[labnetwork] A safer hotplate?

[Mary Tang]

Hello Labnetworkers --

We are interested in trying to find, or even build, a safer hotplate.  
As you probably know, these things are ubiquitous and probably the most 
hazardous thing in the lab. There was a presentation from a major 
insurance company a while ago which said that the greatest damage 
payouts in the semiconductor industry were due to fires caused by hot 
pots or heating plates -- scarier still was that majority of these 
incidents occurred during operation while someone was ostensibly present.

Anyway, we (actually, Jim Haydon, one of our engineers) have been on the 
search for a safer hotplate -- but just haven't found one that has all 
the features we'd like.  (Does anyone have recommendations???)   Because 
we haven't had a lot of success, Jim has initiated some discussions with 
one of the best controlled hot plate manufacturers we've found.  They 
are interested in working with us, but wanted to see if there might be a 
broader market (other than just our lab) for these things.  So, this 
email to you. 

Some of the features we'd like to see:
- Ability to program recipes and store multiple recipes (for example, 
hot phosphoric nitride strip versus solvent-based resist strip).
- Programmable max temp  (right now, we install a hard stop -- but it 
would be nice to be able to change this depending on the process 
need/recipe.)
- Monitor and control of either hotplate temp and solution temp (using a 
plug-in TC - most do this)
- Active comparison between hotplate temp and solution temp (built into 
the recipe - ensures solution doesn't evaporate off, for example)
- Automatic shut down feature (if solution temp changes suddenly when a 
beaker breaks, for example)
- Interlock control on the low voltage side
- Manual reset switch - when the hot plate shuts down (if a beaker 
breaks for example - human intervention is required to reset and get 
going again)
- Manual reset switch - on a process timer (our plates on timers so 
shutoff after two hours, unless the operator resets the timer)


So, if anyone is interested in an updated hot plate for general lab use, 
your feedback would be much appreciated.  Please get in touch with us 
and let us know your level of interest ("I want a dozen" or "here's our 
alternative solution")

Thanks,

Mary & Jim at SNF


-- 
Mary X. Tang, Ph.D.
Stanford Nanofabrication Facility
CIS Room 136, Mail Code 4070
Stanford, CA  94305
(650)723-9980
mtang at stanford.edu
http://snf.stanford.edu