Annealing chamber
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorGiridhar KAMESH
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Embodiments disclosed herein generally include annealing chambers. The annealing chambers allow for high throughput without sacrificing wafer-to-wafer and within wafer uniformity. The annealing chamber includes a transport system, a substrate carrier, and a plurality of thermal sources. The transport system is magnetically coupled to the substrate carrier. The transport system moves the substrate carrier along a path. A substrate supported by the substrate carrier is annealed by the thermal sources. The annealing chamber described herein allows for a higher throughput of substrate (alternatively referred to as a wafer) annealing compared to furnace annealing chambers.
Claims20
An annealing chamber, comprising:
- a transport system;
- a substrate carrier configured to support a substrate, the substrate carrier comprising:
- a carrier base;
- and
- one or more carrier magnets configured to magnetically couple to the transport system;
- and
- a heating system comprising a plurality of thermal sources, wherein the transport system is configured to move the substrate carrier along a path.
An annealing chamber, comprising:
- a transport system;
- a substrate carrier configured to support a substrate, the substrate carrier comprising:
- a carrier base;
- and
- one or more carrier magnets configured to magnetically couple to the transport system;
- and
- a heating system comprising a plurality of thermal sources comprising:
- a first plurality of thermal sources configured to heat the substrate to a first temperature;
- and
- a second plurality of thermal sources configured to heat the substrate to one or more temperatures in a range of temperatures, wherein at least one temperature of the range of temperatures is lower than the first temperature,
- wherein the transport system is configured to move the substrate carrier along a path.
An annealing chamber, comprising:
- a transport system;
- a substrate carrier configured to support a substrate, the substrate carrier comprising:
- a carrier base;
- and
- one or more carrier magnets configured to magnetically couple to the transport system;
- and
- a heating system comprising a plurality of thermal sources;
- and
- a cooling system comprising:
- a cooling base;
- a cooling line disposed in the cooling base;
- a cooling inlet fluidly coupled to the cooling line;
- and
- a cooling pump fluidly coupled to the cooling inlet, the cooling pump configured to flow a fluid,
- wherein the transport system is configured to move the substrate carrier along a path.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.