Single wafer rapid thermal processing (RTP) can be used for various wafer fabrication steps such as annealing, oxidation and chemical vapor deposition. A key issue in RTP is accurate temperature control, i.e., the wafer temperatures should be rapidly ...

Single wafer rapid thermal processing (RTP) can be used for various wafer fabrication steps such as annealing, oxidation and chemical vapor deposition. A key issue in RTP is accurate temperature control, i.e., the wafer temperatures should be rapidly heated up while maintaining uniformity of the temperature profile. A closed-loop identification method that suppresses RTP drift effects and maintains a linear operating region during identification tests is proposed. A simple graphical identification method that can be implemented on a field controller for autotuning and a nonlinear least squares method have been investigated. Both methods are tested with RTP equipment based on a design developed by Texas Instruments.