We claim:
1. A controller comprising control means for controlling the operation of an electric device, connected or connectable to the controller, data transfer means for transferring data between the controller and a first external device external to the controller, an interface communicating with the control means, and a memory, and a user interface software packet is stored in the memory, the user interface software packet being transmissible using the data transfer means for disassembly in the first external device, the user interface software packet, when disassembled, comprising user interface server software and user interface client software, when executed, the user interface client software communicating with the user interface server software, and the user interface server software converting commands issued by the user interface client software to be transmitted to the controller interface via the data transfer means, and the first external device is connectable to a second portable external device via a wireless radio connection, and the user interface server software is executable in the first external device, and the user interface client software is executable in the second portable external device.
2. A controller as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first external device comprises a processing program for the received user interface software packet, the processing program checking the received user interface software packet and disassembling the user interface server software from the user interface software packet.
3. A controller as claimed in claim 1, wherein an external device comprises a service mechanism that dynamically keeps a record of the controllers.
4. A controller as claimed in claim 3, wherein the controller’s user interface server software registers in the service mechanism.
5. A controller as claimed in claim 4, wherein the user interface server software registers in the service mechanism by transmitting a user interface client software instance it created to the service mechanism.
6. A controller as claimed in claim 5, wherein the user interface client software instance comprises identifier data on the controller.
7. A controller as claimed in claim 6, wherein the controller comprises means for setting the identifier data to a default value.
8. A controller as claimed in claim 6, wherein if the identifier data stored in the controller memory are default values, then the processing program generates identifier data for the controller, the identifier data are sent to the controller using a data transfer connection as an acknowledgement of the user interface software packet, and the controller stores the identifier data in its memory.
9. A controller as claimed in claim 3, wherein:
the service mechanism is executed in a third external device, or the service mechanism is executed in the first external device.
10. A controller as claimed in claim 1, wherein the data transfer means is a radio transceiver.
11. A method of controlling the operation of a controller of an electric device, the method comprising:
sending a user interface software packet stored in the controller’s memory to a first external device;
disassembling the user interface software packet in the first external device into executable user interface server software and user interface client software;
sending the user interface client software from the first external device to a second portable external device;
the user interface client software communicating with the user interface server software via a wireless radio connection between the first external device and the second portable external device;
the user interface server software converting the commands issued by the user interface client software and transferring the commands to the controller’s interface; and
the controller executing an operation according to the converted command received via its interface.
12. A method as claimed in claim 11, the method further comprising: the first external device checking the received user interface software packet and disassembling the user interface server software from the user interface software packet.
13. A method as claimed in claim 11, the method further comprising: a service mechanism in an external device keeping dynamically a record of the controllers.
14. A method as claimed in claim 13, the method further comprising: the user interface server software disassembled from the user interface software packet registering in the service mechanism.
15. A method as claimed in claim 14, the method further comprising: the user interface server software registering in the service mechanism by transmitting a user interface client software instance it created to the service mechanism.
16. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the user interface client software instance comprises the controller’s identifier data.
17. A method as claimed in claim 16, the method further comprising: the person installing the controller setting the identifier data to default values, when necessary.
18. A method as claimed in claim 16, the method further comprising: if the controller identifier data are default values, then identifier data is generated for the controller in an external device, the identifier data being transmitted to the controller as an acknowledgement of the user interface software packet, and the controller stores the identifier data in its memory.
19. A method as claimed in claim 11, the method further comprising: the controller transmits its identifier data to an external device, and if, based on the controller identifier data, the external device identifies that the necessary user interface software packet is stored in a data storage external to the controller, then the external device retrieves the necessary user interface software packet from the data storage, and notifies the controller that there is no need to transmit the user interface software packet.
20. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the service mechanism is executed in a third external device, or the service mechanism is executed in the first external device.
21. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the user interface software packet stored in the controller’s memory is sent to the first external device using a wireless radio connection.
22. A system for controlling the operation of an electric device, the system comprising a controller connected or connectable to the electric device, the controller comprising control means for controlling the operation of the electric device, data transfer means for transferring data between the controller and a first external device external to the controller, an interface communicating with the control means, and a memory, and a user interface software packet is stored in the memory, the user interface software packet being transmissible using the data transfer means for disassembly in the first external device, the user interface software packet, when disassembled, comprising user interface server software and user interface client software, when executed, the user interface client software communicating with the user interface server software, and the user interface server software converting commands issued by the user interface client software to be transmitted to the controller interface via the data transfer means, and the system further comprises the first external device and a second portable external device that is connected to the first external device via a wireless radio connection, and the user interface server software is executed in the first external device, and the user interface client software is executed in the second portable external device.
