JP2006049359A - Wafer boat - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a carbon wafer boat which holds a wafer very tightly with no space formed between the wafer and the wafer boat, at a low cost. <P>SOLUTION: A rectangular flat panel-like main body 11 of the boat is set in an erected state in a heat treatment furnace or in a reaction container of a CVD system. In the main body 11 of the boat, four engagement members 12-15 are formed in a projecting state at a position lower by a prescribed distance d1 from the center in the vertical direction. The engagement members 12-15 are arranged in an orderly manner in the longitudinal direction of the main body 11 of the boat. The engagement members 12-15 have the same size and each are an integral body of a cone-shaped end 32, and a cylindrical base 33 which connects the top side of the cone and the boat surface of the main body 11 of the boat, and are connected and fastened to the boat surface of the main body 11 of the boat. A wafer Wa is held and fastened by the engagement members 12 and 13, and a wafer Wb is held and fastened by the engagement members 13 and 14 while a wafer Wc is held and fastened by the engagement members 14 and 15. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a wafer boat, and more particularly to a wafer boat for holding and fixing wafers used in semiconductor manufacturing.

  In the process of forming semiconductor devices on the surface of a single crystal silicon wafer, various thin films (silicon oxide film, silicon nitride film, etc.) are formed on the wafer when the wafer is subjected to heat treatment or using the CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) method. In this case, a plurality of substantially disk-shaped wafers are held on a wafer boat (wafer board), and the wafer boat is set in a heat treatment furnace or a reaction vessel of a CVD apparatus.

Conventionally, a wafer made of quartz glass has been used as a wafer boat for heat treatment. However, since quartz glass begins to deform due to viscous flow when it exceeds 1000 ° C., it cannot be used at higher temperatures. In addition, quartz glass is brittle and easily broken, and is deteriorated by acid, so its life is short.
Therefore, in recent years, wafer boats made of silicon carbide are used for heat treatment instead of quartz glass (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent No. 3285723 (pages 2-4)

In recent years, use of plasma CVD has been promoted instead of conventional CVD.
In the plasma CVD method, by applying a high-frequency electric field in the reaction vessel of the CVD apparatus, electrons are collided with the source gas to generate plasma, and various thin films are formed on the wafer by irradiating the plasma on the wafer surface. To do.
Therefore, according to the plasma CVD method, as compared with the conventional CVD method using only the thermal excitation of the source gas, the source gas is mutually activated by the collision of the plasma discharge to become radicals. Generation is possible.

However, since quartz glass and silicon carbide wafer boats have low conductivity, they cannot be used for applications in which a thin film is formed on a wafer using the plasma CVD method.
In the plasma CVD method, it is necessary to use a carbon wafer boat having high conductivity and high heat resistance.

FIG. 6A is a front view showing an example of a conventional carbon wafer boat 50. FIG. 6B is a right side view of the wafer boat 50.
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the main part along the line XX in FIG.

The wafer boat 50 includes a boat body 51 and six locking members (claws) 52 to 57.
The rectangular flat boat body 51 is set in a standing state in a heat treatment furnace or a reaction vessel of a CVD apparatus.
The boat body 51 can hold three single-crystal silicon wafers Wa to Wc having the same dimensions and substantially disk shapes in the longitudinal direction.

On the boat surface of the boat main body 51, the respective locking members 52 to 57 are provided so as to protrude.
The locking members 52 to 57 are arranged in the longitudinal direction of the boat body 11 at positions near the lower ends of the wafers Wa to Wc held and fixed to the boat body 11.
The locking members 52 to 57 having the same dimensions have a substantially conical shape, and a substantially conical top portion side is connected and fixed to the boat surface of the boat main body 51.
The wafer Wa is held and fixed by the locking members 52 and 53, the wafer Wb is held and fixed by the locking members 54 and 55, and the wafer Wc is held and fixed by the locking members 56 and 57.
The wafers Wa to Wc are held by the locking members 52 to 57 with the orientation flat facing upward.

However, each locking member 52 to 57 holds the outer peripheral portion in the vicinity of the lower end of each wafer Wa to Wc, and each locking member 52 to 57 is substantially conical.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6B, the upper portion of each wafer Wa to Wc is tilted forward away from the boat body 51 due to its own weight, and a gap S is formed between the upper portion of each wafer Wa to Wc and the boat body 51. There was a problem that it was easy to occur.
Although FIG. 6B shows a state in which a gap S is generated between the wafer Wc and the boat body 51, a similar gap S may be generated for the other wafers Wa and Wb.

