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WO2008139361A1 - Method and system for rapid thermal processing - Google Patents

Method and system for rapid thermal processing Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2008139361A1
WO2008139361A1 PCT/IB2008/051736 IB2008051736W WO2008139361A1 WO 2008139361 A1 WO2008139361 A1 WO 2008139361A1 IB 2008051736 W IB2008051736 W IB 2008051736W WO 2008139361 A1 WO2008139361 A1 WO 2008139361A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
lamp
pulse
current pulses
temperature
increased
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/IB2008/051736
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Jens Pollmann-Retsch
Uwe Mackens
Freddy Roozeboom
Original Assignee
Philips Intellectual Property & Standards Gmbh
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N. V.
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Application filed by Philips Intellectual Property & Standards Gmbh, Koninklijke Philips Electronics N. V. filed Critical Philips Intellectual Property & Standards Gmbh
Publication of WO2008139361A1 publication Critical patent/WO2008139361A1/en

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/04—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having potential barriers, e.g. a PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer
    • H01L21/18—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having potential barriers, e.g. a PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer the devices having semiconductor bodies comprising elements of Group IV of the Periodic Table or AIIIBV compounds with or without impurities, e.g. doping materials
    • H01L21/26—Bombardment with radiation
    • H01L21/263—Bombardment with radiation with high-energy radiation
    • H01L21/268—Bombardment with radiation with high-energy radiation using electromagnetic radiation, e.g. laser radiation
    • H01L21/2686—Bombardment with radiation with high-energy radiation using electromagnetic radiation, e.g. laser radiation using incoherent radiation
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/04—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having potential barriers, e.g. a PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer
    • H01L21/18—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having potential barriers, e.g. a PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer the devices having semiconductor bodies comprising elements of Group IV of the Periodic Table or AIIIBV compounds with or without impurities, e.g. doping materials
    • H01L21/30—Treatment of semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/26
    • H01L21/324—Thermal treatment for modifying the properties of semiconductor bodies, e.g. annealing, sintering
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67005—Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67011—Apparatus for manufacture or treatment
    • H01L21/67098—Apparatus for thermal treatment
    • H01L21/67115—Apparatus for thermal treatment mainly by radiation
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67005—Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67242—Apparatus for monitoring, sorting or marking
    • H01L21/67248—Temperature monitoring

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a method and system for rapid thermal processing (RTP), for use in a variety of applications like especially production processes, ranging for example from the manufacturing of semiconductor and related structures on substrates, wafers or chips, over fabrication processes that employ methods similar to semiconductor processes, but on different materials, like for example the production of liquid crystal displays, to the treatment of thin layers with low heat capacity on heat- sensitive substrates.
  • RTP rapid thermal processing
  • a two-step method is usually employed to reach the necessary processing temperatures (see e.g. in: K. Suguro et al, ECS 2004-1, pp. 39-49)
  • a first step an overall heating of the object to be processed is achieved.
  • a hot plate beneath the object or a high intensity lamp is used that illuminates the object from below or above.
  • the second step is an additional flash lamp illumination of the object from above, by which high temperatures can be achieved on the object including fast rise- and fall-times of the temperature change.
  • Such a two-step method generally has several advantages .
  • One advantage is that, by an overall heating, a more homogeneous temperature distribution over the object (at a low temperature level) can be achieved than with flash heating alone. This is especially helpful, if different processes in the object shall be accomplished at the same time (e.g. removing solvents from the object at low temperatures before crystallizing some areas at higher temperatures).
  • Another advantage of the two-step method is, that often the flash-heating step alone is not capable of delivering sufficient energy to the object. By heating the whole object, the additional energy supplied by the light-flash is usually sufficient to achieve the desired process goal.
  • US 2001/0047990 discloses a method for rapid thermal processing of a substrate which comprises raising the power level of a radiation energy source (especially a Xenon arc lamp) to a peak power level to expose an active layer of a substrate to a first radiation energy for a first substantially instantaneous time and duration and thereafter maintaining a second power level of said radiation energy source, less than said first power level, to expose a bulk of said substrate to a second radiation energy for a second time duration, wherein said first time duration is between about 1 ns and about 10 s and said second time duration is between about 0 s and about 3600 s.
  • a radiation energy source especially a Xenon arc lamp
  • flash annealing ultra-short-time heating
  • critical design specifications especially "ultrashallow junction” requirements
  • one object underlying the invention is to provide a method and system for rapid thermal processing (RTP) which is especially suitable for processing semiconductor substrates or chips having miniaturized features especially in the 32 nm technology or even smaller.
  • RTP rapid thermal processing
  • RTP rapid thermal processing
  • RTP rapid thermal processing
  • the object is solved according to claim 1 by a method for rapid thermal processing of an object by means of at least one high-pressure gas discharge lamp, comprising at least one first step for achieving a substantially overall or bulk heating of the object at a first temperature by an illumination of the object in a first operating mode of the lamp, and at least one second step for achieving an additional heating at a second higher temperature by an illumination of the object in a second operating mode of the lamp, in which the lamp is operated by first current pulses (pulsed mode) which are adjusted with respect to their amplitudes and/or pulse widths and/or pulse repetition frequencies in order to achieve the second temperature for thermal processing of the object.
  • first current pulses pulsesed mode
  • the first temperature can be ambient temperature, but is preferably above ambient temperature.
  • the first operating mode can be provided only for achieving a stable operation of the lamp.
  • a system for rapid thermal processing comprising at least one high-pressure gas discharge lamp, especially a HID or UHP or CPL lamp, and a lamp driving circuit for operating the at least one lamp in the first operating mode and for generating first current pulses which are adjustable with respect to their amplitudes and/or pulse widths and/or pulse repetition frequencies for operating the at least one lamp in the second operating mode according to the above method.
  • the embodiment according to claim 2 has the advantages that (1) a continuous mode can be obtained in which a generally constant illumination flux is impinging on the object to be processed during the half- wave of the AC block current (which has a square or rectangular current waveform), and (2) only a short change in the illumination flux is effected by the additional and superimposed first current pulses, so that especially if the current pulses are adjusted with respect to a short pulse widths such that emissivity determination of the object is enabled, on the one hand, a temperature measurement of the object (especially by ripple-pyrometry) and a temperature control can be conducted, and, on the other hand, the disturbance of the thermal treatment of the object by the temperature measurement is kept to a minimum.
