A method for manufacturing an SOI wafer by performing a sacrificial oxidation treatment and reducing a thickness of an SOI layer of the SOI wafer, in which: the SOI wafer on which the sacrificial oxidation treatment is performed has a film thickness distribution with a one-way sloping shape; a thermal oxidation in the sacrificial oxidation treatment is performed by combining a non-rotating oxidation and a rotating oxidation, using a vertical heat treatment furnace; whereby a thermal oxide film having an oxide film thickness distribution with a one-way sloping shape canceling the film thickness distribution with a one-way sloping shape of the SOI layer, is formed on a surface of the SOI layer; and by removing the formed thermal oxide film, an SOI wafer having an SOI layer whose film thickness distribution with a one-way sloping shape has been resolved is manufactured.

A method for producing a semiconductor device includes depositing an oxide film containing an impurity having a first conductivity type on a substrate. A nitride film is deposited and a first oxide film is deposited that contains an impurity having a second conductivity type that differs from the first conductivity type. The first oxide film, the nitride film, and the second oxide film are etched to form a contact hole. An epitaxial growth process is carried out form a first pillar-shaped silicon layer in the contact hole. The nitride film is removed and epitaxial growth process is performed to form an output terminal.

A method for monitoring a rapid heating process to which a semiconductor wafer is subjected includes performing the heating process for a region of the semiconductor wafer, irradiating the semiconductor wafer with a laser beam, detecting light of the laser beam that is reflected from the semiconductor wafer, creating haze data based on the detected light and determining heated regions and/or transition regions between heated and non-heated regions of the semiconductor wafer on the basis of the haze data.

The present invention provides a method of manufacturing a bonded wafer, including performing RTA under an atmosphere containing hydrogen on a bonded wafer after separating the bond wafer constituting the bonded wafer, and subsequently performing a sacrificial oxidation process to reduce the thickness of the thin film, wherein the RTA is performed under conditions of a retention start temperature of more than 1150° C. and a retention end temperature of 1150° C. or less. The invention can inhibit the BMD density from increasing and sufficiently flatten the surface of a thin film when the thin film of the bonded wafer is flattened and thinned by the combination of the RTA and sacrificial oxidation processes.

A method of forming a semiconductor device, including forming a first semiconductor layer on a semiconductor substrate, the first semiconductor layer being of the same dopant type as the semiconductor substrate, the first semiconductor layer having a higher dopant concentration than the semiconductor substrate, increasing the porosity of the first semiconductor layer, first annealing the first semiconductor layer at a temperature of at least 1050° C., forming a second semiconductor layer on the first semiconductor layer and separating the second semiconductor layer from the semiconductor substrate by splitting within the first semiconductor layer.

A first region is formed by injecting a first condition type first dopant into a surface layer portion of an IGBT section of a semiconductor substrate. A second region is formed by injecting a second condition type second dopant into a region of the IGBT section shallower than the first region. An amorphous third region is formed by injecting the first conduction type third dopant into a surface layer portion of a diode section at a concentration higher than that of the second dopant. Thereafter, the IGBT section and the diode section are laser-annealed under conditions in which the third region is partially melted and the first dopant is activated. Subsequently, a surface layer portion which is shallower than the second injection region in the entire region of the IGBT section and the diode section is melted and crystallized by annealing the IGBT section and the diode section.

A semiconductor structure includes: a germanium layer; and a first insulating film that is formed on an upper surface of the germanium layer, primarily contains germanium oxide and a substance having an oxygen potential lower than an oxygen potential of germanium oxide, and has a physical film thickness of 3 nm or less; wherein a half width of frequency to height in a 1 μm square area of the upper surface of the germanium layer is 0.7 nm or less.

A method for manufacturing a bonded wafer, includes: ion-implanting a gas ion such as a hydrogen ion from a surface of a bond wafer, thereby forming an ion-implanted layer; bonding the bond wafer and a base wafer; producing a bonded wafer having a thin-film on the base wafer by delaminating the bond wafer along the ion-implanted layer; and performing an RTA treatment on the bonded wafer in a hydrogen gas-containing atmosphere; wherein a protective film is formed onto the surface of the thin-film in a heat treatment furnace in the course of temperature-falling from the maximum temperature of the RTA treatment before the bonded wafer is taken out from the heat treatment furnace; and then the bonded wafer with the protective film being formed thereon is taken out from the heat treatment furnace, and is then cleaned with a cleaning liquid which can etch the protective film and the thin-film.

Embodiments of methods and apparatus for correcting substrate deformity are provided herein. In some embodiments, a substrate flattening system includes: a first process chamber having a first substrate support and a first showerhead, wherein the first substrate support does not include a chucking mechanism; a first heater disposed in the first substrate support to heat a substrate placed on a first support surface of the first substrate support; a second heater configured to heat a process gas flowing through the first showerhead into a first processing volume of the first process chamber; and a second process chamber having a second substrate support, wherein the second substrate support is not heated, and wherein the first process chamber and the cooling chamber are both non-vacuum chambers.

A method of manufacturing a germanium-on-insulator substrate is disclosed. The method comprises: providing (102) a first semiconductor substrate, and a second semiconductor substrate formed with a germanium layer; bonding (102) the first semiconductor substrate to the second semiconductor substrate using at least one dielectric material to form a combined substrate, the germanium layer being arranged intermediate the first and second semiconductor substrates; removing (104) the second semiconductor substrate from the combined substrate to expose at least a portion of the germanium layer with misfit dislocations; and annealing (106) the combined substrate to enable removal of the misfit dislocations from the portion of the germanium layer.