Patent ID: 7432475

Claim:
A vertical heat processing apparatus comprising: a process chamber defining a process field configured to accommodate a plurality of target substrates supported at intervals in a vertical direction; a heating furnace surrounding the process chamber, and including an electric heater configured to heat the process field from outside the process chamber; an electric blower configured to send a cooling gas into the heating furnace, so as to cool the process field by the cooling gas from outside the process chamber; a temperature sensor configured to detect a temperature inside the process field; and a control section configured to control the heater and the blower in accordance with detection data obtained by the temperature sensor, wherein, in order to conduct temperature control to change a temperature of the process field from an initial temperature to a target temperature higher than the initial temperature but within a range of 100 to 500° C., the control section executes, setting power feeding to the blower at a first feed rate to send the cooling gas, and setting power feeding to the heater at a first supply rate, in order to heat up the process field to a predetermined temperature below the target temperature, at a time point when the process field reaches the predetermined temperature, maintaining the power feeding to the blower at the first feed rate, and decreasing the power feeding to the heater to a second supply rate lower than the first supply rate, in order to converge the process field to the target temperature, and then, decreasing the power feeding to the blower to a rate lower than the first feed rate, and increasing the power feeding to the heater to a rate higher than the second supply rate, in order to maintain the process field at the target temperature.