  • second current pulses are provided which are specifically adjusted for conducting ripple-pyrometry instead of the first current pulses. This has the advantage that a more exact temperature measurement can be achieved, and only a very short change in the total light flux to the object is caused by these very short pulses, so that the thermal processing of the object is not influenced. Furthermore, in this case the first current pulses can be specifically optimized for the thermal processing regardless of the needs for ripple-pyrometry.
  • the AC block currents can be realized by modulating or switching on and off a sequence or train of third current pulse especially having a small time distance so that the envelope of the pulse sequence has an AC block or rectangular current form which is suitable for the continuous operation mode of the lamp.
  • the embodiments according to claims 5 to 8 are advantageous for conducting flash annealing especially for processing in the 45 to 32 nm CMOS technology.
  • Fig. 2 a schematic view of a system for rapid thermal processing according to the invention
  • Fig. 3 curves of typical radiation intensities in an RTP system
  • Fig. 4 a first driving current for a discharge lamp in an RTP system according to the invention
  • Fig. 5 a second driving current for a discharge lamp in an RTP system according to the invention
  • Fig. 6 a third driving current for a discharge lamp in an RTP system according to the invention.
  • Fig. 7 a fourth driving current for a discharge lamp in an RTP system according to the invention.
  • Fig. 8 a fifth driving current for a discharge lamp in an RTP system according to the invention.
  • UHP discharge lamps can be focused extremely well and can be used to heat up targets to temperatures of and well above 2000 0 C.
  • the heating can be realized without mechanical contact (clean), in an open environment (easier access than ovens), with fast switching cycles (with respect to pulse lengths as well as to rise- and fall-times), and with predefined heating profiles (both spatially and in time), because heating is achieved by optical radiation.
  • This fast and controlled heating can be used in production processes aiming at, e.g., only partial heating of a substrate.
  • curve A shows the temperatures T[K] which can be achieved by means of a low-power UHP lamp as a function of the dimensions D[mm] of a substrate.
  • the depicted measurements agree well with a calculated theoretical curve.
  • Curve B has been calculated assuming a 10 times higher input heat flux. This can be realized, e.g., by using a lamp reflector with an aluminum coating instead of a dichroic lamp reflector and by using a ring of 5 UHP lamps.
  • HID or UHP or CPL lamps are employed, since their thermal inertia is low enough to enable the fast rise- and fall times of the light flash.
  • Such lamps usually are operated with AC -block currents or DC-currents.
  • ultra-high-pressure, mercury-based, short-arc HID technology namely with UHP- and CPL-lamps.
  • These lamps deliver luminance values in excess of 1 Gcd/m 2 and may be highly suitable to heat semiconductor objects with good spatial resolution.
  • these lamps are operated with an AC -block current, which is preferably superimposed by (relatively small) current pulses that help to stabilize the discharge arc.
  • the first step of a low-temperature bulk heating in an RTP method can be achieved by operating the discharge lamp in a continuous mode at (relatively) low power levels.
  • the second step of high-temperature heating (especially flash annealing) is realized, preferably at least substantially at the same time, by pulsing the same lamp with first current pulses at high power levels.
  • the two heating steps can be conducted by one or several identical HID-lamps that act as a combined entity.
  • AC -block current (which has an at least substantially square or rectangular current waveform).
  • the power dissipated by the lamp is adjusted according to the overall (low) temperature required for the first step (low temperature bulk heating) of the two-step heating method.
  • the lamp is pulsed with first (comparably) high current pulses for short times. These current pulses can be 10 to 20 times higher than the average AC operating block current.
  • the energy deposited in the object (and thus the temperature achieved) during the high-temperature processing (second) step can be controlled.
  • While low-temperature heating will be the standard or continuous operation mode of the lamp, that will be employed during most of the processing-time, the high-current pulses will usually only be used for limited times and at (user-) controlled instants.
  • the exact operating times for the two different steps or operating modes of the lamp are determined by the application and can typically be inferred from an already existing two-step RTP-systems described above.
  • standard low-current pulses can still be superimposed onto the standard AC -block current to stabilize the discharge arc and operation of the lamp as mentioned above.
  • the power-ratio between the continuous low-pulse (AC block current) and the short-term high-pulse operation mode allows reaching the temperatures necessary for the rapid thermal processing steps.
  • optical pyrometers In order to measure the temperature of the processed object, optical pyrometers can be used. To account for variations between batches or individual objects and process-time dependent changes due to layer formation, etc., (especially in case of a wafer) a method to determine the (dynamic) wafer's emissivity is required. A typical such method is the so-called “ripple pyrometry”.
  • FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of such an exemplary system for rapid thermal processing which comprises a furnace 10 enclosing an object 11, e.g. a wafer or substrate, to be thermally processed by the illumination of at least one HID lamp 17 which is controlled and driven by a lamp driver 18.
  • a furnace 10 enclosing an object 11, e.g. a wafer or substrate, to be thermally processed by the illumination of at least one HID lamp 17 which is controlled and driven by a lamp driver 18.
  • the ripple pyrometry is conducted by means of a first light sensor 12 inside the furnace 10 at the tip of a first optical fiber 14 and a second light sensor 13 inside the furnace 10 at the tip of a second optical fiber 15, which fibers 14, 15 are connected with a ripple pyrometer 16.
  • the first sensor 12 is positioned to directly detect the emission of the at least one lamp 17, and the second sensor 13 is positioned to detect the emission from the processed object 11.
  • the lamp driving circuit 18 may be useful to provide an interface between the lamp driving circuit 18 and the ripple-pyrometer 16, in order to provide information about the actual pulse parameters (pulse amplitudes and/or pulse widths and/or pulse repetition frequencies) and therefore the actual expected radiation-output to the temperature- measurement unit (i.e. the ripple-pyrometer 16).
  • a communication connection also enables the use of advanced noise-reduction techniques, like, e.g. lock-in techniques.
