Cleaning method of semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and semiconductor manufacturing apparatus

Abstract

A cleaning method of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus begins by introducing film forming gas include reaction gas not forming a film by itself to reaction chamber to form the film on a semiconductor substrate, decreasing pressure of the reaction chamber, solidifying or liquefying the reaction gas to form particles by using small-particles in the reaction chamber as cores, and exhausting the particles from the reaction chamber. Using this method, foreign small-particles can easily be removed from the apparatus and suppress any possible contamination of semiconductor substrates to be processed.

1 . A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, the apparatus comprising:
 a reaction chamber for introducing a film forming gas comprising a reaction gas, the reaction gas not being able to form a film by itself, the film forming gas forming the film on a semiconductor substrate;   a supply system for introducing the film forming gas to the reaction chamber;   an exhaust system for decreasing pressure of the reaction chamber to solidify or liquefy the reaction gas and to thereby form particles of said reaction gas using small-particles present in the reaction chamber as cores therefore and exhausting the particles from the reaction chamber.   
   
   
       2 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , comprising a reaction tube including an inner tube and an outer tube, a boat mounted inside said inner tube carrying a plurality of semiconductor substrates to be processed, and a closure sealing the reaction tube, wherein the reaction tube is connected to a reaction gas feed pipe, which is included in a supply system, also connected to a vacuum pump, which is included in an exhaust system, through a gate valve, and wherein a heater is arranged around the reaction tube. 
   
   
       3 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the reaction gas is a source gas of nitrogen, oxygen, or impurities included in the film. 
   
   
       4 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the supply system is configured to introduce cleaning gas for cleaning the reaction chamber. 
   
   
       5 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the small-particles are reaction byproducts of film forming. 
   
   
       6 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the small-particles are made of a part of the reaction byproducts accumulated inside of the reaction chamber and floating in the reaction chamber. 
   
   
       7 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the reaction gas is solidified or liquefied by adiabatic expansion.