Radiation heating to dry moisture from air bearing shaft
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsRoger B. Fish, Jeffrey E. Krampert
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system that reduces the amount of water that enters a process chamber via a movable shaft is disclosed. A ring heater is disposed around the shaft outside the process chamber proximate the air bearing. The ring heater includes a plurality of optical energy emitters arranged around the shaft. The wavelength emitted by the ring heater may be selected to align with the absorption spectrum of water. In this way, the optical energy serves to heat water droplets and lower the tendency for the water droplets to adhere to the movable shaft as it enters the process chamber.
Claims19
A workpiece processing system, comprising:
- a process chamber, maintained at near vacuum conditions;
- a shaft extending through a wall of the process chamber, wherein the shaft can be extended into and retracted from the process chamber;
- and
- a ring heater disposed around the shaft and outside the process chamber, wherein the ring heater is configured to emit optical energy toward the shaft.
A beam-line ion implantation system, comprising:
- an ion source to generate an ion beam;
- a mass analyzer;
- a process chamber, maintained at near vacuum conditions;
- one or more beam-line components to direct the ion beam toward a process chamber;
- a shaft extending through a wall of the process chamber, wherein the shaft can be extended into and retracted from the process chamber;
- and
- a ring heater disposed around the shaft and outside the process chamber, wherein the ring heater is configured to emit optical energy toward the shaft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.