  • the interface can be provided to submit information about the detected temperatures to the lamp driving circuit 18.
  • Figure 3 shows the related intensities I over the time t.
  • the total intensity I L from the lamp has a time-varying component ⁇ I L .
  • the total emission from the object I w consists of the intrinsic emission Ii from the object and the reflected light from the lamp. Part of the latter shows a time-dependent portion ⁇ I W ("ripple") due to the driving AC-current. This time-dependent portion can only be related to the time-dependent incoming light, thus allowing the calculation of the reflectivity p of the object:
  • the intrinsic emission from the hot object then follows from energy conservation.
  • ripple-pyrometry relies on the time- variation of the radiative heating intensity in the RTP-reaction chamber.
  • ripple-pyrometry requires that the temperature variations of the object (wafer) 11 are slow compared to the variations in the radiation level from the AC-driven lamp. Otherwise, the intrinsic emission of the wafer 11 cannot be considered constant any more, and the time variation in the emission from the wafer cannot be attributed to the reflected light alone, making ripple-pyrometry unemployable.
  • other conditions have to be fulfilled as well (especially a fast detection rate of the radiation level and large numerical apertures of the optical fibers in order to average over the object surface).
  • these lamps normally are operated at frequencies too low to enable fast measurements of the actual temperature of the processed object.
  • T npp ⁇ e of the time-variation of the emitted lamp-radiation and a characteristic time-constant of the flash (e.g., rise- or fall-time, flash duration) is required:
  • the essential requirements for the use of AC-driven HID- lamps in connection with ripple-pyrometry (which itself is a known method to determine the object's emissivity and subsequently, the object's temperature) for measuring temperatures in flash-anneal RTP are: a time-variation of the radiation-output, that is large enough to be distinguished from noise (a variation of, e.g., the driving-current direction alone, as for an AC -block current, is not sufficient, since the light-output is insensitive to the direction of the current); and a high frequency (small time constant) of the light-variation relative to the time-constants (especially rise- and fall-times, total pulse length) of the annealing flash.
  • the instants during the standard operation of the lamp, at which the current pulses shall occur can be selected freely, as long as they occur sufficiently frequent (i.e. V ⁇ pp ie » Vfiash) to enable ripple-pyrometry temperature-control.
  • V ⁇ pp ie » Vfiash i.e. V ⁇ pp ie » Vfiash
  • lamp-related reasons e.g. flicker-suppression at current- commutation in UHP lamps
  • flicker-suppression at current- commutation in UHP lamps may also indicate preferred locations for the current pulses.
  • the characteristic time-constant for the pulses (i. e. the repetition period) has to be adapted e.g. by increasing the base frequency of the operating scheme (e.g., the AC block current).
  • an annealing flash can be started (at instant S) by increasing (i.e. ramping-up) only the repetition frequency of the current pulse, while keeping the base frequency of the operating scheme (e.g., the AC -block current) at least substantially constant. This is more easy to realize.
  • Increasing the current pulse frequency can be especially useful when - at the same time - the increased pulse-rate is used also to achieve a strong flash heating of the object.
  • an annealing flash can be started (at instant S) by ramping-up of the pulse height (or amplitude), at an at least substantially constant pulse width and at an at least substantially constant, but increased pulse repetition frequency.
  • an annealing flash can be started (at instant S) by ramping-up of the pulse width, at an at least substantially constant pulse amplitude and at an at least substantially constant, but increased pulse repetition frequency.
  • the pulse frequency is preferably also increased, albeit to a lower value in comparison to the right part of Figure 5.
  • the parameter to be varied is (slowly) ramped-up to a higher value, it is possible as well to increase this parameter in just one step to its new value and afterwards keep it constant at its new value.
  • the ramp does not have to be linear (as shown in Figures 5 to 7), but can have any arbitrary shape in time.
  • the pulse repetition frequency does not have to be increased in the cases of Figures 6 and 7, if the pulse frequency is already sufficiently high (compared to the flash parameters) before the instant S.
  • the amplitude or height of the AC block or DC current (i.e. the standard operating scheme) on which the above-described pulses are superimposed can also be zero or at least substantially zero.
  • the object to be processed is substantially or only heated-up by ramping-up the illumination intensity by the above described pulsed mode (second step of the method), wherein, if necessary, at least one of the above parameters (pulse amplitude, pulse repetition frequency, pulse width) can be increased or adapted in order to achieve a desired temperature rise and in order to achieve a stable lamp operation, respectively.
  • the lamp in the first operating mode can operated by switching on and off or rectangularly modulating a sequence of third current pulses as shown in Figure 8, instead of the AC block currents as shown in Figures 4 to 7.
  • the first and/or second current pulses are superimposed as mentioned above or they can be generated by accordingly modulating the amplitude of the same sequence of third current pulses.
  • an AC- block current with a frequency of about 100 Hz and one additional current pulse per half- wave is used.
  • the current pulses typically have a width of about 1 to 5% of the half- wave and an amplitude between 50 and 200% of the plateau-current of the AC -block scheme.
  • the frequency has to be increased to values higher than the characteristic frequencies of the flash.
  • the pulse-frequency could be increased to values between 10 kHz and 100 kHz.
  • the increased frequency only pertains to the pulses on top of the AC -block current, not to the basic frequency of the AC -block current, as e.g. shown in Figures 5 to 7, where only the pulse frequency is increased after the instant S.
  • the pulse width has to be decreased if the pulse frequency has to be increased this much.
  • the fast flux-modulation stemming from the current pulses should enable to determine accurate temperatures also during the annealing flash.
  • the temperature increase necessary during the flash anneal depends on the particular application. Typically, the temperature of the layer to be annealed has to be doubled. Depending again on the particular application (annealing time, furnace environment, ...), such a temperature increase may require a radiation flux input into the object to be annealed that is an order of magnitude higher than during the pre-flash- anneal phase. Such an increase in input power can be realized in different ways. If the pulse-signal shall be used for ripple-pyrometry as well, the necessary pulse frequencies have to be increased significantly anyway, as stated above. However, in several cases an increase of the pulse frequency alone will not be sufficient to reach the necessary heat input.