Therefore, when the carbon wafer boat 50 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 is used in the plasma CVD method, abnormal discharge occurs in the gap S between the upper portions of the wafers Wa to Wc and the boat body 51, and the thin film generated There is a problem that flakes due to abnormal discharge occur and the wafer becomes defective.
When the abnormal discharge in the gap S is generated in any one of the wafers Wa to Wc, similar flakes are generated in the thin films generated on other wafers, and all the wafers Wa to Wc may be defective.

Further, the wafers Wa to Wc having the gap S between the boat body 51 have a smaller contact area with the wafer boat 50 than the wafers having no gap S.
When the contact area between the wafer boat 50 and the wafers Wa to Wc is reduced, the electrical resistance (contact resistance) of the contact portion is increased, and the thickness of the thin film generated by using the plasma CVD method becomes too thin. There is a problem of becoming defective.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a low-cost carbon wafer boat that can hold a wafer in close contact with the wafer without any gap.

  The invention according to claim 1 is a carbon wafer boat for holding and fixing wafers used in semiconductor manufacturing, and is a flat boat body and a boat projecting from the boat surface of the boat body. A locking member, and the locking member is disposed at a position below the center position of the wafer held and fixed on the boat main body by a predetermined distance, and the wafer has two locking portions at the outer peripheral portion. It is technically characterized by being held and fixed to the boat body by being locked to the boat.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the wafer boat according to the first aspect, a plurality of wafers are held and fixed side by side on the boat body, and two adjacent wafers share one locking member. It is technically characterized by being held and fixed.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the wafer boat according to the first or second aspect, the locking member includes a substantially conical end portion, a substantially conical top portion side of the end portion, and a wafer boat. A cylindrical base end portion for connecting the boat surface, and the wafer is sandwiched between the distal end portion of the locking member and the base end portion and the boat surface of the boat body. Technical features.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the wafer boat according to the first aspect, the locking member includes a side wall portion having a shape matching the outer peripheral shape of the wafer, a side wall portion thereof, and a boat surface of the wafer boat. A base part to be connected, and a concave groove part surrounded by the base part and the side wall part and adapted to the outer peripheral shape of the wafer, and the wafer is fitted into the groove part of the locking member and the side wall It is technically characterized by being sandwiched between the portion and the boat surface of the boat body.

(Claim 1)
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the locking member holds the two positions of the outer peripheral portion at a position lower than the vertical center position of the wafer by a predetermined distance. Therefore, by setting the predetermined distance sufficiently small, the wafer can be held by the locking member in the vicinity of the vertical center position (that is, in the vicinity of the center of gravity position of the wafer).
Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, when the boat body is set in the heat treatment furnace or the reaction vessel of the CVD apparatus in a state where the boat body is set up, the upper part thereof is separated from the boat body and tilts forward by the weight of the wafer. The wafer can be held in a state where the boat body is in close contact with the wafer without any gap.

If the predetermined distance is too small, the wafer may fall off the locking member and easily fall down from the boat body.
For this reason, the predetermined distance may be experimentally found and set by cutting and trying so as to prevent the boat body from tilting after the locking member holds the wafer securely.

  By the way, in order to form various thin films (silicon oxide film, silicon nitride film, etc.) on the surface of the wafer using the plasma CVD method, the boat body holding the wafer is set in the reaction vessel of the CVD apparatus and the reaction is performed. By applying a high frequency electric field in the container, electrons are collided with the source gas to generate plasma, and various thin films are deposited on the wafer by irradiating the plasma on the wafer surface.

Therefore, when there is a gap between the upper part of the wafer and the boat body as in a conventional carbon wafer boat, abnormal discharge occurs in the gap, and flakes due to abnormal discharge occur in the generated thin film, causing the wafer to There is a problem of becoming defective.
However, in the first aspect of the invention, the locking member holds the wafer in a state where the carbon boat body is in close contact with the wafer without any gap.
Therefore, according to the invention of claim 1, it becomes possible to prevent the problems of the conventional wafer boat, no abnormal discharge occurs when forming a thin film using the plasma CVD method, and no flakes are generated in the generated thin film. Therefore, the thin film characteristics can be improved and the yield of the wafer can be improved.

Further, in the invention of claim 1, since the locking member can hold the wafer while the boat body is in close contact with the wafer without any gap, the contact area between the wafer boat and the wafer is increased, and the electrical resistance of the contact portion is reduced. Can be small.
Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the problems of the conventional wafer boat described above can be prevented, and the thickness of the thin film generated by using the plasma CVD method can be sufficiently increased. Thus, the yield of the wafer can be improved.

