Patent ID: 8852966

Claim:
A heat treatment method for performing a heat treatment of a thin film formed on a base material, the thin film being made of material different from the base material, the heat treatment method comprising the steps of: (a) accommodating the base material, on which the thin film is formed, in a chamber and holding the base material; and (b) heating said thin film by irradiating said thin film with flash light with an irradiation time of 0.01 millisecond or more and of 1 millisecond or less, further comprising the steps of: (c) performing exhaust from said chamber; and (d) supplying a treating gas into said chamber, wherein a mixed gas in which a reactive gas reacting with said thin film and an inert gas are mixed is supplied into said chamber in said step (d), and wherein further comprising the steps of: (e) measuring a concentration of the reactive gas in the mixed gas in said chamber; and (f) adjusting the concentration of the reactive gas in the mixed gas by adjusting at least either of flows of the reactive gas and the inert gas based on a measured result in said step (e), wherein a thin film of a high-dielectric-constant film formed on a base material of silicon by an atomic layer deposition method is heated such that crystallinity is given to the thin film in said step (b), wherein a mixed gas in which helium or argon is mixed with nitrogen is supplied into said chamber when a film thickness of said high-dielectric-constant film is smaller than a predetermined value, and wherein a mixed gas in which nitrogen is mixed with oxygen is supplied into said chamber when the film thickness of said high-dielectric-constant film is larger than the predetermined value.