Patent ID: 8420981

Claim:
A substrate thermal processing system comprising: at least one substrate holding module having a housing configured for holding an isolated environment therein, wherein the isolated environment includes a first gas region and a second gas region; a substrate heater located in the housing and having a substrate heating surface, wherein the substrate heating surface is located in the first gas region; a substrate cooler located in the housing and having a substrate cooling surface; a gas feed opening into the first gas region and feeding inert or reducing gas into the first gas region when the substrate is heated by the heating surface; a gas restrictor within the housing restricting the fed gas between the first gas region and the second gas region, wherein the gas restrictor includes at least one passage through which the fed gas communicates with the second gas region; and a substrate transfer device which transfers substrates to and from the first gas region, wherein the substrate transfer device transfers substrates along a transfer path which extends through the second gas region.