Abstract: Apparatus and method for temperature control in a rapid thermal processing(RTP) system using an adaptive control are disclosed. The apparatus of the present invention is comprised of a controller, a nonlinear dynamic estimator, and a parameter adaptator as a whole. The parameter adaptator reflects tracking errors between desired output and actual output to vary parameters, and the nonlinear dynamic estimator enables on-line identification of the dynamic characteristics of the system using the varied parameters. The controller generates the control input on the basis of the estimated values to perform the control of the system. According to the present invention, in the temperature control of a RTP system an accurate output tracking to a reference trajectory can be achieved by on-line identification of system dynamics and adaptive control even though system model is unknown or system characteristics are time-varying.