Design optimization
Typical design variables are the number of heater zones, the size and
the position of heater zones, the insulation thickness, and the
reactor geometry.
Tools for performance optimization can also aide in the
design optimization of CVD reactors, for example in determining the number
of heater zones.
The result of a performance optimization with a 24-zone furnace to
achieve a uniform temperature distribution of 1027 C along the wafers
indicates that the middle zones can be degenerated into a smaller number
of heater zones (solid line in left picture). The performance optimization
with the new 14-zone furnace configuration shows that the goal of a
uniform temperature distribution can be achieved (see temperature
distributions in the right picture). The optimized power settings for the
14-zone configuration (dashed lines in the left picture) indicate that a
further reduction is possible and that the nine middle zones can be
degenerated into one.(Full size picture)