# US 2013/0280925 A1 · Oxidation annealing device and method for fabricating thin film transistor using oxidation annealing

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- Number: US 2013/0280925 A1
- Document ID: US20130280925A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 13/883,027
- Filed: 2011-10-28
- Published: 2013-10-24
- Earliest claimed: 2010-11-05
- Assignees: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
- Inventors: Yoshifumi Ota; Masato Hashimoto
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20130280925A1

## CPC

- H10P 95/90: Thermal treatments, e.g. annealing or sintering
- H10D 30/6755: {Oxide semiconductors, e.g. zinc oxide, copper aluminium oxide or cadmium stannate}
- H10P 72/0436: {mainly by radiation}
- H10P 72/0458: {vertical arrangement}
- H10P 72/0462: {characterised by the construction of the processing chambers, e.g. modular processing chambers}
- H10P: GENERIC PROCESSES OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H10D: INORGANIC ELECTRIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES

## Abstract

A far-infrared plane heater 6 is placed in a closed-container-shaped device body 3 of an oxidation annealing device 1, an oxygen addition gas feed pipe 8 through which an oxygen addition gas containing water vapor and oxygen is fed into the device body 3 is connected to a gas exhaust pipe 11 through which gas in the device body 3 is discharged, and jet nozzles 16 through which the oxygen addition gas containing water vapor and oxygen is ejected to an oxygen-deficient portion of a substrate 50 are brought into communication with the oxygen addition gas feed pipe 8. This allows oxidation annealing of a large substrate at high throughput and low cost while preventing a leakage current.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An oxidation annealing device, comprising:
a device body formed in a shape of a closed container;
a far-infrared plane heater placed in the device body;
an oxygen addition gas feed pipe through which an oxygen addition gas containing water vapor and oxygen is fed into the device body;
a gas exhaust pipe through which gas in the device body is discharged; and
jet nozzles that are brought into communication with the oxygen addition gas feed pipe and through which the oxygen addition gas containing water vapor and oxygen is ejected to an oxygen-deficient portion of a substrate.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The oxidation annealing device of claim 1, further comprising:
a nitrogen gas feed pipe configured to fill a space in the device body with a nitrogen gas, wherein
the oxygen addition gas is ejected through the jet nozzles with the device body filled with the nitrogen gas.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The oxidation annealing device of claim 1, wherein
the substrate corresponds to a thin film transistor, and
the oxygen-deficient portion is a portion of the substrate corresponding to a seam between targets and formed by AC sputtering.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The oxidation annealing device of claim 3, wherein
the seam includes a plurality of seams, and
the jet nozzles are arranged depending on the number of the seams.

### Claim 5

An oxidation annealing device, comprising:
a device body formed in a shape of a closed container;
a far-infrared plane heater placed in the device body;
a nitrogen gas feed pipe through which a nitrogen gas is fed into the device body;
a gas exhaust pipe through which gas in the device body is discharged; and
jet nozzles that are brought into communication with the nitrogen gas feed pipe and through which the nitrogen gas is ejected to an oxygen-excessive portion of a substrate.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The oxidation annealing device of claim 5, wherein
the substrate corresponds to a thin film transistor, and
the oxygen-excessive portion is a portion of the substrate except a portion of the substrate corresponding to a seam between targets and formed by AC sputtering.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The oxidation annealing device of any one of claim 1, wherein
the far-infrared plane heater includes a mica heater and a flat infrared radiation plate.

### Claim 8

A method for fabricating a thin film transistor using oxidation annealing, the method comprising:
an annealing process of, while heating a substrate in a device body using a far-infrared plane heater, locally ejecting an oxygen addition gas containing water vapor and oxygen to an oxygen-deficient portion of the substrate.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, further comprising:
while heating a substrate using a far-infrared plane heater with a device body filled with a nitrogen gas, locally ejecting an oxygen addition gas containing water vapor and oxygen to an oxygen-deficient portion of the substrate.

### Claim 10 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, further comprising:
an AC sputtering process of, before the annealing process, applying an alternating voltage having one of polarities to one of a plurality of pairs of targets arranged in parallel, and applying an alternating voltage having the other polarity to another one of the pairs adjacent to the pair, wherein
the oxygen-deficient portion is a portion of the substrate corresponding to a seam between targets and formed by the AC sputtering process.

### Claim at position 11

11-12. (canceled)