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US 6,440,785 B1Granted
Method of manufacturing a semiconductor device utilizing a laser annealing process
AssigneeSemiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
InventorsShunpei Yamazaki, Hongyong Zhang, Hiroaki Ishihara
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A laser annealing process for recovering crystallinity of a deposited semiconductor film such as of silicon which had undergone morphological damage, said process comprising activating the semiconductor by irradiating a pulsed laser beam operating at a wavelength of 400 nm or less and at a pulse width of 50 nsec or less onto the surface of the film, wherein, said deposited film is coated with a transparent film such as a silicon oxide film at a thickness of from 3 to 300 nm, and the laser beam incident to said coating is applied at an energy density E (mJ/cm2) provided that it satisfies the relation: log10N≦−0.02(E−350), where N is the number of shots of the pulsed laser beam.
Claims22
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising the steps of:
- preparing a semiconductor film over a substrate;
- preparing a laser beam having a cross section perpendicular to propagation of the laser beam;
- modifying the laser beam so that the cross section of the laser beam is increased in a first direction and reduced in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction;
- and
- irradiating the semiconductor film with the modified laser beam;
- and
- changing a relative location of the semiconductor film with respect to the modified laser beam in the second direction, wherein the modification of the laser beam comprises:
- expanding the cross section of the laser beam only in the first direction;
- homogenizing an energy distribution of the laser beam only in the first direction;
- homogenizing an energy distribution of the laser beam only in the second direction;
- and
- condensing the cross section of the laser beam only in the second direction.
9 more elements
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising the steps of:
- preparing a semiconductor film over a substrate;
- preparing a laser beam having a cross section perpendicular to propagation of the laser beam;
- modifying the laser beam so that the cross section of the laser beam is increased in a first direction and reduced in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction;
- and
- irradiating the semiconductor film with the modified laser beam;
- and
- changing a relative location of the semiconductor film with respect to the modified laser beam in the second direction, wherein the modification of the laser beam comprises:
- homogenizing an energy distribution of the laser beam only in the first direction;
- homogenizing an energy distribution of the laser beam only in the second direction.
6 more elements
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising the steps of:
- preparing a semiconductor film over a substrate;
- preparing a laser beam having a cross section perpendicular to propagation of the laser beam;
- modifying the laser beam so that the cross section of the laser beam is increased in a first direction and reduced in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction;
- and
- irradiating the semiconductor film with the modified laser beam;
- and
- changing a relative location of the semiconductor film with respect to the modified laser beam in the second direction,
- wherein the modification of the laser beam is conducted by using at least a first lens array which includes a plurality of cylindrical lenses arranged in the first direction and a second lens array which includes a plurality of second cylindrical lenses arranged in the second direction.
5 more elements
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising the steps of:
- preparing a semiconductor film over a substrate;
- preparing a laser beam having a cross section perpendicular to propagation of the laser beam;
- modifying the laser beam so that the cross section of the laser beam is increased in a first direction and reduced in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction;
- irradiating the semiconductor film with the modified laser beam;
- and
- changing a relative location of the semiconductor film with respect to the modified laser beam in the second direction,
- wherein the modification of the laser beam is conducted by using at least (a) a first lens array which includes a plurality of cylindrical lenses arranged in the first direction, (b) a first condensing lens for condensing the laser beam only in the first direction, (c) a second lens array which includes a plurality of second cylindrical lenses arranged in the second direction, and (d) a second condensing lens for condensing the laser beam only in the second direction.
4 more elements
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising the steps of:
- preparing a semiconductor film over a substrate;
- preparing a laser beam having a cross section perpendicular to propagation of the laser beam;
- modifying the laser beam so that the cross section of the laser beam is increased in a first direction and reduced in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction;
- and
- irradiating the semiconductor film with the modified laser beam;
- and
- changing a relative location of the semiconductor film with respect to the modified laser beam in the second direction,
- wherein the modification of the laser beam is conducted by using at least a first lens array which includes a plurality of cylindrical lenses arranged in the first direction, a second lens array which includes a plurality of second cylindrical lenses arranged in the second direction and an expanding lens which expands light only in the second direction, said expanding lens being located before said second lens array.
