Specific Process Knowledge/Thermal Process/Resist Pyrolysis Furnace

Resist Pyrolysis Furnace

The Resist Pyrolysis Furnace is used for resist pyrolysis, where samples with different resist layers are heated up to maximum 1000°C in a nitrogen atmosphere. At high temperatures carbon is formed by pyrolysis of the resist. In this way conductive structures can be made from a resist patterned sample.

If oxygen from the air or from outgassing of the resist is present in the furnace, the resist layer will be removed. Thus, for each process it is important to include a step with a high nitrogen flow at a lower temperature, before a high temperature for resist pyrolysis is obtained. Pyrolysis of a large amount of resist may also be a problem due to resist outgassing.

During processing the furnace is rapidly heated by use of six long heating lamps situated around the furnace tube, andt cooling is done (rather slowly) by use of cooling fans. The furnace is purged with a controlable nitrogen flow. There is no vacuum on the furnace.

The user manual, user APV, technical information and contact information can be found in LabManager:

The Resist Pyrolysis furnace. Located in the III-V Lab

Resist Pyrolysis Furnace

Process information

There are no standard processes on the furnace.

Equipment performance and process related parameters

Resist Pyrolysis Furnace		Equipment 1
Purpose		Pyrolysis of different resist layers to form conductive structures
Process parameter range	Temperature	0-1000 oC Temperature ramp-up rate: Max 10 oC/min Temperature ramp-down rate: Relative slow (depending on the furnace temperature)
	Nitrogen flows	Flow 1: Max 660 liter/hour Flow 2: Max 3500 liter/hour
Substrates	Batch size	# Small samples (placed on a Si support wafer) # 50 mm wafers (placed on a Si support wafer) # Up to two or six 100 mm wafers or The furnace has a quartz boat for 3" wafers. One or two 4" wafers can be placed horizontally on the boat. It is also possible to process 2" wafers or smaller samples if these are placed on a Si support wafer, preferentially with an etched recess to prevent that the samples fall off during processing. The furnace also has a horizontal quartz boat in which up to six wafers can be placed horizontally. Place the horizontal boat on the quartz boat for 3" wafers, and be very careful when you load your wafers in the boat. The horizontal boat should only be handled with new gloves, and it has to be situated in a clean wafer box (situated on the shelf next to the furnace and marked "Horizontal boat for Resist Pyrolysis Furnace") when it is not in use.
	Allowed materials	Silicon Silicon oxide Silicon nitride Quartz AZ resist (prebaked) SU-8 (prebaked)