Advanced Energy Unveils Centra Smart Hub for Improved Temperature Measurement in Next-Generation Semiconductor Tools

New Centralized Hub Supports up to Eight Sensors for Precise, Repeatable, Non-Contact Temperature Measurement in Space-Constrained Semiconductor Equipment

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Advanced Energy Industries Inc. (Nasdaq: AEIS), a global leader in highly engineered, precision power conversion, measurement and control solutions, today launched the new Centra™ Smart Hub at SEMICON West in San Francisco.

The Centra Smart Hub, combined with Advanced Energy’s new Remote Smart Sensors (RSS), enables more accurate wafer-temperature measurement and real-time temperature control for many lamp-heated Si and SiC thermal processes, such as rapid thermal annealing (RTA) and Epitaxial (Epi) growth.

The result is a comprehensive, customizable solution that delivers industry-leading performance, with up to a 40% improvement in accuracy over other standard solutions when measuring at either 3.3 um or 5.2 um and at temperatures up to 1700°C. This is a critical leap for new and emerging semiconductor manufacturing processes, leading to increased throughput, process uniformity, and product quality. The Centra Smart Hub includes embedded ECAT and Ethernet protocols to integrate into today’s leading system architectures for faster time-to-market and new applications.

“Advanced Energy’s new Centra Smart Hub and Remote Smart Sensors deliver industry-leading performance to meet today’s process requirements along with a new architecture for semiconductor processing systems,” said Juergen Braun, Executive Vice President of Plasma Power at Advanced Energy. “The Centra Smart Hub enables temperature measurement for Si and SiC processes to help fabs improve wafer-to-wafer repeatability and thermal uniformity for higher yields.”

Many of these processes rely on infrared (IR) lamp heating, which can challenge traditional pyrometers, many of which operate in the short- and near-IR measurement wavelengths. The strong thermal signal from IR lamps can “flood” or saturate traditional near-IR pyrometers, making them unsuitable for wafer measurement. For this reason, measuring at a different wavelength can avoid the strong IR signal produced by the lamps and reduce its effect on the detected temperature.

Centra's hub-and-spoke architecture has been optimized for semiconductor chambers. The Centra Smart Hub is placed in an instrument rack and connected to the RSS. The RSS is installed directly on the chamber and provides multiple measurement points across the wafer in ambient temperatures of up to 60°C.

See product specifications and more information here.

About Advanced Energy

Advanced Energy (Nasdaq: AEIS) is a global leader in the design and manufacturing of highly engineered, precision power conversion, measurement, and control solutions for mission-critical applications and processes. AE’s power solutions enable customer innovation in complex applications for a wide range of industries including semiconductor equipment, industrial, manufacturing, telecommunications, data center computing, and healthcare. With engineering know-how and responsive worldwide service and support, the company builds collaborative partnerships to meet evolving technology requirements, drive customer growth, and innovate the future of power. Advanced Energy has devoted more than four decades to perfecting power for its global customers and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, USA.

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