JP2002289597A - Heat treatment device and its method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress the treatment irregularity in the reforming treatment of a thin film which is performed to a substrate after film treatment. SOLUTION: The substrate is placed within a treatment container, and also at the sidewall of the treatment container, an opening is made on the level where it fronts on the surface of the substrate. This opening and an active speed generation means provided in the vicinity of the treatment container are connected with each other by gas supply path. The inwall of the treatment container is provided with a pair of gas injection means such that they catch the above opening. When activating gas is sent from the active seed generation means to the substrate after film formation, the gas injection means injects carrier gas while regulating the discharge flow rates of both, and it puts the direction of the activating gas into right and left. As a result, the oxygen radicals within the activating gas are supplied equally to the entire surface of the wafer, thus performing reforming treatment high in under-surface equality.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heat treatment apparatus and a method for performing heat treatment on a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As one of semiconductor device manufacturing processes, for example, a CV is applied to a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to as a wafer).
In some cases, a film forming process is performed by D (chemical vapor deposition), and an annealing process is performed to improve the film quality of a thin film formed by the film forming process. An example of such a process is a process of forming a tantalum oxide (Ta2O5) film and supplying oxygen radicals to the film to improve the film quality.

[0003] The device shown in FIG.
Denotes a processing vessel, in which a mounting table 12 for mounting a wafer W to be processed and a shower head 13 for supplying a film forming gas from above the mounting table 12 are provided. The lower opening of the mounting table 12 is hermetically closed by a transmission window 14 made of, for example, quartz. Further, a heating lamp 15 for heating the wafer W from the back side is provided below the processing container 11. Active species generating means 16 is provided in the vicinity of the processing vessel 11.
The wafer W is heated by the
At 6 the source gas is activated to generate oxygen radicals,
The activated gas containing oxygen radicals is supplied to the processing vessel 1
This is performed by supplying the wafer W from the side to the surface of the wafer W through a gas supply port 17 opened on the side wall of the first wafer W. In such a process, oxygen radicals enter the thin film on the surface of the wafer W to become oxygen ions, and tantalum and oxygen ions form a chemically stable structure in the film. As a result, the film quality is improved.

[0004]

However, when an activated gas containing oxygen radicals is supplied from the side wall of the processing chamber 11 toward the surface of the wafer W, as the gas moves away from the supply port 17 as shown in FIG. When the gas is blown out from the gas supply port 17 and blows out from the gas supply port 17, the flow velocity is higher at the central portion. Therefore, when modeling and considering the gas flow, as shown by an arc-shaped dotted line in FIG. And spread. The dotted line in an arc shown in FIG. 8 indicates that the gas blown out at a certain point in time is diffused, and the concentration of the active species is higher on the near side as viewed from the gas supply port 17 and decreases as the distance from the gas supply port 17 increases. Therefore, when viewed from a certain point on the center line, the concentration in the left and right regions is lower than the concentration of the active species at that point, so that the in-plane uniformity of the modification process is reduced in accordance with this concentration distribution. There's a problem.

Here, if the wafer W is rotated, the uniformity of the concentration distribution of the active species can be improved. However, since the heating lamp 14 is disposed below the processing vessel 11, complicated rotation is required. It is necessary to provide a mechanism.

On the other hand, it is conceivable to supply active species from the shower head 13. However, since the shower head has a structure in which a plurality of diffusion plates for uniformly diffusing the film forming gas are stacked, the inside of the shower head is provided. The flow path to be formed has a long distance, and if active species are flowed, the life of the active species ends, and the concentration of the active species supplied into the processing container 11 is likely to be lower than a predetermined value. Not.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a highly uniform process for guiding active species generated outside a processing container into a processing container to process a substrate. It is an object of the present invention to provide a technology capable of performing the above.

[0008]

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a heat treatment apparatus including: a processing vessel provided with a substrate mounting table; and a heating unit for heating the substrate mounted on the mounting table. In a heat treatment apparatus for carrying a substrate one by one into a processing container and performing processing on the substrate with active species while heating the substrate, the heat treatment apparatus is provided near the processing container and activates a source gas to convert the active species. An active species generating means for generating, a gas supply port for supplying the active species from the side toward the surface of the substrate, and a direction in which the active species flows in from the gas supply port. And a wind direction adjusting means for swinging the board from side to side as viewed from the mouth.

