Identification and Multivariable Iterative Learning Control of an RTP Process for Maximum Uniformity of Wafer Temperature

Comprehensive study on the control system design for a RTP process has been conducted. The purpose of the control system is to maintain maximum temperature uniformity across the silicon wafer achieving precise tracking for various reference trajectories. The study has been carried out in two stages: thermal balance modeling on the basis of a semi-empirical radiation model, and optimal iterative learning controller design on the basis of a linear state space model. First, we found through steady state radiation modeling that the fourth power of wafer temperatures, lamp powers, and the fourth power of chamber wall temperature are related by an emissivity-independent linear equation. Next, for control of the MIMO system, a state space modeland LQG-based two-stage batch control technique was derived and employed to reduce the heavy computational demand in the original two-stage batch control technique. By accommodating the first result, a linear state space model for the controller design was identified between the lamp powers and the fourth power of wafer temperatures as inputs and outputs, respectively. The control system was applied to an experimental RTP equipment. As a consequence, great uniformity improvement could be attained over the entire time horizon compared to the original multi-loop PID control. In addition, controller implementation was standardized and facilitated by completely eliminating the tedious and lengthy control tuning trial.