Vertical SiGe Epitaxial Growth System

OVERVIEW: The increasing sophistication of home electronics and telecommunication devices is propelling the demand for improved semiconductor devices. The SiGe (silicon germanium)-HBT (hetero-junction bipolar transistor) can realize high-speed operation, low noise, and low power consumption, therefore, its expected application to radio frequency IC communication devices is predicted to grow rapidly.1) SiGe can also be applied to strained-Si channels,2,3) which are responsible for the high performance of CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor)-LSIs (large-scale integrated circuits). SiGe-based devices are expected to be widely adopted, therefore, demand for a SiGe epitaxial growth system having high productivity is getting greater. In a timely response to this demand, Hitachi is moving forward with the development of an ultra-clean lowpressure CVD (chemical vapor deposition) vertical furnace for batch SiGe epitaxial growth. This batch-type vertical furnace system is able to process upto 50 wafers (200-mm diameter) at a time and it is capable of high-quality SiGe epitaxial growth at low temperatures (500°C) in an extremely clean ambient. A rapid ramp up/down heater has been adopted to reduce the heating and cooling times to acquire excellent crystallinity and high throughput. Yasuo Kunii, Dr. Eng. Yasuhiro Inokuchi Akihiro Miyauchi, Dr. Eng.