According to such a structure, a heat treatment with high in-plane uniformity can be performed and the active species can be evenly supplied to the substrate surface. This has the effect that unevenness in the processing hardly occurs in the annealing treatment for the modification of the metal.

[0010] Since a highly uniform process can be performed without rotating the substrate, it is effective when the apparatus is shared between the film forming process and the above-described annealing process performed after the film forming process. In this case, for example, in addition to the above-described configuration, a film is provided so as to face the surface of the substrate placed on the mounting table, and has a number of holes, and supplies a film-forming gas to the substrate through these holes. A gas supply unit, and an apparatus for supplying a deposition gas to the substrate from the deposition gas supply unit to form a thin film, and then supplying an active species to the substrate from a gas supply port to perform processing on the thin film. And a control unit for controlling the control.

A thin film formed in such a configuration is a metal oxide film such as tantalum oxide. For example, when oxygen radicals are used as active species, oxygen radicals enter the thin film and are stabilized. Be improved.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a heat treatment apparatus for heating a substrate disposed in a processing vessel and performing processing on the substrate with the processing gas, wherein the processing gas is directed toward a surface of the substrate. A gas supply port for supplying from the side, and a processing gas that is provided on the left side of the gas supply port and blows a carrier gas toward the front right side of the gas supply port to flow into the processing container from the gas supply port. First gas injection means for shifting the flow direction of the gas to the right side, and a processing container provided from the gas supply port to the right side of the gas supply port by blowing a carrier gas toward the front left side of the gas supply port. Second gas injection means for shifting the flow direction of the processing gas flowing into the inside to the left,
And an adjusting unit for adjusting the gas injection flow rate of the gas injection means and the second gas injection means to swing the flow direction of the processing gas to the left and right.

According to such a configuration, by using the first and second gas injection means, the direction of the processing gas supplied from the side to the substrate can be viewed from the supply side of the processing gas. Since the substrate can be swung in the left-right direction, processing unevenness is unlikely to occur in each part of the substrate surface, and heat treatment with high in-plane uniformity can be performed. Further, instead of the above-described first and second gas injection means, a wind direction adjusting member which can be rotated left and right may be provided at the gas supply port, and the gas supply path may be configured to be freely bent. The same effect can be obtained by providing a means for bending the gas supply path left and right.
When a means for bending the gas supply path is provided, the distal end of the gas supply path connected to the processing container is preferably wider than the base end side connected to the active species generation means.

Further, in the heat treatment method according to the present invention, the step of carrying the substrate into the processing vessel and the step of supplying a film-forming gas to the substrate from a number of gas supply holes provided so as to face the surface of the substrate. Forming a thin film, and thereafter, supplying the active species from the side to the surface of the substrate while changing the inflow direction from side to side, and performing a process on the thin film. Features.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a heat treatment apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
Reference numeral 21 denotes a processing container made of, for example, aluminum. A wafer mounting table 22 made of, for example, carbon and coated with, for example, SiC and having a disk shape slightly larger than the wafer W to be processed is provided in the processing container 21. ing. A gate valve 23 for carrying the wafer W into the processing container 21 is provided on one of the side walls of the processing container 21, and an opening 24 serving as a gas supply port is formed on the other side. A gas supply path 31 that communicates with the active species generating means 3 is airtightly connected.

The active species generating means 3 generates active species, for example, oxygen radicals, supplied to the surface of the wafer W in order to improve the quality of a thin film formed on the surface of the wafer W in a film forming process described later. For example, a high frequency voltage is applied to a source gas to activate the gas. The active species generating means 3 is provided, for example, at a position close to the side of the processing container 21 in consideration of the short life of the active species, and the opening 24 is located near the surface of the wafer W and facing the wafer W, for example. It is formed on the side wall of the processing container 21 at substantially the same level as the surface of the wafer W. On the other hand, a source gas for generating oxygen radicals, for example, a mixed gas of nitrogen and oxygen in the active species generating means 3 is configured to be supplied from a source gas supply source 33 via a supply path 32 and a valve V0.

