Applying an electric field to control metals in furnaces

Despite intuition, application of an electric field does have a measurable effect-on the movement of metallic contaminants in gas in a wafer processin g thermal process. Research has shown that the phenomenon of positive surfa ce ionization can give rise to significant electric field effects on the ga s-phase transport of ionizable atoms such as alkali metals, even at very lo w fractional ionizations and modest electric fields. In addition, such appl ication of an electric field can also reduce contamination by transition me tals at high temperatures.