Heating assembly for rapid thermal processing system

A rapid thermal processing system for large area substrates, comprising:

• a processing chamber;
• a transport assembly for transporting a substrate through said processing chamber in a substrate transport direction and out of said chamber in a reverse direction through a folded transport path;
• and
• a heating assembly positioned at a last preheat zone in said processing chamber for heating the substrate passing through said chamber, said heating assembly comprising a first bank of elongated heating elements disposed in said processing chamber, said heating elements of said first bank having longitudinal axes aligned with the substrate transport direction and parallel thereto, said heating assembly also comprising a second bank of elongated heating elements disposed in said processing chamber positioned in a facing relationship to said first bank of heating elements and on the opposite side of a substrate when present in said processing chamber, said banks of elongated elements being arranged perpendicular to each other, and said first bank having heating elements that extend beyond the width on each side of a substrate being transported through said processing chamber, a relatively narrow arc lamp region when compared to said last preheating zone following said last preheating zone in the direction of travel of a substrate on said transport assembly to scan a substrate with ultraviolet light for controlled heating of the substrate, and a cooling zone comprising tubes for circulation of a cooling fluid.