Method and device for heat treating substrates
AssigneeASM International N.V.
InventorsArjen Storm, Ronald Bast, Vladimir Ivanovich Kuznetsov, Jan Zinger
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Method and device for the heat treatment of substrates, wherein the substrates are positioned in the vicinity of a heated, essentially flat furnace body extending over the surface of the substrate. In order to provide a reproducible treatment when treating a number of substrates successively, the temperature of the furnace body is measured so close to the surface adjacent to the substrate that the withdrawal of heat from the furnace body by the substrate can be detected. The introduction of each substrate takes place at a point in time when the temperature measured in this way is, within certain limits, equal to a desired initial treatment temperature Ttrig.
Claims36
A method for successively heat treating a series of substrates within a heating chamber comprising a heating body having a boundary surface that faces the substrates, the method comprising:
- supplying power to the heating body such that the heating body can reach a target temperature;
- positioning a first substrate adjacent the boundary surface of the heating body;
- measuring the temperature in the heating body at a location in the heating body sufficiently close to the boundary surface to detect heat withdrawal from the heating body upon loading substrates;
- removing the first substrate from the heating chamber before the measured temperature of the heating body reaches a trigger temperature;
- positioning a second substrate in the heating chamber adjacent the boundary surface when the measured temperature reaches the trigger temperature;
- measuring the temperature of the heating body at the location;
- and
- removing the second substrate from the heating chamber before the measured temperature of the heating body reaches the trigger temperature again.
A method for processing a plurality of wafers in sequence within a hot wall reactor, the method comprising:
- measuring a reactor temperature;
- triggering a wafer loading mechanism to load a wafer when the reaction temperature reaches a predetermined threshold;
- and
- triggering the wafer loading mechanism to remove the wafer from the hot wall reactor before the reaction temperature again reaches the predetermined threshold.
A method for processing a plurality of wafers in sequence within a hot wall reactor, the method comprising:
- measuring a reactor temperature;
- and
- triggering a wafer loading mechanism to load a wafer when the reaction temperature reaches a predetermined threshold, and
- wherein the predetermined threshold is a measured reactor temperature that reduces with each of an initial plurality of the series of wafers.
A method for processing a plurality of wafers in sequence within a hot wall reactor, the method comprising:
- measuring a reactor temperature;
- triggering a wafer loading mechanism when the reaction temperature reaches a predetermined threshold;
- and
- loading, in sequence, each of the plurality of wafers, into the hot wall reactor, wherein the loading of each of the plurality of wafers into the hot wall reactor is triggered by the reaction temperature returning to the predetermined threshold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.