RAPID THERMAL-PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTOR WAFERS - AN OPTIMIZED APPROACH USING GAS CONDUCTION IN THE MOLECULAR REGIME

This paper describes the modeling of a simple, nonconventional approac h to rapid thermal processing for semiconductor applications. The prin ciple underlying the technology is the use of gas conduction in the mo lecular regime to transfer heat from a hot chuck to the wafer. We demo nstrate here that rapid and intrinsically uniform thermal processing i s achievable with this technology, which features only marginal sensit ivity to wafer emissivity. The latter is a major advantage as compared to classical lamp-heated systems.