  • the necessary increase of the pulse-current or pulse-width depends on whether the pulse frequency is increased during the annealing-flash or not. Generally speaking, the area of the sum of all pulses has to yield a total power that is increased by a factor of 10. If the pulse frequency is increased significantly, it may be possible to achieve flash-anneal already with a 5 to 10 times higher pulse. Otherwise, pulses may have to be multiplied by 10 to 20 to yield sufficient heat input during the annealing flash.
  • the pulse width may only have to be increased by a factor of 2 to 3 when the pulse frequency goes up during the flash.
  • pulse widths may have to be increased by an order of magnitude. Depending on the required heat input, it may not be sufficient to change the pulse width alone; this measure may have to be complemented by increased pulse amplitudes as well.
  • the principle of the invention can be extended to include also negative pulses in the operating-current scheme. These are pulses, where the actual current is temporarily decreased relative to the average operating current of the lamp. If these pulses fulfill the amplitude- and frequency-requirements given above, such operating schemes can also be used for fast ripple-pyrometry.
  • the invention can be beneficially employed in future rapid thermal processing systems that require the use of flash-assisted object heating (for the 45...32 nm CMOS technology node and beyond).
  • flash-assisted object heating for the 45...32 nm CMOS technology node and beyond.
  • HID-lamp-based flash-annealing RTP systems will more and more replace current halogen-lamp-based systems.
  • the demands (especially accuracy and speed) for the measurement of the object's temperature will also become more challenging. Therefore, technologies that allow the further advanced use of ripple-pyrometry as the mainstay in non-invasive temperature control in semiconductor manufacturing will be of high importance.
  • the disturbance of the rapid thermal treatment of the object by the temperature measurement is kept to a minimum, in contrary to the case of sine-shaped currents, in which case the object receives a constantly varying light-flux.

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Abstract

A method and system for rapid thermal processing (RTP) comprising a two-step heating process and using at least one HID lamp (17) is disclosed, in which a ripple-pyrometry temperature measurement of the object(11)by means of a temperature measurement unit(18)can be conducted without disturbing the rapid thermal processing of the object (11). Substantially, this is achieved by driving the lamp (17) by means of a driving circuit (18)with an operating scheme (e.g., an AC-block current shape) with additional superimposed pulses with varying specifications,where the frequency of the superimposed pulse is chosen such, that they create a variation of the emitted light flux that is much faster than the variation induced by the light flash used for the second-step flash-anneal RTP. This enables the emissivity determination of the object, while only causing a short change in the total light flux to the object.

Description

Method and system for rapid thermal processing
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a method and system for rapid thermal processing (RTP), for use in a variety of applications like especially production processes, ranging for example from the manufacturing of semiconductor and related structures on substrates, wafers or chips, over fabrication processes that employ methods similar to semiconductor processes, but on different materials, like for example the production of liquid crystal displays, to the treatment of thin layers with low heat capacity on heat- sensitive substrates.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In advanced RTP systems, a two-step method is usually employed to reach the necessary processing temperatures (see e.g. in: K. Suguro et al, ECS 2004-1, pp. 39-49) By a first step, an overall heating of the object to be processed is achieved. In this step, typically either a hot plate beneath the object or a high intensity lamp is used that illuminates the object from below or above. The second step is an additional flash lamp illumination of the object from above, by which high temperatures can be achieved on the object including fast rise- and fall-times of the temperature change.
Experiments have shown that such a two-step method generally has several advantages . One advantage is that, by an overall heating, a more homogeneous temperature distribution over the object (at a low temperature level) can be achieved than with flash heating alone. This is especially helpful, if different processes in the object shall be accomplished at the same time (e.g. removing solvents from the object at low temperatures before crystallizing some areas at higher temperatures). Another advantage of the two-step method is, that often the flash-heating step alone is not capable of delivering sufficient energy to the object. By heating the whole object, the additional energy supplied by the light-flash is usually sufficient to achieve the desired process goal.
US 2001/0047990 discloses a method for rapid thermal processing of a substrate which comprises raising the power level of a radiation energy source (especially a Xenon arc lamp) to a peak power level to expose an active layer of a substrate to a first radiation energy for a first substantially instantaneous time and duration and thereafter maintaining a second power level of said radiation energy source, less than said first power level, to expose a bulk of said substrate to a second radiation energy for a second time duration, wherein said first time duration is between about 1 ns and about 10 s and said second time duration is between about 0 s and about 3600 s.
Similar pulsed processing semiconductor heating methods using combinations of heating sources like arc lamps, halogen lamps, laser and flash lamps are disclosed inUS 6,849,831.
However, for processing the increasingly miniaturized features on complex semiconductor substrates or chips, more sophisticated methods have to be employed. Ultimately, ultra-short-time heating (so-called "flash annealing") is often necessary to meet the critical design specifications (especially "ultrashallow junction" requirements) at and beyond the 32 nm technology-node of the semiconductor architecture. During this "flash annealing", the temperature of the object to be processed (e.g. a surface layer on a wafer) is increased by several hundred degrees in a few milliseconds. To control this flash annealing, accurate temperature measurements are necessary.
Consequently, such advanced and sophisticated RTP methods and systems become very complex because two heating procedures have to be controlled and temperature measurements and controls have to be conducted. This may increase control and maintenance problems, and especially the size and costs of the RTP system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, one object underlying the invention is to provide a method and system for rapid thermal processing (RTP) which is especially suitable for processing semiconductor substrates or chips having miniaturized features especially in the 32 nm technology or even smaller.
Furthermore, a method and system for rapid thermal processing (RTP) shall be provided by which accurate temperature measurements of the processed object and a more direct control of its temperature behavior can be conducted in a simple and reliable way.
Finally, a system for rapid thermal processing (RTP) shall be provided having a reduced size and reduced maintenance costs.
The object is solved according to claim 1 by a method for rapid thermal processing of an object by means of at least one high-pressure gas discharge lamp, comprising at least one first step for achieving a substantially overall or bulk heating of the object at a first temperature by an illumination of the object in a first operating mode of the lamp, and at least one second step for achieving an additional heating at a second higher temperature by an illumination of the object in a second operating mode of the lamp, in which the lamp is operated by first current pulses (pulsed mode) which are adjusted with respect to their amplitudes and/or pulse widths and/or pulse repetition frequencies in order to achieve the second temperature for thermal processing of the object.
