Ceramic heater with heater element and method for use thereof

摘要

A ceramic heater for use as a platform or support in producing a semiconductor wafer is described. A method for use of the ceramic heater as well as a method for controlling the temperature of a semiconductor wafer is provided. In a exemplary embodiment, the heater is made from a ceramic compound which has a thermally conductive ceramic layer and a ceramic heater element. In this embodiment, the thermally conductive ceramic layer is aluminum nitride doped with oxygen at such a level that it promotes thermal conductivity. The heater may also have a thermally insulative ceramic layer comprised of a mixture of aluminum nitride with a dopant at a level that makes the aluminum nitride thermally insulating. The heater element may be embedded within the ceramic chuck in a variety of shapes and configurations as necessary and as particular to the semiconductor processing requirements. In a preferred embodiment, the heating element is about 5% to about 50% by weight molybdenum disilicide, about 5% to about 40% by weight silicon carbide and about 15% to about 70% by weight aluminum nitride.