Used horizontal and vertical diffusion furnaces, LPCVD tubes and rapid thermal processors, refurbished and serviced for oxidation, doping, anneal and nitride work.
Stacked quartz tubes for oxidation, diffusion and anneal, with each tube dedicated to a process.
Low-pressure tubes for polysilicon, silicon nitride and TEOS oxide, with vacuum pumping and gas delivery.
Automated 150 and 200 mm batch processing with a small footprint per wafer and good particle performance.
Lamp-heated single-wafer anneals, oxidation and contact alloying in seconds rather than hours.
200 mm (8 in) · 1990s–2020s
200 mm (8 in) · 1990s–2020s
200 mm (8 in) · 1990s–2010s
150 mm (6 in) · 1980s–2000s
200 mm (8 in) · 1990s–2020s
Thermal steps are where a fab grows its gate and field oxides, drives in dopants, deposits LPCVD films and anneals implants and contacts. They are also where contamination does the most damage, because a dirty tube transfers metal or dopant to every wafer that passes through it. Choosing used thermal processing equipment is therefore as much about the history of the tubes as about the condition of the cabinet.
We supply refurbished furnaces and rapid thermal processors and service installed ones, including profiling, element and controller work.
Horizontal furnaces stack three or four tubes in one cabinet, each with its own element, controller and gas system. The Tempress diffusion furnace and the Tystar Tytan are typical of what university cleanrooms and solar or MEMS pilot lines run. Loading is by paddle or cantilever, often by hand in research labs.
Vertical batch furnaces such as the ASM A400 load wafers into a boat that rises into the tube. They take less floor area per wafer and are automated cassette to cassette, which suits 150 and 200 mm pilot lines with steady product.
Rapid thermal processors like the AG Associates Heatpulse 610 and the Jipelec JetFirst heat one wafer with halogen lamps in seconds. They are the tool for short anneals after implant, silicide formation and contact alloying, where a furnace would give too much thermal budget. Temperature measurement is the weak spot: a pyrometer reading depends on wafer emissivity, so backside films and doping shift it, and a thermocouple wafer is the usual cross-check when recipes move between substrates.
Where the process history of a tube is unknown, we say so in the report. For a clean oxidation tube you will usually want new quartz rather than trusting an unknown past.
Furnace refurbishment often comes down to elements, thermocouples and quartz. Elements age and lose zone balance; quartz devitrifies and particles follow. We replace what is worn, re-profile the zones and leak check the gas system. When a tool has been used with toxic dopant sources, decontamination is done before shipping and documented.
The most common upgrade is a control system retrofit. Many furnaces still run on obsolete controllers or proprietary boards for which spares are scarce. A modern temperature and recipe controller restores supportability and gives data logging. Other upgrades include new mass flow controllers, soft-landing loaders and pyrometer upgrades on RTPs.
We help plan the hook-up and can describe the facility needs for each platform in detail before you order.
It is possible for some anneals, but most labs dedicate tubes to avoid metal and dopant contamination. Gate-quality oxidation in particular should have its own clean tube.
LPCVD nitride is deposited at high temperature and is dense, stoichiometric and low in hydrogen. PECVD nitride is deposited at much lower temperature and suits wafers that cannot take the heat.
That depends on the scope you choose. We inspect the tubes, boats and paddles and quote replacement where they are worn, devitrified or contaminated.
We profile the flat zone with a calibrated profile thermocouple and adjust the controller so the zone meets the target uniformity for your process.
An RTP needs far less floor space but a high-current electrical supply for the lamps, cooling water and purge gas. A furnace bank needs more space, more power and its own exhaust.
Temperature, stress, hydrogen content and etch resistance separate PECVD and LPCVD nitride. How to choose the process, and the tool, for your device.
When a dry pump conversion pays off on an etcher, CVD tool or evaporator, how to size the replacement and what changes in facilities and interlocks.
Substrates, tool availability, automation and facilities all change between 150 and 200 mm. How to pick a wafer size for a pilot line built on used tools.
Tell us the process, wafer size and facilities. We shortlist tools that fit and send an inspection report with every offer.