Manufacturing method of a semiconductor device, and substrate processing apparatus

Abstract

An object of this invention is to make it possible to suppress early-stage oxidation of a substrate surface prior to oxidation processing, and to remove a natural oxidation film. For this reason, a method is provided comprising the steps of loading a substrate into a processing chamber, supplying a hydrogen-containing gas and an oxygen-containing gas into the processing chamber, and subjecting a surface of the substrate to oxidation processing, and unloading the substrate subjected to oxidation processing from the processing chamber. In the oxidation processing step, the hydrogen-containing gas is introduced in advance into the processing chamber, with the pressure inside the processing chamber set at a pressure that is less than atmospheric pressure, and the oxygen-containing gas is then introduced in the state in which the introduction of the hydrogen-containing gas is continued.

1 . A substrate processing apparatus comprising:
 a processing chamber in which a substrate is processed;   an oxygen-containing gas supply line which supplies an oxygen-containing gas into said processing chamber;   a hydrogen-containing gas supply line which supplies a hydrogen-containing gas into said processing chamber;   an exhaust line which evacuates the interior of said processing chamber;   a vacuum pump which is connected to said exhaust line and which evacuates the interior of said processing chamber to a vacuum; and   a controller which performs a control action so that in a state in which said substrate is loaded into said processing chamber, a pressure inside said processing chamber is set at a pressure that is less than atmospheric pressure, the hydrogen-containing gas is introduced in advance into said processing chamber, the oxygen-containing gas is then introduced in a state in which the introduction of the hydrogen-containing gas is continued and a surface of said substrate is thereby subjected to oxidation processing.   
   
   
       2 . A substrate processing apparatus comprising:
 a processing chamber in which a substrate is processed;   an oxygen-containing gas supply line which supplies an oxygen-containing gas into said processing chamber;   a hydrogen-containing gas supply line which supplies a hydrogen-containing gas into said processing chamber;   an exhaust line which evacuates the interior of said processing chamber;   a vacuum pump which is connected to said exhaust line and which evacuates the interior of said processing chamber to a vacuum; and   a controller which performs a control action so that in a state in which a substrate, in which at least a layer that contains silicon atoms but does not contain metal atoms and a layer that contains metal atoms are exposed at the surface, is loaded into the processing chamber, a pressure inside said processing chamber is set at a pressure that is less than atmospheric pressure, a flow rate ratio B/A of a flow rate B of the hydrogen-containing gas to a flow rate A of the oxygen-containing gas supplied into said processing chamber is set at 2 or greater, and a surface of said substrate is thereby subjected to oxidation processing.   
   
   
       3 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein said controller is further configured to perform the control action so that a temperature inside said processing chamber is increased to a processing temperature from a temperature at the time at which said substrate is loaded into said processing chamber, the temperature inside said processing chamber is maintained at said processing temperature, the temperature inside said processing chamber is lowered from said processing temperature to a temperature at the time at which said substrate is unloaded from said processing chamber, the introduction of said hydrogen-containing gas is performed at least from the time at which the temperature inside said processing chamber is increased, and the introduction of said oxygen-containing gas is performed at least during the period in which the temperature inside said processing chamber is maintained at said processing temperature. 
   
   
       4 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein said controller is further configured to perform the control action so that a temperature inside said processing chamber is increased to a processing temperature from a temperature at the time at which said substrate is loaded into said processing chamber, the temperature inside said processing chamber is maintained at said processing temperature, the temperature inside said processing chamber is lowered from said processing temperature to a temperature at the time at which said substrate is unloaded from said processing chamber, the introduction of said hydrogen-containing gas is performed from a point prior to the time at which the temperature inside said processing chamber is increased, and the introduction of said oxygen-containing gas is performed at least during the period in which the temperature inside said processing chamber is maintained at said processing temperature. 
   
   
       5 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein said controller is further configured to perform the control action so that the pressure inside said processing chamber at the time at which said hydrogen-containing gas is introduced in advance is set at a value that is greater than the pressure inside said processing chamber at the time at which said oxygen-containing gas is introduced in a state in which the introduction of said hydrogen-containing gas is continued. 
   
   
       6 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein at least a layer that contains silicon atoms but does not contain metal atoms and a layer that contains metal atoms are exposed at the surface of said substrate subjected to oxidation processing. 
   
   
       7 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein said controller is further configured to perform the control action so that a flow rate ratio B/A of a flow rate B of said hydrogen-containing gas to a flow rate A of said oxygen-containing gas is set at 2 or greater. 
   
   
       8 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein said controller is further configured to perform the control action so that the pressure inside said processing chamber at the time at which said oxygen-containing gas is introduced in a state in which the introduction of said hydrogen-containing gas is continued is set at 1333 Pa or less. 
   
   
       9 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein said controller is further configured to perform the control action so that said hydrogen-containing gas is introduced in advance into said processing chamber, said oxygen-containing gas is then introduced in a state in which the introduction of said hydrogen-containing gas is continued, and the introduction of said oxygen-containing gas is subsequently stopped in the state in which the introduction of said hydrogen-containing gas is continued. 
   
   
       10 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 6 , said controller is further configured to perform the control action so that a temperature inside said processing chamber is increased to a processing temperature from a temperature at the time at which said substrate is loaded into said processing chamber, the temperature inside said processing chamber is maintained at said processing temperature, the temperature inside said processing chamber is lowered from said processing temperature to a temperature at the time at which said substrate is unloaded from said processing chamber, the introduction of said hydrogen-containing gas is continued at least from the time at which the temperature inside said processing chamber is increased to the time at which the lowering of the temperature inside said processing chamber is completed, and the introduction of said oxygen-containing gas is performed at least during the period in which the temperature inside said processing chamber is maintained at said processing temperature. 
   
   
       11 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein said controller is further configured to perform the control action so that a temperature inside said processing chamber is increased to a processing temperature from a temperature at the time at which said substrate is loaded into said processing chamber, the temperature inside said processing chamber is maintained at said processing temperature, the temperature inside said processing chamber is lowered from said processing temperature to a temperature at the time at which said substrate is unloaded from said processing chamber, the introduction of said hydrogen-containing gas is continued from a point prior to the time at which the temperature inside said processing chamber is increased to a point following the time at which the lowering of the temperature inside said processing chamber is completed, and the introduction of said oxygen-containing gas is performed at least during the period in which the temperature inside said processing chamber is maintained at said processing temperature. 
   
   
       12 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein said layer that contains silicon atoms but does not contain metal atoms is at least one layer selected from the group including a silicon single crystal substrate, a polycrystalline silicon film, a silicon nitride film, and a silicon dioxide film, and said layer that contains metal atoms is at least one layer selected from the group including a silicide film, a metal film, and a metal oxide film. 
   
   
       13 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein said controller is further configured to perform the control action so that the pressure inside said processing chamber and said flow rate ratio B/A are set in a range in which only said layer that contains silicon atoms but does not contain metal atoms is selectively oxidized without any oxidation of said layer that contains metal atoms. 
   
   
       14 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein, said controller is further configured to perform the control action so that the pressure inside said processing chamber is set at 1333 Pa or less, and said flow rate ratio B/A is set at 2 or greater. 
   
   
       15 . The substrate processing apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein, said controller is configured to perform the control action so that the pressure inside said processing chamber is set at 1333 Pa or less, and said flow rate ratio B/A is set at a value ranging from 2 or greater to 5 or less.