On the side wall of the processing vessel 21, there is provided a pair of gas direction adjusting means for oscillating the direction in which the active species flows into the processing vessel 21 through the gas supply path 31 and the opening 24. Injecting means 4a, 4b (not shown in FIG. 1)
Is provided.

Here, the center of the active species generating means 3 and the wafer W
Assuming that the center line of the gas supply path 31 connecting the center of the gas supply line 31 with the center line is L1, the gas injection means 4a and 4b sandwich the opening 24 as shown in the plan view of FIG. It is provided on the left and right so as to be symmetric. Assuming that the direction in which the discharge holes 41 at the tips of the gas injection means 4a and 4b face the wafer W from the opening 24 is the front, the gas injection port 4a provided in the right hand is the left front and the gas injection port provided in the left hand. The mouths 4b are respectively positioned so as to face the right front, so that a propulsive force by a carrier gas, which will be described later, is applied to the active species from an oblique rear side.

On the other hand, the base end of the gas injection means 4a is provided with a valve V1 and the base end of the gas injection means 4b is provided with a valve V2 for supplying a carrier gas comprising an inert gas such as nitrogen gas. It is connected to a carrier gas supply source 42 for supply. The valves V1 and V2 are provided for adjusting the discharge flow rate of the carrier gas, and are configured so that the control unit 43 adjusts the opening of the valves V1 and V2. The opening degree of the control unit 43 can be adjusted separately for the valve V1 and the valve V2.
The direction in which the active species flows from 4 can be swung right and left when the substrate is viewed from the opening 24.

As shown in the figure, for example, around the wafer mounting table 22, the exhaust port 10
Exhaust ports 103 and 104 are provided on the back side, respectively, and each is connected to a vacuum pump (not shown). These exhaust ports 101 to 104 are, for example,
By controlling the opening / closing means (not shown) in 3, it is possible to switch the location where the gas is exhausted. For example, in the film forming process and in the thin film reforming process (annealing process) performed after the film forming process. By switching the open / close position, a gas flow suitable for each process can be formed in the processing container 21.

Here, returning to FIG. 1 again and continuing the description,
A shower head 51, which is a film forming gas supply unit, is provided on the ceiling of the processing chamber 21 so as to face the wafer mounting table 22, and the shower head 51 supplies the film forming gas to the entire surface of the wafer W. Are formed in the bottom surface so that a large number of holes 52 face downward.
Inside the shower head 51, a plurality of diffusion plates 54 having a large number of holes 53 are provided. Although a plurality of diffusion plates 54 are actually provided as described above, only one diffusion plate is shown here for the sake of drawing. A gas supply pipe 55 and a valve V3 are provided at the upper end of the shower head 51.
The film forming gas supply source 56 is connected via the. For example, tantalum oxide (Ta 2 O 5)
A liquid source of Ta (OC2H5) 5 is stored as a film forming component, and during the film forming process, the liquid source is vaporized using a carrier gas to form a vapor, and the vapor is supplied from a carrier gas supply source (not shown). It is configured so that it can be sent to the shower head 51 as a film forming gas together with the carrier gas to be formed.

A wafer lift 25 is provided around the wafer mounting table 22. The wafer lift 25 is movable up and down so that the wafer W can be transferred to and from a transfer arm (not shown) for loading and unloading the wafer W. It is configured. A gas rectifying plate 26 having a hole formed therein so that an inert gas flows therethrough is provided below the wafer mounting table 22, and a gas rectifying plate 26 further below the gas rectifying plate 26 that closes a lower opening of the processing container 21. A window 27 is provided in an airtight manner.