The first temperature can be ambient temperature, but is preferably above ambient temperature. Alternatively, the first operating mode can be provided only for achieving a stable operation of the lamp.
Furthermore, the object is solved according to claim 9 by a system for rapid thermal processing, comprising at least one high-pressure gas discharge lamp, especially a HID or UHP or CPL lamp, and a lamp driving circuit for operating the at least one lamp in the first operating mode and for generating first current pulses which are adjustable with respect to their amplitudes and/or pulse widths and/or pulse repetition frequencies for operating the at least one lamp in the second operating mode according to the above method.
By conducting the at least two heating steps (which can be conducted as well at least substantially at the same time) by one or several HID-lamps that act as a combined entity, a reduced size of the total RTP-setup, a more direct control of its temperature behavior, and reduced maintenance costs are achieved. In addition, especially by using one or more HID or UHP or CPL lamps, current pulses can be made extremely short (in the order of 10 μs total length), thus enabling very short rise- and fall-times of the pulses, by which a flash annealing for advanced and sophisticated RTP methods and systems as well as temperature measurements by ripple-pyrometry become possible.
The subclaims disclose advantageous embodiments of the invention.
The embodiment according to claim 2 has the advantages that (1) a continuous mode can be obtained in which a generally constant illumination flux is impinging on the object to be processed during the half- wave of the AC block current (which has a square or rectangular current waveform), and (2) only a short change in the illumination flux is effected by the additional and superimposed first current pulses, so that especially if the current pulses are adjusted with respect to a short pulse widths such that emissivity determination of the object is enabled, on the one hand, a temperature measurement of the object (especially by ripple-pyrometry) and a temperature control can be conducted, and, on the other hand, the disturbance of the thermal treatment of the object by the temperature measurement is kept to a minimum. This can usually not be achieved with sine-shaped currents in the first operating mode, because in this case the object receives a constantly varying light-flux. According to claim 3 second current pulses are provided which are specifically adjusted for conducting ripple-pyrometry instead of the first current pulses. This has the advantage that a more exact temperature measurement can be achieved, and only a very short change in the total light flux to the object is caused by these very short pulses, so that the thermal processing of the object is not influenced. Furthermore, in this case the first current pulses can be specifically optimized for the thermal processing regardless of the needs for ripple-pyrometry.
According to claim 4 the AC block currents can be realized by modulating or switching on and off a sequence or train of third current pulse especially having a small time distance so that the envelope of the pulse sequence has an AC block or rectangular current form which is suitable for the continuous operation mode of the lamp. The embodiments according to claims 5 to 8 are advantageous for conducting flash annealing especially for processing in the 45 to 32 nm CMOS technology.
Further details, features and advantages of the invention become obvious from the following description of exemplary and preferred embodiments of the invention in connection with the drawings in which shows:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 calculated and measured temperatures for several substrate dimensions, for illumination with a low-power UHP lamp;
Fig. 2 a schematic view of a system for rapid thermal processing according to the invention;
Fig. 3 curves of typical radiation intensities in an RTP system; Fig. 4 a first driving current for a discharge lamp in an RTP system according to the invention;
Fig. 5 a second driving current for a discharge lamp in an RTP system according to the invention;
Fig. 6 a third driving current for a discharge lamp in an RTP system according to the invention;
Fig. 7 a fourth driving current for a discharge lamp in an RTP system according to the invention; and
Fig. 8 a fifth driving current for a discharge lamp in an RTP system according to the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
Experiments have shown that standard AC-driven halogen lamps are not suitable for fulfilling the requirements for advanced rapid thermal processing mentioned above. Beside their high thermal inertia, their operating frequencies are too low to determine the actual temperature of the object via standard ripple pyrometry during the short flash-annealing phases with sufficient accuracy.
UHP discharge lamps can be focused extremely well and can be used to heat up targets to temperatures of and well above 20000C. With UHP lamps the heating can be realized without mechanical contact (clean), in an open environment (easier access than ovens), with fast switching cycles (with respect to pulse lengths as well as to rise- and fall-times), and with predefined heating profiles (both spatially and in time), because heating is achieved by optical radiation. This fast and controlled heating can be used in production processes aiming at, e.g., only partial heating of a substrate. Another important advantage is, that in contrary to halogen lamps, a significant part of the energy is emitted in the visible and near UV range, which allows the fast heating of substrates because these usually have a low reflectivity in this wavelength range and a high reflectivity only in the IR range. Therefore the efficiency can be much higher by the use of UHP lamps for RTP than by the use of halogen lamps. Compared to other light sources for heating purposes, much higher temperatures and/or faster heating and smaller heating areas can be realized. Similar results can only be achieved with IR-diode lasers which, however, are quite expensive for the normally required several hundred or thousand Watt of output power. In addition lasers require by law extensive safety measures, which are not prescribed for UHP lamps. Consequently, the use of UHP lamps leads to a significant cost reduction in comparison to laser light sources and a significant performance increase in comparison to halogen lamps or ovens.
Figure 1, curve A, shows the temperatures T[K] which can be achieved by means of a low-power UHP lamp as a function of the dimensions D[mm] of a substrate. The depicted measurements agree well with a calculated theoretical curve.
Curve B has been calculated assuming a 10 times higher input heat flux. This can be realized, e.g., by using a lamp reflector with an aluminum coating instead of a dichroic lamp reflector and by using a ring of 5 UHP lamps.
Especially in the above-mentioned advanced flash-anneal RTP systems, typically HID or UHP or CPL lamps are employed, since their thermal inertia is low enough to enable the fast rise- and fall times of the light flash. Such lamps usually are operated with AC -block currents or DC-currents.
According to the invention it is preferred to use ultra-high-pressure, mercury-based, short-arc HID technology, namely with UHP- and CPL-lamps. These lamps deliver luminance values in excess of 1 Gcd/m2 and may be highly suitable to heat semiconductor objects with good spatial resolution. Usually, these lamps are operated with an AC -block current, which is preferably superimposed by (relatively small) current pulses that help to stabilize the discharge arc.
