HEAT TREATMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a heat treatment system method capable of preventing cracking of a substrate during the heat treatment. SOLUTION: Each suction hole 31 of a susceptor 73 is decompressed through a suction tube 94 and a suction effect appears on a mounting surface 38. When a semiconductor wafer is delivered to the susceptor 73, it is sucked to the mounting surface 38 in a wafer pocket 37 while sustaining noncontact state between its circumferential end part and the circumferential wall part 37a of the wafer pocket 37. The suction operation is stopped before irradiation with a flash lamp. When flash light irradiation is carried out under the noncontact state of the circumferential end part of the semiconductor wafer, a large restriction stress does not act from the circumferential end part of the semiconductor wafer even if the wafer surface is thermally expanded abruptly through instantaneous flash light irradiation and thereby the semiconductor wafer can be prevented from cracking during the flash light irradiation. COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI