Rapid thermal heating apparatus and method
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsChristian M. Gronet, James F. Gibbons
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A rapid thermal heating apparatus in which lamps are disposed in a plurality of light pipes arranged to illuminate and supply heat to a substrate. The light pipes are positioned so that the illumination patterns overlap. The energy supplied to the lamps is controlled to provide a predetermined heating pattern to the substrate. A liquid cooled window cooperates with the light pipes to transmit energy to a wafer disposed in an evacuated chamber.
Claims13
A heat source for heating a substrate during rapid thermal processing of said substrate comprising
- a plurality of radiant energy sources,
- a plurality of light pipes, each light pipe surrounding and extending beyond an associated radiant energy source, said light pipes being mounted next to each other and each serving to direct radiant energy from its associated source along the axis of said pipe and towards said substrate to radiate a predetermined limited area of said substrate with a pattern of relative radiation intensity, said light pipe being spaced so that a portion of the predetermined radiated area of adjacent light pipes overlaps and the intensities at said portions add to provide a radiation intensity across said substrate which is dependent upon the intensity of each of said radiant energy sources.
A thermal heating apparatus for heating a substrate including,
- a plurality of radiant energy sources,
- a plurality of spaced light pipes one for each of said energy sources, said light pipes surrounding and extending beyond the energy sources and serving to direct energy from said light sources along said pipes and onto predetermined limited overlapping areas on the surface of said substrate,
- a substrate processing chamber including a window through which said radiant energy passes into said chamber to irradiate the surface of said substrate,
- means for supporting said substrate in said chamber adjacent to said window,
- means for sensing the temperature of said substrate at various locations, and
- control means responsive to said temperature for controlling the radiant energy from each of said radiant energy sources to maintain a predetermined temperature profile on said substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.