(Claim 2: corresponds to the first embodiment)
According to the second aspect of the present invention, two adjacent wafers are held and fixed by sharing one locking member, so that the number of locking members can be reduced as compared with the conventional wafer boat. As a result, the wafer boat can be manufactured at a low cost because the number of the locking members is small.

(Claim 3: corresponds to the first embodiment)
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the locking member includes a substantially conical end portion and a columnar base end portion.
Therefore, the wafer can be clamped and fixed between the distal end portion and the base end portion and the boat surface of the boat body by appropriately setting the inclination of the conical outer peripheral slope of the end portion and the height of the base end portion. It becomes possible.
Therefore, according to the invention of claim 3, coupled with the operation and effect of the invention of claim 1, the wafer can be reliably held in a state where the boat body is in close contact with the wafer without any gap.

Note that if the locking member clamps the wafer too tightly, when the thin film is formed on the wafer using the plasma CVD method, the locking member is locked due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the carbon locking member and the wafer. There is a possibility that the wafer adheres to the member and the wafer cannot be removed from the boat body after the thin film is formed.
Therefore, the inclination of the conical outer peripheral slope of the distal end and the height of the base end can be prevented so that the wafer can be prevented from adhering to the locking member after sufficiently increasing the adhesion of the wafer to the boat body. Can be set by finding the optimum value experimentally.

(Claim 4: corresponds to the second embodiment)
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the locking member includes a concave groove portion surrounded by the side wall portion and the base portion, and the groove portion is formed in accordance with the outer peripheral shape of the wafer.
Therefore, by appropriately setting the width, height, and length of the groove portion, the wafer can be fitted into the groove portion and sandwiched and fixed between the side wall portion and the boat surface of the boat body.
Therefore, according to the invention of claim 4, in combination with the operation and effect of the invention of claim 1, the boat body can be reliably held in a state where the boat body is in close contact with the wafer without any gap.

Note that if the locking member clamps the wafer too tightly, when the thin film is formed on the wafer using the plasma CVD method, the locking member is locked due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the carbon locking member and the wafer. There is a possibility that the wafer adheres to the groove portion of the member and the wafer cannot be removed from the boat body after the thin film is formed.
Therefore, we have experimentally found optimum values for the width, height, and length of the groove so that the wafer can be prevented from sticking to the locking member after sufficiently increasing the adhesion of the wafer to the boat body. Can be set.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1A is a front view showing an example of a carbon wafer boat 10 according to a first embodiment that embodies the present invention. FIG. 1B is a right side view of the wafer boat 10.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line XX in FIG.

The wafer boat 10 includes a boat body 11 and four locking members (claws) 12 to 15.
The rectangular plate-like boat body 11 is set up in a standing state in a heat treatment furnace or a reaction vessel of a CVD apparatus.
The boat body 11 can hold three single-crystal silicon wafers Wa to Wc having the same dimensions and substantially disk shapes in the longitudinal direction.

On the boat surface of the boat body 11, the locking members 12 to 15 are provided so as to protrude.
The locking members 12 to 15 are arranged side by side in the longitudinal direction of the boat body 11 at a position below the center position of the wafers Wa to Wc held and fixed to the boat body 11 by a predetermined distance d1.
Each of the locking members 12 to 15 having the same dimensions includes a substantially conical end portion 21 and a columnar base end portion 22 that connects the substantially conical top portion side of the end portion 21 and the boat surface of the boat body 11. And are integrally formed.

The boat body 11 and the locking members 12 to 15 are made of carbon made of ceramics obtained by firing carbon powder, and the locking members 12 to 15 may be formed integrally with the boat body 11.
Further, the locking members 12 to 15 formed separately from the boat main body 11 may be bonded and fixed to the boat main body 11.

Each of the wafers Wa to Wc is held and fixed to the boat body 11 by locking the two outer peripheral portions to the locking members 12 to 15.
That is, the wafer Wa is held and fixed by the locking members 12 and 13, the wafer Wb is held and fixed by the locking members 13 and 14, and the wafer Wc is held and fixed by the locking members 14 and 15. That is, the locking member 13 is shared for holding and fixing the wafers Wa and Wb, and the locking member 14 is shared for holding and fixing the wafers Wb and Wc.
Each of the wafers Wa to Wc is held by the locking members 12 to 15 with the orientation flat facing upward.

[Operations and effects of the first embodiment]
According to the first embodiment, the following actions and effects can be obtained.