The first step of a low-temperature bulk heating in an RTP method can be achieved by operating the discharge lamp in a continuous mode at (relatively) low power levels. The second step of high-temperature heating (especially flash annealing) is realized, preferably at least substantially at the same time, by pulsing the same lamp with first current pulses at high power levels. Thus the two heating steps can be conducted by one or several identical HID-lamps that act as a combined entity. The resulting advantages of this approach are reduced size of the total RTP system, a more direct control of its temperature behavior, and reduced maintenance costs. In addition, current pulses for UHP- and CPL-lamps can be made extremely short (in the order of 10 μs total length), thus enabling very short rise- and fall-times of the high-temperature pulses especially flash annealing. In a first embodiment of the invention, such a lamp is operated with an
AC -block current (which has an at least substantially square or rectangular current waveform). The power dissipated by the lamp is adjusted according to the overall (low) temperature required for the first step (low temperature bulk heating) of the two-step heating method. To reach the high temperatures necessary for thermal processing in the second step of the two-step heating method, the lamp is pulsed with first (comparably) high current pulses for short times. These current pulses can be 10 to 20 times higher than the average AC operating block current. Depending on the pulse length (widths) and height (amplitude) and repetition frequency, the energy deposited in the object (and thus the temperature achieved) during the high-temperature processing (second) step can be controlled. While low-temperature heating will be the standard or continuous operation mode of the lamp, that will be employed during most of the processing-time, the high-current pulses will usually only be used for limited times and at (user-) controlled instants. The exact operating times for the two different steps or operating modes of the lamp are determined by the application and can typically be inferred from an already existing two-step RTP-systems described above.
If necessary (e.g. for good spatial resolution in the application), according to a second embodiment, standard low-current pulses can still be superimposed onto the standard AC -block current to stabilize the discharge arc and operation of the lamp as mentioned above. Preferably, it is required that the power-ratio between the continuous low-pulse (AC block current) and the short-term high-pulse operation mode allows reaching the temperatures necessary for the rapid thermal processing steps.
In order to measure the temperature of the processed object, optical pyrometers can be used. To account for variations between batches or individual objects and process-time dependent changes due to layer formation, etc., (especially in case of a wafer) a method to determine the (dynamic) wafer's emissivity is required. A typical such method is the so-called "ripple pyrometry".
Figure 2 shows a schematic view of such an exemplary system for rapid thermal processing which comprises a furnace 10 enclosing an object 11, e.g. a wafer or substrate, to be thermally processed by the illumination of at least one HID lamp 17 which is controlled and driven by a lamp driver 18.
The ripple pyrometry is conducted by means of a first light sensor 12 inside the furnace 10 at the tip of a first optical fiber 14 and a second light sensor 13 inside the furnace 10 at the tip of a second optical fiber 15, which fibers 14, 15 are connected with a ripple pyrometer 16. The first sensor 12 is positioned to directly detect the emission of the at least one lamp 17, and the second sensor 13 is positioned to detect the emission from the processed object 11.
Furthermore, it may be useful to provide an interface between the lamp driving circuit 18 and the ripple-pyrometer 16, in order to provide information about the actual pulse parameters (pulse amplitudes and/or pulse widths and/or pulse repetition frequencies) and therefore the actual expected radiation-output to the temperature- measurement unit (i.e. the ripple-pyrometer 16). Such a communication connection also enables the use of advanced noise-reduction techniques, like, e.g. lock-in techniques. Furthermore, the interface can be provided to submit information about the detected temperatures to the lamp driving circuit 18. For the general case of an AC-powered lamp (typically a tungsten- halogen lamp in known RTP systems), Figure 3 shows the related intensities I over the time t. The total intensity IL from the lamp has a time-varying component ΔIL. The total emission from the object Iw consists of the intrinsic emission Ii from the object and the reflected light from the lamp. Part of the latter shows a time-dependent portion ΔIW ("ripple") due to the driving AC-current. This time-dependent portion can only be related to the time-dependent incoming light, thus allowing the calculation of the reflectivity p of the object:
P = ^'
AI1
The intrinsic emission from the hot object then follows from energy conservation.
As can be seen from the above, ripple-pyrometry relies on the time- variation of the radiative heating intensity in the RTP-reaction chamber.
Furthermore, ripple-pyrometry requires that the temperature variations of the object (wafer) 11 are slow compared to the variations in the radiation level from the AC-driven lamp. Otherwise, the intrinsic emission of the wafer 11 cannot be considered constant any more, and the time variation in the emission from the wafer cannot be attributed to the reflected light alone, making ripple-pyrometry unemployable. Of course, for a proper application of the ripple-pyrometry, other conditions have to be fulfilled as well (especially a fast detection rate of the radiation level and large numerical apertures of the optical fibers in order to average over the object surface).
With increasing demands on the process steps in modern semiconductor manufacturing, the knowledge of the actual process temperatures becomes more and more important. This is especially true for rapid thermal processing. To achieve high yields, temperature calibration on the individual object-level is necessary. This implies some method of emissivity-determination and -correction. The ripple-pyrometry technique described above is a very powerful real-time technique, making it particularly useful for (fast) flash-anneal RTP. Other methods either don't reach the required accuracy, temperature ranges, or response times.
Especially for controlling flash annealing, accurate temperature measurements are necessary. As mentioned above, standard AC-driven halogen lamps are not suitable for these applications. Besides their high thermal inertia, their operating frequencies are too low to determine the actual wafer temperature via ripple pyrometry during the short flash-annealing steps (a single 50 Hz period, e.g., is 20 ms long, whereas in flash annealing, the total pulse lengths typically are on the order of milliseconds; thus not even a full period of the lamp operating frequency is covered by the flash pulse). In case of HID-lamps, usually no net resulting time-variation of the emitted light occurs in their standard operation modes. Furthermore, also these lamps normally are operated at frequencies too low to enable fast measurements of the actual temperature of the processed object. Generally, the following relationship between the time-constant Tnppιe of the time-variation of the emitted lamp-radiation and a characteristic time-constant of the flash (e.g., rise- or fall-time, flash duration) is required:
-* ripple ^ ^ flash
According to the invention, it is proposed to employ current driving schemes for the operation of a HID-lamp for rapid thermal processing, which are of high enough frequency for advanced flash-anneal RTP and yield a sufficient time-varying light-output.
