Thermco MB 71 Mini Brute 3-Zone Diffusion Furnace 2" 3" Wafer Ana-Lock 1150C

Thermco MB 71 Mini Brute 3-Zone Diffusion Furnace 2" 3" Wafer Ana-Lock 1150C

The Thermco Products MB 71 Mini Brute is a horizontal 3-zone tube diffusion furnace designed for thermal processing of 2-inch and 3-inch semiconductor wafers. It features Thermco's Ana-Lock analog controller system with three independently controlled heating zones — Source, Center, and Hot Dog (HD) — each with its own analog set-point meter and rotary control knob. The furnace covers a temperature range of approximately 400°C to 1150°C, making it suitable for oxidation, diffusion, and annealing processes on small-diameter wafers.

Specifications & What's Included

• Manufacturer: Thermco Products
• Model: MB 71 (Mini Brute)
• Configuration: 3-zone horizontal tube furnace
• Zones: Source, Center, HD (Hot Dog) — each independently controlled
• Compatible wafer sizes: 2-inch and 3-inch
• Temperature range: approximately 400°C – 1150°C (center zone rated to ~1150°C per front panel label)
• Loading method: Manual
• Controller: Thermco Ana-Lock 3-zone analog controller (integral, front-panel mounted)
• Front panel: Three analog zone meters with rotary set-point knobs; Excess Temperature meter; Alarm Test, Excess Temp, Reset, and Power On switches; Control and Element ON/OFF toggles
• Tube orientation: Horizontal
• Cabinet: White-painted steel with stainless steel end-cap and exhaust assembly
• Exhaust: Flexible gray exhaust/gas hose routed over top of cabinet
• Form factor: Benchtop/standalone floor-standing unit; shipped on pallet

Applications

Horizontal tube diffusion furnaces like the Thermco Mini Brute series are standard equipment in semiconductor device fabrication — used for thermal oxidation (growing SiO₂ gate and field oxide layers), dopant diffusion (boron, phosphorus, arsenic drive-in), and post-implant annealing. The MB 71 was designed for R&D labs, university cleanrooms, and small-scale production lines processing 2-inch and 3-inch wafers — the dominant substrate sizes in the 1970s and early 1980s, when Thermco's Mini Brute line was widely deployed in both industrial and academic semiconductor facilities. Today these furnaces remain useful for legacy device work, III-V compound semiconductor research, MEMS fabrication, and academic semiconductor training labs that still process small-diameter wafers. The three independently controlled zones allow precise temperature uniformity profiling across the process tube length, which is critical for consistent oxide thickness and diffusion depth uniformity.