System and method for reducing particles in epitaxial reactors

摘要

An apparatus and method for reducing particles in reactors. The apparatus (10) includes an enclosure for processing the semiconductor wafers. The enclosure has a wafer handling chamber (16) connected by an isolation gate valve (18) to a load lock chamber (14). Additionally, the apparatus includes: a reactor chamber (38) pipes (24,26) for delivering a purge gas into the wafer handling chamber (16); a pilot operated back pressure regulator (40) for regulating the delivery and removal of the purge gas from the enclosure for reducing disturbances from the purge gas entering into the enclosure; a flow regulated Bernoulli wand (36) for lifting and holding a single wafer; ionizers (21a-21d) in the purge gas lines entering the wafer handling chamber (16) and load locks chamber (14) for ionizing the purged gas molecules, the ionized gas discharges all the static inside the semiconductor equipment and prevents the wafer from attracting charged particles; and means for reducing gas flow turbulence when switching valves within the reactor.