Ultraviolet thermal processing explained

Ultraviolet thermal processing or UVTP is the name given to the process of using ultraviolet light to stabilize dielectric films used to insulate semiconductors.

Description

Semiconductor films need low dielectric constants (k-values) for optimal thermal conductivity, to ensure semiconductor scaling. Newer dielectric films used to insulate modern chips can be easily damaged, causing them to lose their insulating capacity. Specialized treatments applied with ultraviolet light improve chip performance.^[1] Tungsten halogen lamps are the sources used for traditional rapid thermal processing.^{[2] [3]}

Notes and References

1. Photo-thermal Processing of Semiconductor Fibers and Thin Films. All Dissertations. clemson.edu . December 2012. 2016-05-03. Gupta. Nishant. 2012PhDT.......211G.
2. Low temperature shallow junction formation using vacuum ultraviolet photons during rapid thermal processing . Applied Physics Letters . 70 . 13 . 1700–1702 . scitation.aip.org . 1996-05-13 . 10.1063/1.118674 . Singh . R. . Cherukuri . K. C. . Vedula . L. . Rohatgi . A. . Narayanan . S. .
3. Book: Rapid Thermal Processing for Future Semiconductor Devices . Elsevier Science B.V. . 2003-04-02. 2016-05-04. 9780080540269 .