Ceramic Heater Groove Layout for Uniform Electrostatic Chuck Heating
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing ceramic heaters for semiconductor manufacturing suffer from thermal non-uniformity due to excessive resistance and heat generation at connection points between recessed grooves, which are formed by overlapping laser light, leading to hot spots and poor heat distribution.
Innovation Solution
A ceramic heater design with recessed grooves and projection portions that prevent overlapping laser irradiation, maintaining uniform groove depth and width, and using chevron-shaped projections to minimize resistance variation, ensuring consistent heat distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If recessed grooves are continuously formed by laser light in adjacent sections without a gap, then manufacturing efficiency is improved, but the depth of the connection portion becomes excessively large causing excessive resistance and heat generation
Solution Approach 1:
The resistance heating element is divided into multiple sections with recessed grooves formed in each section. A projection portion is left as an unprocessed region between adjacent sections, creating a segmented structure that prevents excessive groove depth at connection portions while maintaining manufacturing efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The projection portion acts as an intermediary unprocessed region between adjacent recessed grooves. This intermediary structure prevents the laser light from continuously forming deep grooves across section boundaries, thereby controlling the depth at connection portions and preventing excessive heat generation.
2Reliability
If the foot width of the projection portion is made small, then current flow through the projection portion is minimized, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The foot width of the projection portion is controlled to be 5 μm or less, and the inclination angle is set to 45 degrees or more. By optimizing these parameters, the current flow through the projection portion is minimized while maintaining manufacturability through standard laser processing capabilities.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design enhances thermal uniformity by adjusting groove widths and depths to match resistance and heat generation across the heater surface, reducing hot spots and improving temperature control.
Implementation Method 1
a resistance heating element provided on a surface of a ceramic substrate
Implementation Method 2
the resistance heating element is divided into a plurality of sections, the resistance of each section is measured, and, based on the measured resistance, the resistance of the resistance heating element is adjusted by radiating laser light to a section having a low resistance so as to form a groove
Data Source
AI summary
An electrostatic chuck heater includes a resistance heating element. A region of the resistance heating element from one end to another end of the resistance heating element is divided into a plurality of sections. Recessed grooves are provided in the respective sections along a longitudinal direction of the resistance heating element in a surface. In a connection portion between the recessed grooves that are provided in the adjacent sections, a projection portion that extends along the connection portion is provided.