This popular furnace is a small vertical furnace with full performance, especially designed for pilot lines and laboratories and offers outstanding cost performance. It is a mini-batch version for 25 production wafer load. It is available for all wafer diameters 4" - 300mm. Manual loading of wafers keeps the costs low and guarantees a high degree of flexibility. Small dimensions also help reducing costs for the user. Automatic elevator and programmable controller are used to achieve high process performance. VF1000 furnaces are available for all processes and show the same performance as the big production versions. Like the big versions,  the VF1000 is equipped with patented JTEKT Thermo Systems LGO heating elements. 10 of these furnaces are installed in the European application center in Uppsala.
Fraunhofer Institute IISB in Erlangen also allowed us to show some pictures of their LPCVD furnaces type VF1000.
On our special furnace comparison page, where we compare data and facts for vertical and horizontal systems, we describe also in detail the data of this small vertical furnace.

VF2000. The VF2000 is like the VF1000 a manual loaded furnace for research and development. In difference to the VF1000, the VF2000 can be specified for wafer loads between 25 - 100 wafers. As an option a nitrogen purge chamber is available. This version is therefore very good for the production of thin oxides and for higher capacities.

Features ----------------------------------------

• Cost: Outstanding cost performance.
• Performance: Apart from wafer transfer, all other VF-1000 processing functions are identical to those of our larger models. LPCVD (Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition) versions are also available.
• Very high flexibility because of manual wafer loading.
• System controller: Two type of system controllers are available.
• Compact: A compact footprint allows the VF-1000 to be installed even in small laboratories.

This compact vertical furnace has been designed in order to close the gap between the very flexible, but manually loaded VF1000 and the large production systems. Especially for the use of larger wafer diameters, automatic loading is requested by the customers. This vertical system is a low price system for pilot-production and low throughput production and has such an automatic loading system. It can accommodate 50 wafers 6" - 8" and can be applied to various processes. Cassettes are placed by the operator on the shelf in the loading area from where the wafers are transferred automatically to the quartz boat. The loading area has a horizontal flow to keep particle numbers low. High performance LGO heaters are also used in this furnace.

Features ----------------------------------------

• High cost performance (Approx. 50% of mass production system)
• Saving footprint (Approx 70% of mass production system)
• Full automatic transfer of water(15 min./batch)
• Ultra clean(Atmosphere in the furnace: Class 1)
• High performance LGO Heater has been mounted.

The VF-5100 was developed in 1990 as JTEKT's first vertical furnace featuring robot-based conveyance and has been developed further continuously since then. This popular model is presently being used in production facilities throughout the world. The wafer conveying system is very reliable and maintenance is simple. The cassette stocker is arranged on a turntable. Up to 8 cassettes can be loaded on a turn-table. This can also be done automatically by AGV (automated guided vehicle). A single-armed robot is used to convey the wafers. Five wafers can be loaded at a time to the quartz boat by the high-clean robot. 150 wafers can be processed at a time. Efficient and reliable transfer can be achieved. VF-5100's heating element enjoys a high degree of customer satisfaction. A nitrogen purge chamber (loadlock) is available as an option to avoid native oxidation of the wafers. A SMIF version is also available.

Features ----------------------------------------

• Stocker: The turntable-type cassette stocker has a simplified structure for ease of maintenance.
• Transfer system: The simplified design enhances the reliability of the wafer conveyance functions.
• Long flat zone of 960mm and capacity of 150 production wafers
• Temperature characteristics: The VF-5300 uses an LGO heating element that is surpassed at low temperatures. Temperature characteristics are excellent.
• N2 load lock: The VF-5100 was the first furnace to have a N2 load lock to reduce the effects of natural oxide films.
• Installation: The VF-5100 can be installed in a side-to-side arrangement.

The VF-5300 represents the evolution of the VF-5100 model and can stock 20 cassettes at a time. An optional feature allows the VF-5300 to process up to 2 batches in succession. This high-performance furnace has all the features required in an 8-inch wafer furnace and is widely used both in Japan and overseas. The multi-level turntable stocker makes operator training extremely simple. The functions that transfer the cassettes and wafers are very reliable and adaptable. The boat loading is done by two separate robots. Non-vacuum fingers are used. Throughput is higher in comparison with the VF5100 furnace. The LGO heating element creates a long, stable uniform heating length, and has excellent stability and heat-up/cool-down characteristics at low temperatures. Direct SECSII host communication is possible with this system. A SMIF version is also available.