On the other hand, a heating section 6 is provided below the transmission window 27. The heating section 6 has a reflecting plate 61 having a plurality of mortar-shaped recesses 60 and, for example, concentric circles so as to fit in these recesses 60. A plurality of heating lamps 62 such as a halogen lamp and an arc lamp arranged along the
And a rotary table 63 for rotating the reflection plate 61 from the rear surface side around a vertical axis in order to uniformly raise the temperature of the wafer W over the entire surface.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described. First, when the gate valve 23 is opened, a transfer arm (not shown) enters the processing chamber 21, and the wafer W is transferred from the transfer arm to the wafer lift 25. Thereafter, the wafer lift 25 is lowered to place the wafer W at the center of the wafer mounting table 22, and the surface temperature of the wafer W is increased by the heating lamp 62 until a predetermined process temperature, for example, 480 ° C. is reached. Then, the valve V3 is opened, and when the film forming gas is supplied from the shower head 51 toward the surface of the wafer W, the inside of the processing chamber 21 is maintained at a predetermined degree of vacuum by a vacuum pump (not shown) via the exhaust ports 101 to 104. As a result, the film forming gas is decomposed by receiving thermal energy on the wafer W, and a thin film of, for example, tantalum oxide (Ta2 O5) is formed on the entire surface of the wafer W by a chemical vapor reaction. Then, the supply of the deposition gas is stopped, and the heating by the heating unit 6 is further stopped to lower the temperature of the wafer W to the process temperature of the annealing process in the next step.

Next, an annealing process for improving the quality of the tantalum oxide film formed on the surface of the wafer W will be described. First, an inert gas is supplied from the shower head 51 to make the inside of the processing vessel 21 an inert gas atmosphere, and the two exhaust ports 101 and 102 are closed to close the remaining two exhaust ports 1.
The system is evacuated via 03 and 104 to maintain a predetermined degree of vacuum. On the other hand, the wafer W is maintained at a predetermined process temperature, for example, 580 ° C. by the heating lamp 62, and in this state, a source gas in which, for example, nitrogen and oxygen are mixed is supplied to the active species generating means 3 to generate oxygen radicals as active species. The activated gas (plasma) is supplied into the processing chamber 21 through the opening 24. This gas flows toward the surface of the wafer W, and oxygen radicals enter the thin film on the surface of the wafer W to become oxygen ions, and tantalum and oxygen ions form a chemically stable structure in the film. When processing container 21
Inside, the controller 43 controls the discharge of the gas from the gas injection means 4a and 4b, whereby the gas flow is supplied while changing its direction from left to right. Here, the relationship between the direction of the gas flow and the operation of the gas injection means 4a, 4b will be described with reference to FIG. The purpose here is to distribute the gas flow straight from the active species generating means 3 along the gas supply path 31 to the left and right directions when the wafer W faces the opening 24, and oxygen radicals of the wafer W The aim is to be evenly distributed over the entire surface. In the present embodiment, the distribution in the left-right direction is realized by changing the balance of the discharge flow rate of the carrier gas between the gas injection unit 4a and the gas injection unit 4b.

That is, first, the controller 43 sets the gas injection means 4a
Is closed, and the valve V2 related to the gas injection means 4b is fully opened. As a result, the gas flow receives the injection pressure of the carrier gas obliquely from the left rearward when the gas flow advances forward from the tip of the gas injection means 4b.
(A), the course is changed to the right as shown by the solid line.

Then, by gradually opening the valve V1 to increase the discharge flow rate of the gas injection means 4a and closing the valve V2 to decrease the discharge flow rate of the gas injection means 4b, the direction of the gas flow becomes as shown in FIG. The wafer W is gradually swung from the right side to the left side of the wafer W indicated by the dotted line in b). FIG. 3 (b)
An arrow indicated by a solid line therein indicates, for example, the traveling direction of the gas flow when the discharge flow rate of the gas injection means 4a is slightly larger than the discharge flow rate of the gas injection means 4b. And FIG.
(C) shows a state in which the valve V2 according to the gas injection unit 4b is closed and the valve V1 according to the gas injection unit 4 (a) is fully opened. In this manner, the gas flow direction extends to the left end of the wafer W. Once reached, the gas flow direction is reversed
Returning from (c) to FIG. 3 (b) and FIG. 3 (a), a series of operations is repeated.

