Chamber for uniform heating of large area substrates
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsMakoto Inagawa, Akihiro Hosokawa
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention generally provide an apparatus for providing a uniform thermal profile to a plurality of large area substrates during thermal processing. In one embodiment, an apparatus for thermal processing large area substrates includes a chamber having a plurality of processing zones disposed therein that are coupled to a lift mechanism. The lift mechanism is adapted to vertically position the plurality of processing zones within the chamber. Each processing zone further includes an upper heated plate, a lower heated plate adapted to support a first substrate thereon and an unheated plate adapted to support a second substrate thereon, wherein the unheated plate is disposed between the upper and lower heated plates.
Claims20
A method for thermally processing large area substrate, comprising:
- providing an upper plate in direct contact with a first heater;
- providing a lower plate in direct contact with an second heater;
- supporting a first substrate on the lower plate;
- providing a plate not in direct contact with a heater, wherein the plate not in direct contact with a heater is disposed between the upper and lower plates;
- supporting a second substrate on the plate not in direct contact with a heater;
- and activating the first and second heaters.
A method for thermally processing large area substrates, comprising:
- providing at least three vertically stacked plates in a chamber, wherein each of the at least three vertically stacked plates is configured to support one large area substrate;
- positioning the large area substrates on the at least three vertically stacked plates;
- and
- heating by direct heater contact only every other one of the at least three vertically stacked plates.
A method for thermally processing large area substrates, comprising:
- generating a processing zone in a chamber, wherein the processing zone comprises an upper plate in direct contact with a first heater and a lower plate in direct contact with a second heater;
- providing a plate not in direct contact with a heater between the upper plate and the lower plate;
- positioning the large area substrates on the lower plate and the plate not in direct contact with a heater of the processing zone;
- and
- activating the first and second heaters.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.