Multitube thermal processing furnace (MTPF) for oxidation and LPCVD at the PSI PICO cleanroom

The equipment to be procured is a multitube thermal processing furnace (MTPF) essential for the deposition of materials for quantum, photonic and x-ray applications of the groups at the LNQ and LXN laboratories and for all PSI cleanroom users. The MTPF should have a horizontal arrangement of the tubes and should be capable to process in one load up to 50 wafers of 200 mm diameter with good within-wafer, wafer-to-wafer and batch-to-batch uniformity. The MTPF should have an automation option allowing to process, at least, 4 wafer batches of 50 wafers in the same or different tubes one after the other without the presence of operator.

The MTPF shall be delivered with four 200 mm compatible tubes:
– Tube 1: atmospheric thermal dry and wet oxidation (quartz tube up to 1050°C; optional SiC tube up to 1250°C);
– Tube 2: LPCVD stoichiometric Si3N4 layers for photonic applications and low-stress SiNx layers for membrane fabrication;
– Tube 3: LPCVD TEOS-based SiO2 layers;
– Tube 4: LPCVD polycrystalline and amorphous Si.

The MTPF shall be installed through the wall, with the loading station on the cleanroom side and the remaining equipment (furnaces, electronic racks, gas cabinets, pumps and related infrastructure) on the gray room side. It shall be capable of 24/7 operation with a guaranteed uptime of at least 90% and a minimum 2-year warranty.