Patent ID: 7220681

Claim:
A semiconductor device fabrication method, comprising: forming, in a film formation chamber, a first insulating film containing at least a metal and oxygen on a surface of a semiconductor substrate; transferring the semiconductor substrate from the film formation chamber to a nitriding chamber via a transfer chamber; forming, in the nitriding chamber, a second insulating film containing at least a metal, oxygen, and nitrogen by nitriding the first insulating film by doping nitrogen into it; transferring the semiconductor substrate from the nitriding chamber to an annealing chamber via the transfer chamber; performing predetermined annealing on the second insulating film in the annealing chamber; and transferring the semiconductor substrate from the annealing chamber to the transfer chamber, wherein when at least when the semiconductor substrate is transferred from the nitriding chamber to the annealing chamber via the transfer chamber, an ambient selected from the group consisting of a reduced-pressure ambient at about 10 −3 Torr, an inert gas ambient, and a nitrogen ambient is formed in the transfer chamber.