[1-1]
Each of the locking members 12 to 15 holds two places on the outer peripheral portion at a position below the center position of the wafers Wa to Wc by a predetermined distance d1.
Therefore, by setting the predetermined distance d1 to be sufficiently small, the wafers Wa to Wc can be held by the locking members 12 to 15 in the vicinity of the vertical center position (that is, in the vicinity of the center of gravity position of the wafer). .
Therefore, according to the first embodiment, it is possible to prevent the upper portion of the wafers Wa to Wc from being inclined away from the boat body 11 due to its own weight.

If the predetermined distance d1 is too small, the wafers Wa to Wc are easily dropped from the boat main body 11 by dropping from the locking members 12 to 15.
For this reason, the predetermined distance d1 is optimally experimentally tested by cut-and-try so that each locking member 12-15 can securely hold each wafer Wa-Wc and prevent the boat body 11 from tilting. Find and set the value.

[1-2]
In each of the locking members 12 to 15, a substantially conical end portion 21 and a columnar base end portion 22 are integrally formed.
Therefore, by appropriately setting the inclination of the conical outer peripheral slope of the distal end portion 21 and the height h of the base end portion 22, each wafer is placed between each end portion 21, 22 and the boat surface of the boat body 11. Wa to Wc can be clamped and fixed.
Therefore, according to the first embodiment, coupled with the operation and effect of [1-1], the wafer body 11 can be held in a state where the boat main body 11 is in close contact with each of the wafers Wa to Wc without any gap.

In addition, when each locking member 12-15 clamps each wafer Wa-Wc too firmly, when forming a thin film on a wafer using plasma CVD method, each locking member 12-15 made from carbon and Due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient from the wafer made of single crystal silicon, the wafers Wa to Wc are fixed to the locking members 12 to 15, and the wafers Wa to Wc may not be removed from the boat body 11 after the thin film is formed. is there.
Therefore, the cone of the end portion 21 can be prevented so that the wafers Wa to Wc can be prevented from adhering to the locking members 12 to 15 after sufficiently increasing the adhesion of the wafers Wa to Wc to the boat body 11. The optimum value of the slope of the outer peripheral slope and the height h of the base end portion 22 may be found and set experimentally.

[1-3]
In the first embodiment, the locking member 13 is shared for holding and fixing the wafers Wa and Wb, and the locking member 14 is shared for holding and fixing the wafers Wb and Wc. That is, two adjacent wafers Wa, Wb (Wb, Wc) are held and fixed by sharing one locking member 13 (14), so that the three locking members 12 to 15 have three sheets. Wafers Wa to Wc can be held.
On the other hand, the conventional wafer boat 50 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 requires six locking members 52 to 57 to hold the three wafers Wa to Wc.
Therefore, according to the wafer boat 10 of the first embodiment, compared to the conventional wafer boat 50, it can be manufactured at a lower cost because the number of the locking members 12 to 15 is smaller.

[1-4]
In order to form various thin films (silicon oxide film, silicon nitride film, etc.) on the surfaces of the wafers Wa to Wc using the plasma CVD method, the boat body 11 holding the wafers Wa to Wc is used as a reaction vessel of the CVD apparatus. By setting a high frequency electric field in the reaction vessel, electrons are collided with the source gas to generate plasma, and the plasma is irradiated on the wafer surface to deposit various thin films on the wafer.

  Therefore, when a gap S is generated between the upper portion of the wafers Wa to Wc and the boat body 51 as in the conventional carbon wafer boat 50, abnormal discharge occurs in the gap S, and abnormal discharge occurs in the generated thin film. There is a problem that the flakes are caused and the wafer becomes defective.

However, in the first embodiment, due to the effects of [1-1] and [1-2], each of the locking members 12 to 15 is in a state where the carbon boat body 11 is in close contact with each of the wafers Wa to Wc without any gap. The wafer is held.
Therefore, according to the first embodiment, it becomes possible to prevent the problems of the conventional wafer boat 50 described above, no abnormal discharge occurs when forming a thin film using the plasma CVD method, and flakes are generated in the generated thin film. Therefore, the yield of the wafer can be improved by improving the characteristics of the thin film.

[1-5]
When a gap S is generated between the upper portion of the wafers Wa to Wc and the boat main body 51 as in the conventional wafer boat 50, the contact area between the wafer and the wafer boat 50 is reduced, so that the electric power at the contact portion is reduced. There is a problem that the resistance (contact resistance) increases and the thickness of the thin film generated by the plasma CVD method becomes too thin, resulting in a defective wafer.

