the piece of copper as the belt heats the copper the copper heats the two wires of different materials thus producing different electric potentials in each of the two wires the measurable difference in potential is proportional to the temperature of the belt a thermocouple 40 is connected to a digital controller 42 that alters the intensity of the infrared lamps in a given stage to achieve the desired temperatures as programmed by a user the number of stages may be altered depending on the heating profile desired which is in turn based upon the characteristics of the item being treated as shown in fig4 a user may manipulate the heating profile using software executing on the system 39 s computer in one embodiment the software allows a user to preprogram the temperature at each stage of the heating chamber using a data input device such as a keyboard or a mouse in an additional embodiment of the present invention the user may also manipulate the speed of the hot belt to alter the amount of time that the wafer spends in each stage to further alter the heating profile in another alternative embodiment the user can manipulate the speed of each of the three belts independently of the other two once the user has selected the desired temperatures in each stage and the speed of the belts the computer software communicates the settings to the digital controller 42 in one embodiment the digital controller.