Resistively heated single wafer furnace
First Claim
1. An apparatus for rapidly and uniformly heating a wafer during processing, the apparatus comprising:
- a process chamber having a top portion and a bottom portion, said process chamber defining a cavity configured to receive a wafer therein; and
a plurality of resistive heating elements positioned adjacent to said top portion and said bottom portion of said process chamber, each of said plurality of resistive heating elements being apportioned to one of a plurality of heating zones, a thermal energy output from each of said resistive heating elements capable of heating each of said heating zones to create a substantially isothermal environment throughout said cavity.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A heating apparatus and method for isothermally distributing a temperature across the surface of a semiconductor device during processing. Specifically, a chamber is provided defining a cavity, which is configured to receive a single semiconductor wafer. A plurality of resistive heating elements are provided and advantageously arranged in the cavity. The heating elements are disposed across the chamber and are aligned in close proximity to one another so as to provide an even heating temperature distribution. In accordance with the present invention, the cavity is divided into heating zones. The resistive heating elements are each individually assigned to a zone and are independently controllable. By individually varying the amount of energy emanating from each resistive heating element, an isothermal temperature distribution may be generated across each zone.
66 Citations
18 Claims
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1. An apparatus for rapidly and uniformly heating a wafer during processing, the apparatus comprising:
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a process chamber having a top portion and a bottom portion, said process chamber defining a cavity configured to receive a wafer therein; and
a plurality of resistive heating elements positioned adjacent to said top portion and said bottom portion of said process chamber, each of said plurality of resistive heating elements being apportioned to one of a plurality of heating zones, a thermal energy output from each of said resistive heating elements capable of heating each of said heating zones to create a substantially isothermal environment throughout said cavity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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8. An apparatus for rapidly and uniformly heating a wafer during processing, the apparatus comprising:
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a process chamber defining a cavity configured to receive a wafer therein and further defining a plurality of heating zones; and
a plurality of resistive heating elements positioned proximate to said process chamber, each of said plurality of resistive heating elements being apportioned to one of said plurality of heating zones, a thermal energy output from each of said resistive heating elements capable of heating each of said zones to create a substantially isothermal environment throughout said cavity, said plurality of heating zones comprises a first zone and a second zone, said first zone having a width greater than the diameter of said wafer.
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13. A reactor for rapidly and uniformly heating a semiconductor wafer, the reactor comprising:
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a chamber defining a cavity, said cavity further defining a plurality of heating zones said plurality of zones including a first zone having a width greater than a width of said wafer;
a plurality of resistive heating elements positioned proximate to said chamber, a portion of said plurality of resistive heating elements apportioned to each one of said plurality of heating zones;
a thermal energy output of each of said resistive heating elements heating said zones to provide a substantially isothermal temperature among each of said zones.- View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for processing a semiconductor wafer, the method comprising:
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apportioning a portion of a plurality of resistive heating elements over a top portion and a bottom portion of a process chamber to define a plurality of heating zones; and
generating a thermal output from said plurality of resistive heating elements to change the temperature of at least one of said heating zones in response to temperature fluctuations to provide a substantially isothermal environment over said semionductor wafer.
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Specification