However, in the first embodiment, since the locking members 12 to 15 can hold the wafer in a state where the boat main body 11 is in close contact with the wafers Wa to Wc without any gap, the wafer boat 10 and the wafers Wa to Wc The contact area is increased, and the electrical resistance of the contact portion can be reduced.
Therefore, according to the first embodiment, the problem of the conventional wafer boat 50 described above can be prevented, and the thickness of the thin film generated using the plasma CVD method can be sufficiently increased. Thus, the yield of the wafer can be improved.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 3A is a front view showing an example of a carbon wafer boat 30 according to a second embodiment that embodies the present invention. FIG. 3B is a right side view of the wafer boat 30.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XX in FIG. 3 (A) and FIG.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a main part of the wafer boat 30.

The wafer boat 30 includes a boat body 31 and six locking members (claws) 32 to 37.
The rectangular flat boat body 31 is set up in a standing state in a heat treatment furnace or a reaction vessel of a CVD apparatus.
The boat body 31 can hold three single-crystal silicon wafers Wa to Wc having the same dimensions and substantially disk shapes in the longitudinal direction.

On the boat surface of the boat body 31, locking members 32 to 37 are provided so as to protrude.
The locking members 32 to 37 are arranged side by side in the longitudinal direction of the boat body 31 at a position lower than the center position of the wafers Wa to Wc held and fixed to the boat body 31 by a predetermined distance d2. That is, the distance between the central portion of the locking members 32 to 37 and the vertical center position of each wafer Wa to Wc held and fixed to the boat main body 31 is set to the predetermined distance d2.

Each of the locking members 32 to 37 having the same dimensions includes a substantially arc-shaped side wall portion 41 formed in accordance with the outer peripheral shape of the wafers Wa to Wc, and a base that connects the side wall portion 41 and the boat surface of the boat body 31. The part 42 is integrally formed.
A concave groove 43 surrounded by the side wall 41 and the base 42 is also formed in accordance with the outer peripheral shape of the wafers Wa to Wc.

The boat body 31 and the locking members 32 to 37 are made of carbon made of ceramics obtained by firing carbon powder, and the locking members 32 to 37 may be formed integrally with the boat body 31.
Further, the locking members 32 to 37 formed separately from the boat body 31 may be bonded and fixed to the boat body 31.

Each of the wafers Wa to Wc is held and fixed to the boat body 31 by locking the two outer peripheral portions to the locking members 32 to 37.
That is, the wafer Wa is held and fixed by the locking members 32 and 33, the wafer Wb is held and fixed by the locking members 34 and 35, and the wafer Wc is held and fixed by the locking members 36 and 37.
The wafers Wa to Wc are held by the locking members 32 to 37 with the orientation flat facing upward.

[Operation and Effect of Second Embodiment]
According to the second embodiment, the following actions and effects can be obtained.

[2-1]
Each of the locking members 32 to 37 holds two locations on the outer peripheral portion at a position below the center position of the wafers Wa to Wc by a predetermined distance d2.
Therefore, by setting the predetermined distance d2 to be sufficiently small, the wafers Wa to Wc can be held by the locking members 32 to 37 near the vertical center position (that is, near the center of gravity of the wafer). .
Therefore, according to the second embodiment, it is possible to prevent the upper portion of the wafers Wa to Wc from being inclined away from the boat body 31 due to its own weight.

Note that if the predetermined distance d2 is too small, the wafers Wa to Wc are likely to fall from the locking members 32 to 37 and fall down from the boat body 31.
Therefore, the predetermined distance d2 is experimentally optimal by cut-and-try so that the boat main body 31 can be prevented from being tilted while the locking members 32 to 37 hold the wafers Wa to Wc securely. Find and set the value.

[2-2]
Each of the locking members 32 to 37 includes a concave groove portion 43 surrounded by the side wall portion 41 and the base portion 42, and the groove portion 43 is formed according to the outer peripheral shape of the wafers Wa to Wc.
Therefore, by appropriately setting the width, height, and length of the groove portion 43, the wafers Wa to Wc are fitted into the groove portion 43 and are sandwiched and fixed between the side wall portion 41 and the boat surface of the boat body 31. Is possible.
Therefore, according to the second embodiment, coupled with the operation and effect of [2-1], it is possible to hold the wafer in a state where the boat body 31 is in close contact with each of the wafers Wa to Wc without any gap.

