Realistic three-dimensional modeling of multizone rapid thermal systems

We have developed a methodology aimed at accurately determining the various forms of energy transfer (convective loss, radiative loss and absorption of lamp energy by the wafer) occurring in any advanced RTP system, based on basic system identification experiments and simple 3-dimensional physical model depicting the heat transfer processes. The identification experiments help in estimating the uncertain system dependent factors which characterize the various forms of energy transfer, which may be otherwise difficult to calculate on pure theoretical basis. This methodology forms the basic building block of our effort to develop a tool which can predict the temperature distribution across the wafer in a realistic way. This tool can be used both as a wafer temperature control algorithm in any advanced RTP system as well as by an end user who is equipped with a not so advanced, but multizone, RTP system (the one with the user defined power levels to various zones).