Patent ID: 8591993

Claim:
An epitaxial wafer manufacturing apparatus comprising: a chamber; a gas introduction port provided in the chamber and configured to introduce a reaction gas into the chamber; a gas exhaust port provided in the chamber and configured to exhaust the reaction gas from inside the chamber; a rotating unit provided inside the chamber and having a vertical wall; a wafer holder provided in an upper portion of the rotating unit and configured to hold a wafer; and an annular flow-regulating wall being spaced from the rotating unit and the wafer holder, the annular flow-regulating wall surrounding the upper portion of the rotating unit and an upper portion of the wafer holder, and the annular flow-regulating wall including an upper end, a lower end, and a portion extending continuously from the upper end to the lower end, the upper end being located above the wafer holder, the upper end having an inner circumference smaller than a length of an outer periphery of the wafer holder, and the lower end being located below an upper surface of the rotating unit, the lower end having an inner circumference greater than a length of an outer periphery of the rotating unit, wherein: the reaction gas introduced from the gas introduction port passes through a gap between the flow-regulating wall and the rotating unit via an opening at the upper end of the flow-regulating wall; a surface of the flow-regulating wall facing the rotating unit is in close proximity to an outer periphery of the upper portion of the rotating unit so that a vertical length of a space above the rotating unit at the outer periphery of the rotating unit is shorter than a vertical length of a space above the rotating unit at a rotation center of the rotating unit; a horizontal distance between an upper portion of the vertical wall of the rotating unit and the annular flow-regulating wall is shorter than a horizontal distance between a lower portion of the vertical wall of the rotating unit and the annular flow-regulating wall; the surface of the flow-regulating wall facing the rotating unit is a continuous surface; and a cross-sectional view of the surface of the flow-regulating wall facing the rotating unit is a continuous line, the cross-sectional view including a plane parallel to a rotational axis of the rotating unit.