The Expanding Role of Rapid Thermal Processing in CMOS Manufacturing

The role of single wafer Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) in semiconductor manufacturing has been steadily expanding over the last 2 decades. There are several reasons for the successful adaptation of this technology. These include more critical requirements by advanced semiconductor technologies with respect to thermal exposure and control, as well as tremendous improvements by the RTP equipment community in resolving some fundamental limitations of the tooling, historically restricting wide spread implementation. From rather humble beginnings, RTP technology has now established itself as indispensable to the production of advanced semiconductor products. We review the history and implementation of RTP technology in semiconductor processing technology at International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) from the late 1980s to recent time.