In addition, when each locking member 32-37 clamps each wafer Wa-Wc too firmly, when forming a thin film on a wafer using plasma CVD method, each locking member 32-37 made from carbon and Due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient from the wafer made of single crystal silicon, each wafer Wa to Wc is fixed to the groove 43 of each locking member 32 to 37, and each wafer Wa to Wc can be removed from the boat body 31 after the thin film is formed. There is a risk of disappearing.
Therefore, the width / width of the groove 43 is set so that the wafers Wa to Wc can be prevented from adhering to the locking members 32 to 37 after sufficiently increasing the adhesion of the wafers Wa to Wc to the boat body 31. What is necessary is just to find and set an optimal value about height and length experimentally.

[2-3]
According to the second embodiment, the same operations and effects as those of [1-4] and [1-5] of the first embodiment can be obtained by the operations and effects of [2-1] and [2-2]. .

[Another embodiment]
By the way, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and may be embodied as follows. Even in this case, operations and effects equivalent to or more than those of the above-described embodiments can be obtained.

(1) In each of the above embodiments, the three wafers Wa to Wc are held side by side in the longitudinal direction of the boat main bodies 11 and 31.
However, the number of wafers held in the boat bodies 11 and 31 is not limited to three, and may be one, two, or four or more.
Further, the wafers Wa to Wc do not have to be held side by side in the longitudinal direction of the boat bodies 11 and 31, and the wafers Wa to Wc may be held at appropriate locations on the boat bodies 11 and 31.

(2) In each of the above embodiments, the single crystal silicon wafers Wa to Wc are held by the boat bodies 11 and 31.
However, not only a single crystal silicon wafer but also any wafer used for semiconductor manufacturing (for example, a wafer made of an insulating substrate having an SOI (Semiconductor On Insulator) structure) may be held by the boat bodies 11 and 31.

(3) In the above embodiments, the substantially disk-shaped wafers Wa to Wc are held by the boat bodies 11 and 31.
However, the shape of the wafer is not limited to a substantially disk shape, and may be any shape. In that case, the shapes of the locking members 12 to 15 and 32 to 37 may be appropriately changed according to the shape of the wafer.

  (4) Although the boat main bodies 11 and 31 of the above-described embodiments have a flat plate rectangular shape, the boat main bodies 11 and 31 may have any shape.

FIG. 1A is a front view showing an example of a carbon wafer boat 10 according to a first embodiment that embodies the present invention. FIG. 1B is a right side view of the wafer boat 10. XX line principal part sectional drawing in FIG. 1 (A). FIG. 3A is a front view showing an example of a carbon wafer boat 30 according to a second embodiment that embodies the present invention. FIG. 3B is a right side view of the wafer boat 30. Sectional drawing of the XX line main part in FIG. 3 (A) and FIG. The principal part perspective view of the wafer boat 30. FIG. FIG. 6A is a front view showing an example of a conventional carbon wafer boat 50. FIG. 6B is a right side view of the wafer boat 50. XX line principal part sectional drawing in FIG. 6 (A).

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10, 30 ... Wafer boat 11, 31 ... Boat main body 12-15, 32-37 ... Locking member 21 ... Terminal part 22, 42 ... Base end part 41 ... Side wall part 43 ... Groove part Wa-Wc ... Wafer

Claims (4)

A wafer boat made of carbon for holding and fixing wafers used in semiconductor manufacturing,
A flat boat body,
A locking member provided protruding from the boat surface of the boat body,
The locking member is disposed at a position below a predetermined distance from the vertical center position of the wafer held and fixed to the boat body,
The wafer boat is held and fixed with respect to the boat main body by locking two portions of the outer peripheral portion of the wafer to the locking member. The wafer boat according to claim 1,
A plurality of wafers are held and fixed side by side in the boat body,
Two wafers adjacent to each other are held and fixed by sharing one locking member. In the wafer boat according to claim 1 or 2,
The locking member is
A generally conical end;
A columnar base end portion connecting the substantially conical top side of the end portion and the boat surface of the wafer boat,
The wafer boat is characterized in that the wafer is sandwiched between the distal end portion and the base end portion of the locking member and a boat surface of the boat body. The wafer boat according to claim 1,
The locking member is
A side wall having a shape matched to the outer peripheral shape of the wafer;
A base connecting the side wall and the boat surface of the wafer boat;
A concave groove portion surrounded by the base portion and the side wall portion and adapted to the outer peripheral shape of the wafer,
The wafer boat is fitted into the groove portion of the locking member and is sandwiched between the side wall portion and the boat surface of the boat body.

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