On the fab floor, soft bake and hard bake aren’t just “heating steps.” They’re process control points where a 2°C swing can wreck line width control. The 2700W clear quartz infrared tube is built to keep the thermal budget tight, bake after bake, wafer after wafer. What matters, technically, is response and repeatability. The tube uses short-wave infrared through a clear quartz envelope, so it responds fast, with low thermal inertia and focused heat. At 2700W, you get the power density needed to ramp carriers and hot plates quickly while holding setpoints steady. In practice, that means wafer-level temperature uniformity within ±0.1°C across the bake surface, and bake profiles that repeat from batch to batch. The quartz envelope is cleanroom-compatible for Class 1–100, with surfaces that don’t shed particles and don’t dump organic outgassing into the chamber. Here’s why this matters in lithography. A consistent soft bake removes solvents without skinning. A consistent hard bake preps the resist for etch or implant without triggering reflow. With 2700W output, the bake curve stays stable, cycle time drops, and scrap from temperature drift falls off. You end up with higher throughput and fewer reworks, plus lower energy per wafer because the tube couples heat directly and settles fast. The payoff is predictable CD control and far fewer excursions tied to thermal nonuniformity. A few practical details. Match the tube to the reflector geometry and the controller’s PID tuning—mismatched reflectors create hot spots, and an under-tuned loop will overshoot. Verify voltage and connector compatibility with your equipment, and plan for proper ESD handling during install. These tubes have a finite life under continuous operation, so set preventive replacement intervals. That’s how you avoid surprise downtime and keep the line running.