Substrate heater design investigation for uniform temperature in a cold-wall low pressure reactor

Abstract

The critical function of a CVD heating system is to produce a uniform temperature distribution across the surface of the substrate wafer or object. The most challenging system for low-cost heater design is the cold-wall reactor. Secondary considerations include the temperature of other exterior surfaces, materials, commercial heater availability, scalability, and cost. A low cost design was investigated for a wafer heater in research-scale reactors. Numerical modelling and optimization results are confirmed with thermography experiments and demonstrate the relationship between temperature uniformity and design parameters. Heaters with incorporated refractory materials and radiation shielding have the best susceptor temperature uniformity.