Epitaxial reactor

Claim 1

In an epitaxial reactor with a modified heat pipe system for the epitaxial deposition of semiconductor layers on semiconductor substrate discs, comprising an enclosed and evacuable container, a heating tube disposed in the container and enclosing a reaction chamber, a seal covering one end of the heating tube to enclose the reaction chamber, a transport line passing into the container and the reaction chamber and having an outlet end in the vicinity of the seal for introducing reaction gas into the reaction chamber, means defining an outlet extending from the reaction chamber and through the container for the exhaust of reaction gas from the reaction chamber, with the surface of the heating tube which faces the reaction chamber being provided for accommodating the discs, the improvement wherein said heating tube comprises two concentric walls spaced apart to delimit a sealed inner chamber, and said reactor further comprises a heat source and a temperature control system located in said inner chamber and operative for automatically providing a selected, uniform temperature in said reaction chamber based on the saturation temperature of the vapor pressure existing in said inner chamber.