Rapid thermal anneal
From ArticleWorld
Rapid thermal anneal (RTA), a subset of rapid thermal processes (RTPs), refers to the process in which a single wafer is heated so that its electrical properties may be modified. This process is used in semiconductor device fabrication (a process through which chips are created). RTA can heat a whole wafer in seconds and is much faster and possibly more effective than conventional furnace anneals.
Applications
The effects that can be produced on wafers using rapid thermal annealing include the removal of defects introduced by ion implantation, the activation of species with little movement of the dopants (impurities that have been added to semiconductors), the making of deposited film denser, the changing of film-to-film or film-to-water substrate interfaces, the changing of states of grown films and the moving of dopants from a film into another film or into the wafer substrate.
RTA components
The main components in a RTA system are:
- a rapid thermal anneal (RTA) chamber and
- a heating equipment (such as a heating lamp) in order to heat the wafer.