Patent ID: 7217670

Claim:
A method for individually processing semiconductor substrates, comprising: heating a treatment chamber to a process temperature; subsequently establishing a substantially steady state thermal condition in the treatment chamber by subjecting a series of semiconductor substrates to a semiconductor fabrication process, wherein establishing the substantially steady state thermal condition comprises the steps of: A. loading a semiconductor substrate into the treatment chamber when a chamber temperature of the chamber reaches the process temperature, wherein loading the semiconductor substrate decreases the chamber temperature; B. increasing the chamber temperature after loading the semiconductor substrate; C. unloading the semiconductor substrate from the treatment chamber before the chamber temperature reaches the process temperature again; and D. repeating steps A, B and C until all of the series of semiconductor substrates is subjected to the semiconductor fabrication process; and maintaining the substantially steady state thermal condition after subjecting the series of semiconductor substrates to the semiconductor fabrication process, wherein maintaining the substantially steady state thermal condition comprises performing the steps of: E. loading a dummy substrate into the treatment chamber when the chamber temperature reaches the process temperature again, wherein loading the dummy substrate decreases the chamber temperature; F. increasing the chamber temperature after loading the dummy substrate; G. unloading the dummy substrate from the treatment chamber before the chamber temperature reaches the process temperature an other time; and H. repeating steps E, F and G until subjecting a first of an other series of semiconductor substrates to a semiconductor fabrication process in the treatment chamber, wherein the treatment chamber is continuously heated during steps A–H.