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AssigneeSEH America, Inc.
InventorsGerald R. Dietze, Erik D. Holman
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A set (10) of susceptors (12) having essentially equal outer diameters (14) and different depression diameters (20) is used in a horizontal flow semiconductor epitaxial reactor. The susceptors receiving smaller diameter wafers (24) have an increased surface area (84) that preheats the process gases and leads to reduced resistivity variation in the epitaxial layers. The susceptors fit interchangeably onto a susceptor support (32) and into a susceptor ring (38), thereby allowing wafers of different diameters to be processed by changing only the susceptor and not the susceptor support, the susceptor ring, and other associated hardware. Set-up time is greatly reduced, thereby allowing more flexibility in scheduling wafers to be processed and improving reactor utilization. Inventory of reactor components can be reduced because it is no longer necessary to stock susceptor rings and other hardware for wafers of different diameters.
A method of improving epitaxial layer quality by promoting heat transfer from a susceptor to a process gas in an epitaxial reactor, the method comprising:
A method for configuring a semiconductor epitaxial deposition reactor to process wafers of a specific diameter, comprising:
A set of susceptors, each having an outer diameter and depression diameter, for use in a semiconductor wafer epitaxial reactor, the set comprising plural susceptors having essentially equal outer diameters and unequal depression diameters, the outer diameter being of a size that allows susceptors in the set to fit interchangeably on a susceptor support within a process chamber of the reactor and the unequal depression diameters allowing different susceptors in the set to accommodate wafers of different diameters.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.