Patent ID: 7427329

Claim:
A reactor for heat treatment of a flat substrate, comprising: a first heated body having a substantially flat surface facing and sized to extend substantially over an entire first side of a flat substrate during processing, a second heated body having a substantially flat surface facing and sized to extend substantially over an entire second side of the flat substrate during processing, wherein the heated bodies have a thermal mass greater than about 10 times a thermal mass of the substrate; a substrate handling mechanism configured to place the flat substrate to be processed parallel to, spaced from and in close proximity to the substantially flat surface of the heated body, and configured to remove said substrate in a removal direction from the heated body after processing; a plurality of heating elements configured to heat the heated bodies, the heating elements being arranged to define at least two individually controlled heating zones for each of the heated bodies; a plurality of thermocouples configured to sense temperatures of the heating elements and the heated bodies; and a controller connected to the heating elements and to the thermocouples of the first and second heated bodies, the controller controlling the heating elements and programmed to establish a first non-uniform temperature distribution laterally across an area of the flat surface of the first heated body facing the flat substrate during processing and a second non-uniform temperature distribution laterally across an area of the flat surface of the second heated body facing the second side of the flat substrate surface during processing, the first non-uniform temperature distribution oriented in a first direction and the second non-uniform temperature distribution oriented in a second direction, the first and second directions different from each other, wherein the first direction is at an angle of about α to the removal direction and the second direction is at an angle of about −α to the removal direction to permit compensation for a non-uniform thermal effect during loading and/or unloading upon the substrate in the direction of substrate removal, wherein the heated bodies delimit a process chamber for accommodating the substrate, wherein the heated bodies are disposed at least partly between the process chamber and the heating elements, wherein the heated bodies are configured to absorb heat from the heating elements and to reradiate heat energy to heat the substrate.