More in detail, the essential requirements for the use of AC-driven HID- lamps in connection with ripple-pyrometry (which itself is a known method to determine the object's emissivity and subsequently, the object's temperature) for measuring temperatures in flash-anneal RTP are: a time-variation of the radiation-output, that is large enough to be distinguished from noise (a variation of, e.g., the driving-current direction alone, as for an AC -block current, is not sufficient, since the light-output is insensitive to the direction of the current); and a high frequency (small time constant) of the light-variation relative to the time-constants (especially rise- and fall-times, total pulse length) of the annealing flash.
An AC-driving scheme that fulfills these requirements can be employed to measure object temperatures using the ripple-pyrometry method. Specifically, high- frequency pulsed driving schemes are used according to the invention and in a system according to the invention as shown in Figure 2.
One way to adapt the current operation mode to the requirements of ripple-pyrometry for flash-anneal RTP systems is to employ a sinusoidal current waveform, whose frequency is large enough for ripple-pyrometry during the annealing flash (which implies frequencies in the order of several kHz). However, such an operation mode may not be applicable in some cases due to lamp-physics reasons (e.g., risk of extinguishing the lamp at zero-crossings of the current).
Another, in most cases more useful way to modify the standard operating scheme (e.g., the AC -block or DC-current) of typical HID-lamps (e.g. UHP-lamps) is to add or superimpose current pulses to the operating scheme at regular intervals as indicated in Figure 4.
In principle, the instants during the standard operation of the lamp, at which the current pulses shall occur, can be selected freely, as long as they occur sufficiently frequent (i.e. Vπppie » Vfiash) to enable ripple-pyrometry temperature-control. However, it may be advantageous for the application of certain noise- reduction techniques (i.e. "lock-in" -techniques), to employ a fixed pulse repetition-rate or frequency. Beside this, other, lamp-related reasons (e.g. flicker-suppression at current- commutation in UHP lamps) may also indicate preferred locations for the current pulses.
During the current pulses, the radiation output from the lamp is increased, allowing detecting a "ripple" in the light reflected by the object. This measure is already sufficient to enable standard ripple-pyrometry using an otherwise AC -block driven lamp.
For flash-anneal RTP, however, time-scales have to be much shorter than the ones currently used in standard RTP. Therefore, the characteristic time-constant for the pulses (i. e. the repetition period) has to be adapted e.g. by increasing the base frequency of the operating scheme (e.g., the AC block current). Alternatively, according to Figure 5, an annealing flash can be started (at instant S) by increasing (i.e. ramping-up) only the repetition frequency of the current pulse, while keeping the base frequency of the operating scheme (e.g., the AC -block current) at least substantially constant. This is more easy to realize. Increasing the current pulse frequency can be especially useful when - at the same time - the increased pulse-rate is used also to achieve a strong flash heating of the object.
Several other ways are also conceivable to increase the power radiated by the lamp (or lamps) towards the object: According to Figure 6, an annealing flash can be started (at instant S) by ramping-up of the pulse height (or amplitude), at an at least substantially constant pulse width and at an at least substantially constant, but increased pulse repetition frequency.
Finally, according to Figure 7, an annealing flash can be started (at instant S) by ramping-up of the pulse width, at an at least substantially constant pulse amplitude and at an at least substantially constant, but increased pulse repetition frequency.
It has to be noted that in the latter two cases, the pulse frequency is preferably also increased, albeit to a lower value in comparison to the right part of Figure 5.
Although in the Figures 5 to 7 it is indicated, that the parameter to be varied is (slowly) ramped-up to a higher value, it is possible as well to increase this parameter in just one step to its new value and afterwards keep it constant at its new value. The ramp does not have to be linear (as shown in Figures 5 to 7), but can have any arbitrary shape in time. In addition, the pulse repetition frequency does not have to be increased in the cases of Figures 6 and 7, if the pulse frequency is already sufficiently high (compared to the flash parameters) before the instant S.
Furthermore, it has to be noted that the amplitude or height of the AC block or DC current (i.e. the standard operating scheme) on which the above-described pulses are superimposed, can also be zero or at least substantially zero. In this case the object to be processed is substantially or only heated-up by ramping-up the illumination intensity by the above described pulsed mode (second step of the method), wherein, if necessary, at least one of the above parameters (pulse amplitude, pulse repetition frequency, pulse width) can be increased or adapted in order to achieve a desired temperature rise and in order to achieve a stable lamp operation, respectively.
Finally, in the first operating mode the lamp can operated by switching on and off or rectangularly modulating a sequence of third current pulses as shown in Figure 8, instead of the AC block currents as shown in Figures 4 to 7. The first and/or second current pulses are superimposed as mentioned above or they can be generated by accordingly modulating the amplitude of the same sequence of third current pulses.
In the following, an example shall be given with respect to typical numerical values: Typically, for the standard (non- flash) operation of UHP-lamps, an AC- block current with a frequency of about 100 Hz and one additional current pulse per half- wave is used. The current pulses typically have a width of about 1 to 5% of the half- wave and an amplitude between 50 and 200% of the plateau-current of the AC -block scheme. To enable ripple-pyrometry during the flash-anneal, the frequency has to be increased to values higher than the characteristic frequencies of the flash. For flashes, e.g., with a total length of about 10 ms, the pulse-frequency could be increased to values between 10 kHz and 100 kHz. It has to be noted that the increased frequency only pertains to the pulses on top of the AC -block current, not to the basic frequency of the AC -block current, as e.g. shown in Figures 5 to 7, where only the pulse frequency is increased after the instant S.
In most cases, the pulse width has to be decreased if the pulse frequency has to be increased this much. Depending on the required temperature increase and the involved materials, the fast flux-modulation stemming from the current pulses should enable to determine accurate temperatures also during the annealing flash.