23. A system as claimed in claim 22, wherein the first external device comprises a processing program for the received user interface software packet, the processing program checking the received user interface software packet and disassembling the user interface server software from the user interface software packet.
24. A system as claimed in claim 22, wherein an external device comprises a service mechanism that dynamically keeps a record of the controllers.
25. A system as claimed in claim 24, wherein the controller’s user interface server software registers in the service mechanism.
26. A system as claimed in claim 25, wherein the user interface server software registers in the service mechanism by transmitting a user interface client software instance it created to the service mechanism.
27. A system as claimed in claim 26, wherein the user interface client software instance comprises identifier data on the controller.
28. A system as claimed in claim 27, wherein the controller comprises means for setting the identifier data to a default value.
29. A system as claimed in claim 27, wherein if the identifier data stored in the controller memory are default values, then the processing program generates identifier data for the controller, the identifier data are sent to the controller using a data transfer connection as an acknowledgement of the user interface software packet, and the controller stores the identifier data in its memory.
30. A system as claimed in claim 24, wherein the service mechanism is executed in a third external device, or the service mechanism is executed in the first external device.
31. A system as claimed in claim 22, wherein the data transfer means is a radio transceiver.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for thermal processing of at least one wafer-shaped workpiece having opposing first and second major surfaces surrounded by a peripheral edge which defines a workpiece diameter such that the first and second opposing surfaces cooperate with said peripheral edge to define a peripheral edge region, said method comprising:
moving the workpiece into a chamber interior that is defined by a processing chamber;
using a heating arrangement in thermal communication with said chamber interior and in a confronting relationship with said first major surface for emitting an illumination energy such that a first portion of the illumination energy is directly incident upon said first major surface of the workpiece and a second portion of the illumination energy is directed so that, at least initially, the second portion would miss the first major surface; and
reflecting at least some of said second portion of the illumination energy onto the peripheral edge region of said workpiece using a reflector that is supported in said chamber interior having an at least generally annular configuration thereby defining a central opening with an opening width, for any given measurement thereof, that is greater than said workpiece diameter, and said reflector is arranged, at least generally, in a concentric relationship with said peripheral edge.
2. A method for heat treating at least one generally planar workpiece having opposing first and second major surfaces surrounded by a peripheral edge configuration such that the first and second opposing surfaces cooperate with said peripheral edge configuration to define a peripheral edge region, said method comprising:
moving the workpiece into a chamber interior that is defined by a processing chamber;
using a heating arrangement in thermal communication with said chamber interior and in a confronting relationship with said first major surface for emitting an illumination energy such that a first portion of the illumination energy is directly incident upon said first major surface of the workpiece and a second portion of the illumination energy is directed so that, at least initially, the second portion would miss the first major surface; and
reflecting at least part of said second portion of the illumination energy, using a complementary reflector configuration that forms part of a reflector arrangement supported in the chamber interior to, thereafter, be incident around and onto the peripheral edge region of said workpiece, and configuring said complementary reflector configuration to have a shape that is aligned with the peripheral edge configuration of the workpiece in a spaced-apart relationship therewith such that a projection of at least the complementary reflector configuration onto a plane which includes the first major surface is complementary to and outwardly spaced away from said peripheral edge configuration by at least a predetermined distance.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein said predetermined distance is approximately 3 mm.
4. The method of claim 2 including configuring said reflector arrangement to substantially limit reflector absorption of the second portion of illumination energy such that a pre-illumination temperature of the reflector arrangement is substantially maintained, irrespective of incidence of said second portion of said illumination energy.
5. The method of claim 2 wherein a projection of the reflector arrangement onto said plane which includes the first major surface is complementary to and outwardly spaced away from said peripheral edge configuration by at least said predetermined distance.
6. The method of claim 2 including configuring said complementary reflector configuration such that any given position on the complementary reflector configuration is no more than approximately 15 mm from a nearest point on said workpiece.
7. The method of claim 2 including configuring said reflector arrangement such that any given position on said reflector arrangement is spaced away from a nearest position on an outermost edge of said workpiece such that an angle defined between a first line passing through said nearest position on the outermost edge and at least generally normal to said first major surface, and a second line, defined between the given position on the reflector arrangement and the nearest position on the outermost edge of the workpiece, is greater than approximately 45 degrees.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein said angle is formed to be greater than approximately 60 degrees.
