Claims
- 1. A vacuum degassing and curing apparatus comprising: a chamber;
- means for moving at least one article to be subjected to vacuum degassing and curing into said chamber;
- means for providing a vacuum of less than about 100 mtorr. in said chamber;
- means for maintaining the temperature of said article at a substantially constant level within a first range of temperature during the said vacuum degassing;
- means for ramping the temperature at a controlled rate from the said first range of temperature up to the desired second range of temperature for said curing;
- means for maintaining the temperature of said article at a substantially constant level within said second range of temperature during the said curing;
- means for providing a constant inert gas flow to fill said chamber under the vacuum conditions during operation; and
- means for cooling said chamber and said article.
- 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said first range of temperature is between about 250.degree. to 350.degree. C. and said second range of temperature is between about 350.degree. to 500.degree. C. and the maintenance of said temperature at said constant value is within about plus/minus 3.degree. C.
- 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the said article is at least one semiconductor wafer having a spin-on-glass layer thereon and said means for moving said article into said chamber includes a cassette to carry said at least one wafer.
- 4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said means for moving said article into said chamber includes means for transporting a plurality of wafers from the cassette to a quartz boat and then into said chamber within said quartz boat.
- 5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said means for ramping the temperature at a controlled rate is at a rate of between about 1.degree. to 10.degree. C. per minute.
- 6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the said means for providing a constant inert gas flow includes a flow rate at least about 10 sccm. per minute and the gas is nitrogen.
- 7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the said means for cooling said chamber and article include passing cooling water through a heat exchanger.
- 8. A vacuum degassing and curing apparatus for degassing and curing a spin-on-glass layer on a integrated circuit wafer comprising:
- a chamber;
- means for moving at least one said wafer to be subjected to vacuum degassing and during into said chamber; means for providing a vacuum of less than about 100 mtorr. in said chamber;
- means for maintaining the temperature of said wafer at a substantially constant level within a first range of temperature between about 250.degree. to 350.degree. C. during the said vacuum degassing;
- means for ramping the temperature at a controlled rate from the said first range of temperature up to a desired second range of temperature for said curing;
- means for maintaining the temperature of said wafer at a substantially constant level within said second range of temperature between about 350.degree. to 500.degree. C. during the said curing;
- means for providing a constant inert gas flow to fill said chamber under the vacuum conditions during operation; and,
- means for cooling said chamber and said wafer.
- 9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said means for moving said article into said chamber includes means for transporting a plurality of wafers from a cassette to a quartz boat and then into said chamber within said quartz boat.
- 10. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said means for ramping the temperature at a controlled rate is at a rate of between about 1.degree. to 10.degree. C. per minute.
- 11. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the said means for providing a constant inert gas flow includes a flow rate of at least about 10 sccm per minute and the gas is nitrogen.
- 12. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the said means for cooling said chamber and article include passing Helium gas through the chamber while using cooling water through a heat exchanger.
Parent Case Info
This application is a division of U.S. Ser. No. 07/618,199 filed on Nov. 19, 1990, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,787.
US Referenced Citations (8)
Non-Patent Literature Citations (3)
Entry |
Gupta et al; "Interlevel Dielectric planarization with Spin-on-glass films"; V-MIC conference; Jun. 1986; pp. 506-515. |
Yen et al.; "Defect integration with spin-on-glass sandwich as an Intermetal Dielectric Layer for 1.2 Micrometer CMOS DLM process"; V-MIC Conference; Jun. 13-14, 1988; pp. 85-94. |
Forester et al; "SOE planarization for polysilicon and first metal interconnect in a one micron CMOS process"; V-MIC Confer.; Jun. 1988; pp. 72-79. |
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
618199 |
Nov 1990 |
|