System and process for heating semiconductor wafers by optimizing absorption of electromagnetic energy

1. An apparatus comprising:

a thermal processing chamber adapted to contain a semiconductor substrate;

a heating device configured to heat a semiconductor substrate in the chamber during processing; and

at least one reflector positioned in the thermal processing chamber, the at least one reflector comprising a corner cube retro reflector, the at least one reflector positioned to send light moving away from a location on the semiconductor substrate back onto approximately the same location on the semiconductor substrate so as to intersect the semiconductor substrate at an angle of incidence that is approximately equal to a departure angle of the light;

wherein the departure angle and the angle of incidence are greater than 0 degrees.

2. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 , wherein the heating device comprises at least one light energy source, and wherein the at least one reflector is positioned to send light reflected from a location on the semiconductor substrate that originated from the light energy source back onto approximately the same location on the semiconductor substrate, the at least one light energy source comprising at least one laser.

3. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 , wherein the light energy source is positioned such that light emitted by the light energy source contacts a substrate in the thermal processing chamber at an angle of incidence of at least about 10 degrees.

4. The apparatus set forth in claim 3 , wherein the angle of incidence is from about 60 degrees to about 85 degrees.

5. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 , wherein the light energy source is configured to emit light in or near a p-polarization plane.

6. The apparatus set forth in claim 2 , wherein the laser comprises a laser diode.

7. The apparatus set forth in claim 2 , wherein the laser is configured to move relative to a substrate contained in the thermal processing chamber such that light being emitted by the laser is scanned over at least a portion of a surface of the substrate.

8. The apparatus set forth in claim 2 , wherein the laser comprises a continuous wave laser.

9. The apparatus set forth in claim 2 , wherein the laser is configured to emit a pulsed laser beam.

10. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 , wherein the thermal processing chamber further contains a heated susceptor.

11. The apparatus set forth in claim 2 , wherein the heating device comprises a plurality of lasers and a plurality of corresponding reflectors, each reflector being positioned to send light reflected from a location on a semiconductor substrate that originates from a corresponding laser back onto approximately the same location on the substrate so as to intersect the semiconductor substrate at an angle of incidence that is approximately equal to a departure angle of the light.

12. The apparatus set forth in claim 11 , wherein at least two of the lasers are positioned so as to have different angles of incidence with respect to a substrate contained in the processing chamber.

13. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 , further comprising a controller in communication with at least one temperature sensing device, the controller being configured to control the at least one light energy source in response to temperature information received from the least one temperature sensing device.

14. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 , wherein the heating device comprises at least one light energy source, and wherein the at least one reflector is positioned to send light reflected from a location on the semiconductor substrate that originated from the light energy source back onto approximately the same location on the semiconductor substrate, the at least one light energy source comprising at least one incoherent light energy source.

15. The apparatus set forth in claim 14 , wherein the incoherent light energy source comprises an arc lamp or a tungsten halogen lamp.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a thermal processing chamber adapted to contain a semiconductor substrate;

a heating device configured to heat a semiconductor substrate in the chamber during processing, the heating device comprising at least two lasers; and

a corresponding reflector for each laser positioned in the thermal processing chamber, each reflector being positioned to send light reflected from a location on the semiconductor substrate that originated from a corresponding laser back onto approximately the same location on the semiconductor substrate so as to intersect the semiconductor substrate at an angle of incidence that is approximately equal to a departure angle of the light, the departure angle and the angle of incidence for each light being greater than 0 degrees.

17. The apparatus set forth in claim 16 , wherein the lasers are positioned such that light being emitted by the lasers contact a substrate contained within the thermal processing chamber at different angles of incidence.

18. The apparatus set forth in claim 16 , wherein at least one of the reflectors comprises a corner cube retro reflector.

19. The apparatus set forth in claim 16 , wherein the departure angle of light and the angle of incidence for each light is greater than about 10 degrees.

20. The apparatus set forth in claim 16 , wherein the lasers emit light in or near a p-polarization plane.

21. The apparatus set forth in claim 16 , wherein at least one of the lasers comprises a laser diode.

22. The apparatus set forth in claim 16 , wherein at least one of the lasers comprises a continuous wave laser.

23. The apparatus set forth in claim 16 , wherein the thermal processing chamber further contains a heated susceptor.

24. The apparatus set forth in claim 16 , further comprising a controller in communication with at least one temperature sensing device, the controller being configured to control the at least two lasers in response to temperature information received from the at least one temperature sensing device.