9. The method of claim 2 including configuring said complementary reflector configuration to form substantially an only portion of the reflector arrangement that faces said workpiece.
10. The method of claim 2 including configuring said complementary reflector configuration with a plurality of reflector segments that are spaced apart therearound at least for reducing an overall intensity of the part of the second portion of illumination energy that is incident upon the peripheral edge region of the workpiece.
11. The method of claim 10 including separating adjacent ones of said reflector segments by a cut-away region of the reflector arrangement such that some of the second portion of illumination energy passes uninfluenced through the cut-away region.
12. The method of claim 2 including integrally forming said reflector arrangement from a quartz plate.
13. The method of claim 2 including forming said complementary reflector configuration to include a frustoconical shape.
14. The method of claim 2 wherein said workpiece is an at least generally circular wafer and including configuring said complementary reflector configuration to be at least generally circular and as a surface of rotation of a line having a second order of curvature.
15. The method of claim 2 including moving a selected one of said reflector arrangement and said workpiece for in a direction that is at least generally normal to said first major surface for use in varying said part of the second portion of the illumination energy that is incident on the peripheral edge region of the workpiece.
16. The method of claim 15 including causing said reflector arrangement to cooperate with said movement such that the second portion of illumination energy is incident on a peripheral band of the peripheral edge region having an illumination width that varies responsive to said movement.
17. The method of claim 16 including moving the reflector arrangement to vary, using a reflector actuator mechanism, said part of the second portion of the illumination energy.
18. The method of claim 17 including locating said reflector actuator mechanism in said chamber interior, proximate to the reflector arrangement.
19. The method of claim 15 including using a pulsed energy source, as part of said heating arrangement, in a confronting relationship with the second major surface of said workpiece for emitting a pulsed energy to substantially instantaneously heat the second major surface in a flash heating mode, in cooperation with heating said first major surface using said illumination energy during a pre-heating interval, having a duration which provides for using said movement to change at least one characteristic of the part of the second portion of the illumination energy that is incident on the peripheral edge region during the pre-heating interval.
20. The method of claim 19 wherein said one characteristic is a width of the part of the second portion of the illumination energy that is incident upon the peripheral edge region.
21. The method of claim 19 wherein the workpiece includes a configuration of lateral extents and including moving the selected one of the workpiece and the reflector arrangement, using a manipulation arrangement, for use in enhancing heating uniformity across the configuration of lateral extents of the workpiece during said pre-heating interval and further moving the workpiece to a flash heating position at a flash heating station for receiving said pulsed energy in said flash heating mode and wherein said reflector arrangement, with the workpiece at the flash heating position, is configured to provide for a substantially shadow-free illumination of the second major surface of the workpiece by said pulsed energy.
22. The method of claim 21 wherein moving the workpiece is performed, using the manipulation arrangement, in a pre-heating positional range for use in enhancing heating uniformity across the lateral extents of the workpiece during the pre-heating interval.
23. The method of claim 22 wherein said flash heating position places said workpiece farther from said pulsed energy source than said pre-heating positional range.
24. The method of claim 22 including using said reflector arrangement to cooperate with said movement in said pre-heating positional range to cause said part of the second portion of illumination energy to be incident on a peripheral band of the peripheral edge region having an illumination width that varies responsive to said movement.
25. The method of claim 22 wherein the workpiece, at least potentially and responsive to the pulsed energy, can move to an offset position from the flash heating position at the flash heating station and configuring said manipulation arrangement for movement (i) in a centering mode, with the substrate located at said flash heating station, between a disengaged position, that is withdrawn from said peripheral edge configuration of the workpiece by a predetermined distance, and an engaged position for use in engaging said peripheral edge configuration such that movement from the disengaged position to the engaged position causes the workpiece to move from said offset position to within a centering tolerance from said flash heating position and (ii) for movement in a lifting mode to elevationally move the workpiece between the flash heating station and pre-heating positional range above the treatment station.
26. The method of claim 25 including raising said workpiece, using said manipulation arrangement in the lifting mode, from the flash heating station with the workpiece, at least initially, within said centering tolerance from the flash heating position.
27. The method of claim 25 including lowering the workpiece from the elevated position to the flash heating station in the lifting mode, using said manipulation arrangement and, thereafter, releasing the workpiece within said centering tolerance from the flash heating position in moving from the engaged position to the disengaged position in the centering mode.
