Apparatus and radiant heating plate for processing wafer-shaped articles

An apparatus for processing wafer-shaped articles, comprising:

• a rotary chuck adapted to hold a wafer-shaped article of a predetermined diameter thereon;
• a radiant heating plate that faces a wafer-shaped article when positioned on said rotary chuck, said radiant heating plate comprising radiant heating elements, wherein a central region of said radiant heating plate is free of radiant heating elements, said radiant heating plate further comprising at least one refraction element that refracts radiation emitted by said radiant heating elements and passed through said at least one refraction element toward said central region of said radiant heating plate;
• and
• a cover plate arranged above the radiant heating plate, wherein said cover plate includes a central opening overlying said central region, and wherein said at least one refraction element is arranged to cover said central opening above said central region that is free of said radiant heating elements.