Design of halogen lamps for rapid thermal processing

The important aspects of halogen lamp design for rapid thermal processing include thermal environment, power, efficiency, spectral and spatial distribution of power, transient response, and reliability. The base and light pipe design control the lamp thermal environment. Reliability sets the upper limit on coil temperature and forces an efficient geometrical design of the lamp coil and light pipe. This design must produce a spatial power profile which leads to a stable controller and minimizes hot spots. Good models are effective in optimizing the system and establishing tolerances. Lamp-light pipe design may be characterized by lamp life-power curves. Improvements made in the lamp-light pipe design have increased the delivered power by more than a factor of 1.6.