Development of a linear temperature ramp-based automated system for furnace oxidation of semiconductor wafers
by Sk Abdul Kader Md Faruque; Debaleen Biswas; Shaibal Saha; Supratic Chakraborty
International Journal of Instrumentation Technology (IJIT), Vol. 1, No. 4, 2015

Abstract: This article presents a custom-made, stepper motor controlled instrument to load/unload wafer/substrate into a furnace for its oxidation and/or annealing where the wafer experiences a linear temperature ramp up/down rate. Such an instrument takes care of the nonlinear spatial variation of temperature in different segments along the length of a furnace. A technique for controlling stepper motor using arduino board is proposed. A MATLAB-based graphical user interface (GUI) is also developed for its automated operation. The ramp up or ramp down rate, measured by a thermocouple, attached to the wafer carrier, is controlled precisely by changing the speed of the carrier during its insertion or withdrawal, respectively. A mathematical expression is used to deal with the non-linear variation of temperature along the length of the tube furnace and accordingly, the insertion/withdrawal speed of the sample carrier is set. Therefore, a linear ramp rate from initial to final temperature is achieved by varying the linear motion of the sample carrier in different segments for all furnace temperature. A linear ramp rate ranging from < 1°C/min to 370°C/min may be set as per the requirements of the oxidation or annealing process.

Online publication date: Sat, 16-Apr-2016

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