By the way, since the gas flow is diffused as shown in FIG. 8 described above, if the gas flow is directed to the center of the wafer W, the oxygen radical concentration is laterally separated from a line connecting the center of the wafer W and the opening 24. When the direction of the gas flow is shifted to the right, the oxygen radical concentration in the right region of the wafer W increases, the oxygen radical concentration in the central region of the wafer W decreases, and the direction of the gas flow changes to the left. When the wafer W is shaken, the oxygen radical concentration in the left region of the wafer W is high and the oxygen radical concentration in the central region of the wafer W is low, so that the oxygen radical concentration is eventually flattened and the in-plane uniformity with respect to the wafer W is high. A reforming treatment can be performed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the in-plane uniformity is improved in the annealing process performed on the wafer after film formation to improve the film quality. Since a pair of gas injection means 4a and 4b are used to distribute the active species to each part of the wafer W, the film forming process and the annealing process for modifying the thin film are performed by a common apparatus. In addition, the above-described effect can be improved without using the rotation mechanism of the wafer W, and further, there is no possibility that the lifetime of the active species is exhausted during the movement in the annealing process. Further, since the traveling direction of the active species is changed by the jetting power of the gas, there is an advantage that the number of movable parts in the processing container can be reduced.

The gas injection means 4a, 4b in the above-described embodiment is constructed so as to be rotatable in the left-right direction, and the direction of gas injection is changed in addition to the ratio of the gas discharge flow rates of the two gas injection means 4a, 4b. By doing so, the traveling direction of the gas flow may be finely adjusted.

Further, the wind direction adjusting means in the present embodiment is not limited to the gas injection means, but may be another means having the same effect. For example, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, a wind direction adjusting plate 71 is provided as a wind direction adjusting means near the tip of the gas supply path 31 instead of the gas injection means 4a and 4b. The wind direction adjusting means includes, for example, a wind direction adjusting plate 71 having a streamlined cross section as shown in FIG. 5, a shaft portion 72 which penetrates the gas supply passage 31 in a vertical direction airtightly and axially supports the wind direction adjusting plate 71. An actuated portion 73 provided outside the gas supply path 31 at, for example, an upper end of the shaft portion 72, and the actuated portion 73 is, for example, a wind direction adjusting plate 71
Rotates about a vertical axis. When supplying the active species to the wafer W, as shown in FIG.
By gradually changing the direction of the tip of the wafer, the gas flow is swung right and left as in the above-described embodiment, and oxygen radicals spread over the entire wafer W with high uniformity. This wind direction adjustment plate 71
Can be set at any position as long as the direction of the gas flow can be swung right and left.

Further, according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, it is possible to achieve the same effect as the above-described two embodiments. In the present embodiment, the tip 81 of the gas supply path 31 has a trumpet shape that spreads from the active species generating means 3 side to the processing vessel 21 sideways, and the rear end and the active species generating means 3 can be freely bent. The active species generating means 3 itself is slid in the left-right direction of the wafer W while a moving means 83 including a driving unit and a rail is provided below the active species generating means 3 while being airtightly connected by a suitable member such as a bellows 82. It is configured as follows.

That is, in this embodiment, the traveling direction of the active species is determined by moving the active species generating means 3 itself. Flexes and expands and contracts with movement,
Further, since the tip 81 has a shape in which the tip is widened in accordance with the angle at which the active species generating means 3 moves, there is little possibility that the gas flow strikes the left and right ends of the opening 24 and changes its direction. The wafer W according to the position of the means 3
Go straight to the left and right of the surface. Therefore, also in the present embodiment, the gas flow can be distributed to the left and right similarly to the above-described embodiment, and a reforming process with high in-plane uniformity can be performed. .

The three embodiments described so far may be used in combination with each other. For example, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the tip of the gas supply passage 31 is replaced by the tip shown in FIG. 81 and the plate-like body 7 is disposed, for example, behind the opening 24, the amount of active species hitting the inner wall of the processing vessel 21 near the opening 24 can be reduced. Therefore, the accuracy of directing the active species to the intended site can be increased.

The air flow direction adjusting means used in the above-described embodiment is not only used in the annealing process using oxygen radicals, but may be used, for example, in CVD or when supplying a processing gas in etching.

