Challenges and current status in 300 mm rapid thermal processing

Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) will be indispensable to meet the process re quirements of future device and integrated circuit (IC) generations. The pa per reviews several approaches to manage the challenges of single-wafer 300 mm heat treatment, including the most important issues in RTP system techn ology: temperature measurement and accuracy, fast ramp capability, process repeatability, ultra-shallow junction formation and process uniformity for various applications in concurrent IC manufacturing. The paper also focuses on the substantial improvement of keg system features. The implementation of a new lamp intensity modulation-based and emissivity independent tempera ture measurement technique yields a measurement uncertainty of +/-1.5 degre es C within an emissivity range from 0.2 to 0.8 for key process application s. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.