APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT

摘要

The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing an integrated circuit (10) having a thick film metal layer (14). A layer of metal paste (14) is applied via an application means (24) onto a heat-conducting substrate (12). The metal paste (14) includes metal particles of a predetermined size. An RF generator (16) selectively inductively couples RF energy (18) into the metal paste (14). The predetermined size of the metal particles of the metal paste (14) corresponds to a coupling frequency of the RF energy (18), for heating the metal particles. In this way the metal particles of the metal paste (14) are heated with only a small fraction of the power of conventional processes, and without the need to pre-sinter the metal paste (14).