Heating system STREAMLINE™

Heating and controlling the thermal processes on the gas lines, forelines and exhaust lines in a semiconductor tool are typically complex due to the number of components and maze of wiring all located within a small area. These factors make installation and maintenance cumbersome, time consuming and expensive. Also, today’s customers require more thermal data on the health of the system to ensure temperature uniformity, which is required to keep the lines up and running smoothly. In addition, the business cycles of the semiconductor market can cause long lead times when supply cannot keep up with demand. These issues, and others, make the job of the semiconductor equipment engineers more challenging than ever before. Due to the many years of experience working in the semiconductor market and deep domain knowledge, Watlow® recently developed the STREAMLINE™ gas delivery thermal system solution featuring its patented Adaptive Thermal Systems® (ATS™) technologies that can help solve the market pain associated with the complexity of typical systems. Watlow’s solution is an innovative, dynamic and complete thermal system that provides temperature uniformity, a reduced footprint, extensive diagnostics and faster development times. Watlow has removed the nuisance components from the heater and moved those capabilities and functions into the EZ-ZONE® RMT temperature controller offering closed loop control with integrated over-temperature safety protection for each heater with just two wires. This helps reduce installation errors and provides easier troubleshooting.