Patent ID: 7560367

Claim:
A thermal processing method for performing rapid thermal processing of a plurality of semiconductor substrates having different areas that are covered by a pattern made of a specified material film formed on each substrate, comprising steps of: a first temperature raising step for raising a temperature of a semiconductor substrate to a first substrate temperature by placing the semiconductor substrate in a first temperature space that is in a state of radiation equilibrium at a first temperature; a second temperature raising step for raising the temperature of the semiconductor substrate to a second substrate temperature by placing the semiconductor substrate, of which temperature has been raised to the first substrate temperature, in a second temperature space that is in a state of radiation equilibrium at a second temperature higher than the first temperature; and, a step for performing rapid thermal processing by keeping the semiconductor substrate, of which temperature is raised to the second substrate temperature, at the second substrate temperature for a set period of time, wherein each semiconductor substrate has an ion implantation layer, the rapid thermal processing being activation processing of the ion implantation layer of each semiconductor substrate, a pattern made of a specified material film having a different emissivity of electromagnetic waves in an infrared range as compared to the emissivity of the semiconductor substrate is formed on each semiconductor substrate, and at least one of the plurality of semiconductor substrates has a different pattern area made of the specified material film, and the first temperature, the second temperature and the time for keeping the semiconductor substrate at the second substrate temperature are fixed in each rapid thermal processing of the plurality of semiconductor substrates to obtain the same activation effect for the ion implantation layer of each of the plurality of semiconductor substrates, the plurality of semiconductor substrates containing the at least one of the plurality of semiconductor substrates having the different pattern area made of the specified material film.