28. The method of claim 2 wherein said workpiece is wafer-shaped having a workpiece diameter that is delimited by a peripheral edge to define said peripheral edge configuration and including configuring said reflector arrangement to include an at least generally annular configuration, thereby defining a central opening with an opening width, for any given measurement thereof, that is greater than said workpiece diameter, and positioning said reflector arrangement, at least generally, in a concentric relationship with said peripheral edge, for reflecting at least said part of the second portion of the illumination energy onto the peripheral edge region of said workpiece.
29. The method of claim 2 including arranging said reflector arrangement to include a first reflector defining a first subpart of said complementary reflector configuration and a second reflector defining a second subpart of said complementary reflector configuration and spacing the first reflector apart in relation to the second reflector and in alignment with the peripheral edge configuration of the workpiece to cooperatively reflect said part of the second portion of the illumination energy.
30. The method of claim 29 including supporting the workpiece on a support plate such that the first portion of the illumination energy passes through said support plate to reach the workpiece and positioning the first reflector on an opposite side of the support plate with respect to the second reflector.
31. A method for heat treating at least one wafer-shaped workpiece having opposing first and second major surfaces delimited by a peripheral edge, said method comprising:
moving the workpiece into a chamber interior that is defined by a processing chamber;
using a first heating arrangement in thermal communication with said chamber interior for emitting a first illumination energy in a confronting relationship with said first major surface during a first heating mode, at least a first portion of which first illumination energy is directly incident on said first major surface;
in cooperation with emitting said first illumination energy, using a second heating arrangement, in thermal communication with said chamber interior and in a confronting relationship with said second major surface, for emitting a second illumination energy, during a second heating mode, that is directly incident on said second major surface; and
reflecting a second portion of said first illumination energy, that would otherwise at least initially miss the first major surface, using a reflector that is supported in said chamber interior having an annular reflector configuration, so as to be surroundingly incident on a peripheral edge region of said workpiece, proximate to the peripheral edge, and providing for a substantially shadow-free illumination of said second major surface by said second illumination energy at least during said second heating mode.
32. A method for heat treating at least one wafer-shaped workpiece having opposing first and second major surfaces surrounded by a peripheral edge, said method comprising:
moving the workpiece into a chamber interior that is defined by a processing chamber;
using a first heating arrangement in thermal communication with said chamber interior for emitting a first illumination energy in a confronting relationship with said first major surface during a first heating mode, a first portion of which first illumination energy is directly incident on said first major surface and a second portion of which, at least initially, would miss the first major surface;
in cooperation with emitting said first illumination energy, using a second heating arrangement, in thermal communication with said chamber interior and in a confronting relationship with said second major surface, for emitting a second illumination energy, during a second heating mode, that is directly incident on said second major surface; and
reflecting at least some of said first illumination energy around and onto the peripheral edge region of said workpiece using a reflector arrangement, supported in said chamber interior, having an overall shape that is complementary with respect to the peripheral edge configuration of said workpiece so as to define a complementary reflector configuration with said reflector arrangement and said workpiece mutually supported in a way which aligns the complementary reflector configuration with the peripheral edge configuration of said workpiece in a spaced-apart relationship therewith and to cooperatively provide for substantially shadow-free illumination of said second major surface by said second illumination energy, at least during said second heating mode.
33. A method for heat treating at least one substrate having opposing first and second major surfaces which define a configuration of lateral extents of the substrate that is delimited by a peripheral edge configuration, said method comprising:
moving the substrate into a chamber interior that is defined by a processing chamber;
emitting a pre-heating irradiance into said chamber interior, using a first heating configuration, for use in inducing a bulk temperature rise of said workpiece progressively during a preheating interval such that changing a relative positional relationship, between the substrate and the first heating configuration, changes an intensity profile of the pre-heating irradiance across the lateral extents of the substrate;
elevationally moving said substrate during said preheating interval, using a manipulation arrangement, to change the intensity profile of the pre-heating irradiance across the lateral extents of the substrate in a way which enhances uniformity of said bulk temperature increase across the configuration of lateral extents of the substrate and for moving the substrate to a treatment position at a treatment station for exposure to a flash irradiance; and
emitting said flash irradiance, using a second heating configuration, to produce a substantially instantaneous increase in a surface temperature of a selected one of said first and second major surfaces of the substrate.