Wafer temperature trajectory control method for high temperature ramp rate applications using dynamic predictive thermal modeling

A method for thermally processing a substrate, the method comprising:

• providing an intended substrate temperature profile comprising a peak target temperature;
• providing an amount of heat to the substrate in a thermal processing system comprising a thermal processing furnace;
• providing a move profile of the substrate, wherein the move profile is generally determined by a predetermined process recipe associated with the thermal processing system, wherein a future position of the substrate within the furnace is associated with the move profile;
• measuring one or more temperatures associated with one or more respective locations on the substrate;
• generating a predicted temperature profile, wherein a predicted temperature of the substrate is based on the amount of heat provided, the one or more measured temperatures, and the future position of the substrate associated with the move profile;
• regulating the amount of heat provided to the substrate based on the predicted temperature profile, wherein the substrate is thermally processed generally according to the intended substrate temperature profile, wherein the amount of heat provided to the substrate is regulated by generally controlling a position of the substrate within the furnace, wherein the amount of heat provided to the substrate is reduced when the predicted temperature is greater than or equal to the peak target temperature;
• and moving the substrate to the future position when the predicted temperature is greater than or equal to the peak target temperature.

A method for thermally processing a substrate, the method comprising:

• providing an intended substrate temperature profile comprising a peak target temperature;
• providing an amount of heat to the substrate in a thermal processing system comprising a thermal processing furnace;
• providing a move profile of the substrate, wherein the move profile is generally determined by a predetermined process recipe associated with the thermal processing system, wherein the process recipe comprises one or more of a start position, an end position, a maximum velocity, and a maximum acceleration of the substrate within the furnace, and wherein a future position of the substrate within the furnace is associated with the move profile;
• measuring one or more temperatures associated with one or more respective locations on the substrate;
• generating a predicted temperature profile, wherein a predicted temperature of the substrate is based on the amount of heat provided, the one or more measured temperatures, and the future position of the substrate associated with the move profile;
• and
• regulating the amount of heat provided to the substrate based on the predicted temperature profile, wherein the substrate is thermally processed generally according to the intended substrate temperature profile, wherein the amount of heat provided to the substrate is regulated by generally controlling a position of the substrate within the furnace, wherein the amount of heat provided to the substrate is reduced when the predicted temperature is greater than or equal to the peak target temperature.

A method for thermally processing a substrate in a thermal processing system, the method comprising:

• providing a predetermined process recipe for thermally processing the substrate;
• determining an intended processing profile based, at least in part, on the process recipe;
• exposing the substrate to an amount of incident thermal energy, wherein the amount of incident thermal energy is based, at least in part, on the process recipe;
• measuring one or more temperatures associated with one or more respective locations on the substrate;
• determining a theoretical amount of incident thermal energy exposed to the substrate using thermal model based on the one or more measured temperatures and the exposed amount of incident thermal energy;
• predicting a temperature profile of the substrate, wherein the predicted temperature profile is based, at least in part, on the intended process profile, the theoretical amount of incident thermal energy, and the one or more measured temperatures;
• and
• regulating the amount of incident thermal energy, wherein the regulation is based, at least in part, on a comparison of the predicted temperature profile and a desired temperature profile.

A method for thermally processing a substrate in a thermal processing system, the method comprising:

• providing a target substrate temperature;
• generating a move profile of the substrate between a first position and a second position within the thermal processing system;
• providing an amount of heat to the substrate in the first position;
• measuring one or more temperatures associated with one or more respective locations on the substrate in the first position;
• generating a theoretical position of the substrate, wherein the theoretical position is based on the one or more measured temperatures, the position of the substrate within the thermal processing system, and a thermal model of one or more of the thermal processing system and the substrate;
• generating a predicted temperature profile of the substrate in accordance with the move profile of the substrate, wherein the predicted temperature profile is based on the one or more measured temperatures and the theoretical position of the substrate;
• determining a maximum predicted temperature based on the predicted temperature profile;
• and
• moving the substrate to the second position according to the move profile when the maximum predicted temperature is greater than or equal to the target substrate temperature.