Advances toward “intelligent processing” of electronic materials: I. Development of local heat transfer control furnace

Abstract Designing and developing a furnace system that allows the control system to interfere constructively with the crystal growth process is the basis of “intelligent processing” of materials. Basic characteristics of an “intelligent processing” based furnace system are the control over local heat transfer in the charge, and the provision to incorporate sensors without thermal distortions in the charge. The tunable electrodynamic gradient (EDG) furnace meets these requirements. The local heat transfer control feature of the tunable EDG furnace has been demonstrated through experiments conducted with dummy charges of thermal conductivity 0.5 and 9.5 W/mK in horizontal and vertical orientations. In these experiments, the temperature field was modified by invoking the three-dimensional temperature control feature of the tunable EDG furnace. The application of the tunable EDG furnace capable of controlling the local temperature field in intelligent processing of materials is discussed.