Indy Plus B-M

The Tokyo Electron Indy Plus B-M is a vertical thermal furnace designed for batch processing of semiconductor wafers. The equipment belongs to the class of diffusion and oxidation furnaces used in front-end-of-line (FEOL) and middle-of-line (MOL) fabrication steps.

A vertical furnace such as the Indy Plus B-M uses a cylindrical quartz or silicon-carbide reaction tube oriented vertically. Wafers are stacked horizontally in a quartz boat that is loaded into the tube from the bottom by an elevator mechanism.

Heating is provided by resistance heaters surrounding the tube, forming multiple temperature zones that are independently controlled to achieve uniform thermal profiles across the wafer stack. Process gases are introduced at the top or bottom of the tube and flow over the wafers, while exhaust is removed from the opposite end.

Upstream processes include wet cleaning to remove native oxide and contaminants. Downstream steps may include photolithography for pattern definition, followed by etching or ion implantation. The furnace batch processes dozens of wafers per run, making it suitable for high-volume production where throughput is important.

Additional applications include low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) of thin films such as silicon nitride, polysilicon, and silicon dioxide. The equipment can also perform anneals for dopant activation, stress relief, or densification of deposited films.