The temperature increase necessary during the flash anneal depends on the particular application. Typically, the temperature of the layer to be annealed has to be doubled. Depending again on the particular application (annealing time, furnace environment, ...), such a temperature increase may require a radiation flux input into the object to be annealed that is an order of magnitude higher than during the pre-flash- anneal phase. Such an increase in input power can be realized in different ways. If the pulse-signal shall be used for ripple-pyrometry as well, the necessary pulse frequencies have to be increased significantly anyway, as stated above. However, in several cases an increase of the pulse frequency alone will not be sufficient to reach the necessary heat input. The necessary increase of the pulse-current or pulse-width depends on whether the pulse frequency is increased during the annealing-flash or not. Generally speaking, the area of the sum of all pulses has to yield a total power that is increased by a factor of 10. If the pulse frequency is increased significantly, it may be possible to achieve flash-anneal already with a 5 to 10 times higher pulse. Otherwise, pulses may have to be multiplied by 10 to 20 to yield sufficient heat input during the annealing flash.
Similarly, the pulse width may only have to be increased by a factor of 2 to 3 when the pulse frequency goes up during the flash. When the pulse frequency is unchanged, pulse widths may have to be increased by an order of magnitude. Depending on the required heat input, it may not be sufficient to change the pulse width alone; this measure may have to be complemented by increased pulse amplitudes as well.
Generally, the above-described pulse schemes cannot only be employed in connection with AC -block currents as indicated in Figures 4 to 7, but also together with any other (AC- or DC-) current scheme. Using these and similar modifications of the operating scheme of the HID-lamp, it is possible to achieve flash heating of the object, while at the same time information is provided to measure the object temperature via ripple-pyrometry.
The principle of the invention can be extended to include also negative pulses in the operating-current scheme. These are pulses, where the actual current is temporarily decreased relative to the average operating current of the lamp. If these pulses fulfill the amplitude- and frequency-requirements given above, such operating schemes can also be used for fast ripple-pyrometry.
The invention can be beneficially employed in future rapid thermal processing systems that require the use of flash-assisted object heating (for the 45...32 nm CMOS technology node and beyond). In the future, HID-lamp-based flash-annealing RTP systems will more and more replace current halogen-lamp-based systems. The demands (especially accuracy and speed) for the measurement of the object's temperature will also become more challenging. Therefore, technologies that allow the further advanced use of ripple-pyrometry as the mainstay in non-invasive temperature control in semiconductor manufacturing will be of high importance.
Summarizing the above, by the use of an operating scheme (e.g., AC- block current shapes) with additional pulses to create a non-constant light-flux, the following advantages are achieved:
(1) a generally constant light-flux during the half- wave of the operating scheme (e.g., the AC current) especially in comparison to e.g. sine-shaped currents, and
(2) only a short change in the light-flux, in order to enable emissivity determination of the object.
By this, the disturbance of the rapid thermal treatment of the object by the temperature measurement is kept to a minimum, in contrary to the case of sine-shaped currents, in which case the object receives a constantly varying light-flux.

Claims

CLAIMS:
1. Method for rapid thermal processing of an object by means of at least one high-pressure gas discharge lamp, comprising: at least one first step for achieving a substantially overall or bulk heating of the object at a first temperature by an illumination of the object in a first operating mode of the lamp, and at least one second step for achieving an additional heating at a second higher temperature by an illumination of the object in a second operating mode of the lamp, in which the lamp is operated by first current pulses (pulsed mode) which are adjusted with respect to their amplitudes and/or pulse widths and/or pulse repetition frequencies in order to achieve the second temperature for thermal processing of the object.
2. Method according to claim 1, wherein in the first operating mode the lamp is operated with an AC block current on which the first current pulses of the second operating mode are superimposed.
3. Method according to claim 2, wherein an emissivity determination is conducted by superimposing second current pulses on the AC block current, having an amplitude and/or pulse width and/or pulse repetition frequency which is chosen such that they create a variation of the emitted light flux that is faster and/or shorter than the variation induced by the first current pulses.
4. Method according to claim 1, wherein in the first operating mode the lamp is operated by switching on and off or rectangularly modulating a sequence of third current pulses.
5. Method according to claim 1, wherein the first current pulses are selected with respect to their amplitudes and/or pulse widths and/or pulse repetition frequencies for flash-annealing rapid thermal processing.
6. Method according to claim 1, wherein the heating of the object is increased by the first current pulses having an increased or increasing repetition frequency and an at least substantially constant amplitude.
7. Method according to claim 1, wherein the heating of the object is increased by the first current pulses having an increased or increasing amplitude, a constant pulse width and an optionally increased, but at least substantially constant repetition frequency.
8. Method according to claim 1, wherein the heating of the object is increased by the first current pulses having an increased or increasing pulse width, a constant amplitude and an optionally increased, but at least substantially constant repetition frequency.
9. System for rapid thermal processing, comprising at least one high- pressure gas discharge lamp (17), especially an HID or UHP or CPL lamp, and a lamp driving circuit (18) for operating the at least one lamp (17) in the first operating mode and for generating first current pulses which are adjustable with respect to their amplitudes and/or pulse widths and/or pulse repetition frequencies for operating the at least one lamp (17) in the second operating mode according to at least one of claims 1 to 8.
10. System according to claim 9, comprising a temperature-measurement unit (16) in the form of a ripple-pyrometer having an interface to the lamp driving circuit (18), for providing information about the actual amplitudes and/or pulse widths and/or pulse repetition frequencies of the first > current pulses to the temperature-measurement unit (16) and/or for providing information about the measured temperature to the lamp driving circuit (18).
PCT/IB2008/051736 2007-05-09 2008-05-05 Method and system for rapid thermal processing WO2008139361A1 (en)

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JPS5575738A (en) * 1978-12-01 1980-06-07 Ushio Inc Annealing method for nonmetal
JPS57162340A (en) * 1981-03-31 1982-10-06 Ushio Inc Annealing method for silicon semiconductor
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KR20170132435A (en) * 2016-05-24 2017-12-04 삼성전자주식회사 Method of heating a substrate
KR102527578B1 (en) * 2016-05-24 2023-05-02 삼성전자주식회사 Method of heating a substrate

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