Features ----------------------------------------

• Stocker: The stocker can hold up to 20 cassettes and is capable of 2- batches continuous processing. (An option allows 3 batches to be processed in succession.)
• Long flat zone of 960mm and capacity of 150 production wafers
• Temperature characteristics: The VF-5300 uses an LGO heating element that is surpassed at low temperatures. Temperature characteristics are excellent.
• A full range of functions: The VF-5300 has all the functions required for the thermal processing of 8-inch wafers.
• Wafer conveyance: The VF-5300 can be set up for a wide range of wafer conveyance modes.
• Installation: The VF-5100 can be installed in a side-to-side arrangement.

The VF-5700 is a mini-batch system for 200mm and 300mm wafers that employs a heating element that both raises temperatures rapidly and cools down quickly, enabling Q-TAT. The key points about the VF-5700 are its ability to handle small batches and its very short heat-up and cool-down times. The system is extremely flexible, and can handle both R&D and mass-production applications. The turntable-type cassette stocker can handle 4 wafer cassettes. A highly reliable twin-arm scalar robot transfers the wafers. The boat have been specially designed to prevent slip line propagation, enabling this rapid-heating/cooling system to handle 300-mm wafers with ease. The heater is a newly designed double-shell LGO element capable of rapidly raising and lowering the furnace temperature and maintaining stability. The new controller is working with Windows NT software. As an option a load lock, rapid cooling and boat rotation are available.
A FOUP version is available meanwhile. In this case the wafers are transferred by a robot directly from the opened cassette box to the quartz boat. This version can therefore combine a small footprint, high performance and low costs.

Features ----------------------------------------

• Wafer capacity 26 or 50 wafers
• Rapid furnace heat-up/cool-down: The double-shell LGO heating element enables a maximum heating rate of 60°C/min and a maximum cooling rate of 50°C/min.
• Mini-batch processing: Ideal for small-lot production and R&D applications.
• Transfer system: The simple structure means ease of maintenance.
• Controller: Windows is used to enhance control

The VF-5900, designed to process 300-mm wafers, can accept a stack of 12 FOUPs (Front Opening Unified Pods) and can continuously process 2 batches, each of 100 wafers. All the FOUPs loaded into the I/O port are conveyed to the buffer shelves. After that, only the FOUPs that are required are conveyed to the internal door opener. The wafers are transported in a vacuum-less environment by a highly reliable twin-arm, Z-theta movement robot. Ladder-type boat design to minimize slip is a standard feature. The VF-5900 furnace uses an LGO heating element, and has a forced-cooling system to increase throughput. As an optional feature, N2 load lock can be utilized to maximize the processing capacity. A nitrogen purge loadlock is available. The system is equipped with an advanced, windows compatible and user friendly Model 1400 controller, applies to SEMI and HSMS standards and is SECSII and GEM compatible.

Features ----------------------------------------

• High processing capacity: Up to 100 wafers can be continuously processed in 2 batches.
• Newly developed LGO heating elements.
• N₂ load lock: The capacity of the VF-5900's N₂ load lock chamber has been redesigned to enhance throughput.
• Ease of use: Control is simplified by use of the Model 1400 controller which incorporates industry data requirements. (HSMS and GEM compatible.)
• Maintenance: The removable FOUP buffer allows easier maintenance.
• Footprint: Only the main unit of the VF-5900 is set up in the clean room; the supporting systems can all be installed under the floor to significantly reduce the overall footprint.

Semiconductor devices are becoming more complex due to miniaturization and increasing to utilized 3-dimensional designs. As a result of this complexity, gate oxide films and capacitive insulation films are becoming thinner and thinner, and the effects of natural oxidation oxide films can no longer be ignored. The process modules in the CVF-7000 series are arranged in a cluster. Continuous process without atmospheric contact, which is not only inhibits natural oxide formation, but also supports complex processes, is possible on CVF-7000.

Features ----------------------------------------

• Complex processing enables treatment with greater precision.
• The LGO heating element and 25-wafer-per-batch processing enable high-precision treatment and increased throughput.
• All chambers are vacuum purged and flushed with gas to suppress the growth of natural oxide films.