Design and modeling of rapid thermal processing systems

The concept of rapid thermal processing (RTP) has many potential applications in microelectronics manufacturing, but the details of chamber design, temperature dynamics, process control, and temperature measurement remain active areas of research. This paper discusses the design rules used in an RTP test bed installed at SEMATECH with respect to the placement of lamps and the geometry and reflectivity of the enclosure. The distribution of light across the wafer was modeled, and a theory for the wafer's dynamic temperature response was derived analytically with a few simplifying assumptions, Parameters for this model were estimated from experimental data to yield a set of linear ordinary differential equations with temperature dependent coefficients. This particular model form is convenient for control system design and analysis.