[0036]

As described above, according to the heat treatment apparatus and method according to the present invention, heat treatment with high in-plane uniformity can be performed on a substrate. In particular, in the modification process for the thin film after the film formation process, unevenness in the process is less likely to occur and is effective.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an embodiment of a heat treatment apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a heat treatment apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view showing another embodiment of the heat treatment apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view for explaining a main part in the other embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view showing still another embodiment of the heat treatment apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view showing a heat treatment apparatus according to a conventional invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a problem to be solved by the invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 W Wafer 21 Processing container 22 Wafer mounting table 24 Opening 3 Active species generating means 31 Gas supply path 4a, 4b Gas injection means 41 Discharge hole 42 Carrier gas supply source 43 Control unit 51 Shower head 56 Deposition gas supply source 6 Heating unit

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Kazuhiko Imamura 5-6 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo TBS Release Center Tokyo Electron Limited F-term (reference) 4K030 AA11 AA14 BA17 BA42 CA04 CA12 DA09 EA01 EA04 EA08 KA24 KA45 LA15 5F045 AB31 AC11 AD08 DP03 DP04 EF01 EF08 EF10 EK11 EK14 HA16

Claims (8)

[Claims] A processing container provided with a substrate mounting table;
A heating unit for heating a substrate mounted on the mounting table, a heat treatment for carrying the substrates one by one into the processing container, and performing a process on the substrate with active species while heating the substrate. In the apparatus, an active species generating means provided near the processing container for activating a source gas to generate active species, and for supplying the active species from a side toward the surface of the substrate A heat treatment apparatus comprising: a gas supply port; and a wind direction adjusting means for oscillating the direction in which the active species flows in from the gas supply port from side to side when viewing the substrate from the gas supply port. 2. A film forming gas supply unit which is provided so as to face a surface of a substrate mounted on a mounting table, includes a plurality of holes, and supplies a film forming gas to the substrate through these holes. A film forming gas is supplied from the film forming gas supply unit to the substrate to form a thin film, and then an active species is supplied to the substrate from a gas supply port to control the apparatus to perform processing on the thin film. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the thin film is a metal oxide film, the active species is an oxygen radical, and the processing on the thin film is a modification process of the metal oxide film. 4. A heat treatment apparatus for heating a substrate disposed in a processing vessel and performing processing on the substrate with the processing gas, wherein a gas for supplying the processing gas from the side toward the surface of the substrate. A supply port, which is provided on the left side of the gas supply port, and blows a carrier gas toward the front right side of the gas supply port to shift the flow direction of the processing gas flowing into the processing container from the gas supply port to the right side. A first gas injection means for supplying a flow of processing gas, which is provided on the right side of the gas supply port and blows carrier gas toward the front left side of the gas supply port to flow into the processing vessel from the gas supply port A second gas injection means for shifting the direction of the processing gas to the left; and adjusting the gas injection flow rates of the first gas injection means and the second gas injection means to change the flow direction of the processing gas right and left. Heat treatment apparatus for the adjustment unit, comprising the. 5. A heat treatment apparatus for heating a substrate disposed in a processing vessel and performing processing on the substrate with the processing gas, wherein a gas for supplying the processing gas from the side toward the surface of the substrate. A supply port; and a wind direction adjusting member provided at the gas supply port and rotatably provided left and right to swing the direction of the processing gas flowing into the processing container from the gas supply port to the left and right. A heat treatment apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. 6. A heat treatment apparatus for heating a substrate disposed in a processing vessel and performing processing on the substrate by a processing gas, wherein one end of the processing gas is supplied to a surface of the substrate from a side. The side is formed as a gas supply port, and the gas supply path is configured so that the vicinity of the gas supply port is bendable. A heat treatment apparatus comprising: means for bending a road to the left and right. 7. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 6, wherein a front end of the gas supply path connected to the processing container is wider than a base end side connected to the active species generation means. 8. A step of carrying a substrate into a processing vessel, and then a step of supplying a film-forming gas to the substrate from a number of gas supply holes provided so as to face the surface of the substrate to form a thin film. And thereafter, supplying the active species from the side to the surface of the substrate while changing the inflow direction from side to side, and performing a process on the thin film.