept cool within a pocket during processing, and is moved close to the substrate and support after processing. In yet another embodiment, a cooling station between a processing chamber and a storage cassette includes two movable cold plates, which are movable to positions closely spaced on either side of the wafer.

1 . A semiconductor processing reactor, comprising: 
 a reaction chamber defined by a plurality of walls, wherein the reaction chamber is configured to heat treat a substrate at a heat treatment position;    a heat exchange member configured to allow conductive heat transport between the heat exchange member and the substrate at a heat transport position;    a substrate support configured to support the substrate during the heat treatment and during the conductive heat transport;    a movable member; and    a drive mechanism connected to and configured to move the movable member between the heat transport position and the heat treatment position, wherein the substrate is spaced from the heat exchange member by a gap of about 0.2-3.0 mm in the heat transport position and wherein the substrate is spaced from the heat exchange member by greater than a distance of the gap in the heat treatment position.    
   
   
       2 . The reactor of  claim 1 , wherein the movable member comprises the substrate support.  
   
   
       3 . The reactor of  claim 1 , wherein the movable member comprises the heat exchange member.  
   
   
       4 . The reactor of  claim 3 , wherein the heat exchange member comprises a cooling plate and the cooling plate is stored within an actively cooled pocket while the substrate is in the substrate treatment position.  
   
   
       5 . The reactor of  claim 4 , wherein the cooling plate extends above the substrate in the heat transport position.  
   
   
       6 . The reactor of  claim 1 , wherein the heat exchange member comprises one of the walls defining the chamber.  
   
   
       7 . The processing reactor of  claim 1 , wherein the thermal exchange member is actively cooled.  
   
   
       8 . The reactor of  claim 1 , wherein the drive mechanism is configured to space the substrate from the heat exchange member by about 0.5-1.5 mm in the heat transport position.  
   
   
       9 . The cooling mechanism of  1 , wherein the chamber is configured to heat the substrate between about 1,000° C. and 1,200° C.  
   
   
       10 . A cooling mechanism for a semiconductor processing system, the cooling mechanism comprising: 
 a support structure configured to position a substrate at a processing position in a process chamber, a cooling position in the process chamber and a substrate load position in the process chamber, wherein the process chamber is configured to expose the substrate to high temperature processing in the processing position, wherein the substrate load position is accessible to a substrate handler configured to load the substrate onto the support structure; and    an actively-cooled thermal exchange member, wherein the substrate is spaced from the actively-cooled thermal exchange member by a gap of between about 0.2 mm and 3 mm in the cooling position.    
   
   
       11 . The cooling mechanism of  claim 10 , wherein the support structure is translatable.  
   
   
       12 . The cooling mechanism of  claim 11 , wherein the support structure is vertically translatable.  
   
   
       13 . The cooling mechanism of  claim 11 , wherein the substrate is supported upon the support structure between about 0.5 mm and 1.5 mm from the cooling member in the cooling position.  
   
   
       14 . The cooling mechanism of  claim 10 , wherein the thermal exchange member is translatable.  
   
   
       15 . The cooling mechanism of  10 , wherein the cooling position and the substrate processing position are at substantially similar locations.  
   
   
       16 . The cooling mechanism of  10 , wherein the support structure is a susceptor.  
   
   
       17 . The cooling mechanism of  16 , wherein the susceptor comprises silicon carbide.  
   
   
       18 . The cooling mechanism of  10 , wherein the support structure comprises a plurality of pins.  
   
   
       19 . The cooling mechanism of  10 , wherein the support structure is configured to space the substrate from the actively-cooled thermal exchange member by greater than a distance of the gap upon positioning the substrate in the processing position.