Abstract: Heating by induction is a promising technology for processing circular semiconductor wafers because it offers quick and high temperature heating. Heat develops inside the work piece hence losses due to conduction and radiation is reduced. It is rather difficult to attain uniform temperature distribution in the work piece using single coil induction heating method. In this paper, a multi coil induction heating system for processing circular semiconductor wafers is proposed. The working coil or inductor is divided into a number of multi turn coils. The paper presents ANSYS Maxwell 3D modelling and simulations of the four coil induction heating system. The phase angle between the currents differs by 90º to generate a travelling wave magnetic field that can uniformly heat the subsector.

Keywords: Induction heating, semiconductor processing, uniform heating, travelling wave