Patent ID: 8684256

Claim:
A method for joining a hollow heater shaft to a heater plate for a heater used in semiconductor processing, said method comprising the steps of: placing a brazing element between an interface area of said hollow heater shaft and an interface area of said heater plate, thereby creating a joining pre-assembly, wherein said hollow heater shaft and said heater plate comprise aluminum nitride, and wherein said brazing element comprises at least 99% aluminum by weight; placing said joining pre-assembly in a process chamber; removing oxygen from said process chamber; and heating said joining pre-assembly after removing the oxygen from the process chamber, thereby joining said hollow heater shaft to said heater plate with a joint which hermetically seals an interior space of said hollow heater shaft from an exterior of said hollow heater shaft through said joint, wherein the step of heating the joining pre-assembly comprises heating the joining pre-assembly to a first temperature between 800 C and 1200 C, and wherein said joint joins between an aluminum nitride surface of said hollow heater shaft and an aluminum nitride surface of said heater plate.