5 more elements
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising the steps of:
- preparing a semiconductor film over a substrate;
- preparing a laser beam having a cross section perpendicular to propagation of the laser beam;
- expanding the cross section of the laser beam only in one direction;
- modifying an energy distribution of the laser beam only in said one direction by passing the laser beam through a first lens array which includes a plurality of cylindrical lenses arranged in said one direction after the expansion of the cross section in the first direction;
- condensing the laser beam in said one direction after the modification of the energy distribution;
- and then
- irradiating the semiconductor film with the laser beam.
4 more elements
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising the steps of:
- providing a semiconductor film over a substrate;
- providing a laser beam having a cross section perpendicular to propagation of the laser beam;
- modifying the laser beam so that the cross section of the laser beam is increased in a first direction and reduced in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction;
- and
- irradiating the semiconductor film with the modified laser beam;
- and
- changing a relative location of the semiconductor film with respect to the modified laser beam in the second direction, wherein the modification of the laser beam comprises:
- expanding the cross section of the laser beam only in the first direction;
- homogenizing an energy distribution of the laser beam only in the first direction;
- homogenizing an energy distribution of the laser beam only in the second direction;
- and
- condensing the cross section of the laser beam only in the second direction,
- wherein a length of the modified laser beam in the first direction is 10 cm or larger and a width of the modified laser beam in the second direction is 1 cm or less.
10 more elements
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising the steps of:
- providing a semiconductor film over a substrate:
- providing a laser beam having a cross section perpendicular to propagation of the laser beam;
- modifying the laser beam so that the cross section of the laser beam is increased in a first direction and reduced in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction;
- and
- irradiating the semiconductor film with the modified laser beam;
- and
- changing a relative location of the semiconductor film with respect to the modified laser beam in the second direction, wherein the modification of the laser beam comprises:
- homogenizing an energy distribution of the laser beam only in the first direction;
- homogenizing an energy distribution of the laser beam only in the second direction;
- wherein a length of the modified laser beam in the first direction is 10 cm or larger and a width of the modified laser beam in the second direction is 1 cm or less.
7 more elements
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising the steps of:
- providing a semiconductor film over a substrate;
- providing a laser beam having a cross section perpendicular to propagation of the laser beam;
- modifying the laser beam so that the cross section of the laser beam is increased in a first direction and reduced in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction wherein a length of the modified laser beam in the first direction is 10 cm or larger and a width of the modified laser beam in the second direction is 1 cm or less;
- and
- irradiating the semiconductor film with the modified laser beam;
- and
- changing a relative location of the semiconductor film with respect to the modified laser beam in the second direction,
- wherein the modification of the laser beam is conducted by using a least a first lens array which includes a plurality of cylindrical lenses arranged in the first direction and a second lens array which includes a plurality of second cylindrical lenses arranged in the second direction.
5 more elements
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising the steps of:
- providing a semiconductor film over a substrate;
- providing a laser beam having a cross section perpendicular to propagation of the laser beam;
- modifying the laser beam so that the cross section of the laser beam is increased in a first direction and reduced in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction wherein a length of the modified laser beam in the first direction is 10 cm or larger and a width of the modified laser beam in the second direction is 1 cm or less;
- irradiating the semiconductor film with the modified laser beam;
- and
- changing a relative location of the semiconductor film with respect to the modified laser beam in the second direction,
- wherein the modification of the laser beam is conducted by using at least (a) a first lens array which includes a plurality of cylindrical lenses arranged in the first direction, (b) a first condensing lens for condensing the laser beam only in the first direction, (c) a second lens array which includes a plurality of second cylindrical lenses arranged in the second direction, and (d) a second condensing lens for condensing the laser beam only in the second direction.
4 more elements
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising the steps of:
- providing a semiconductor film over a substrate;
- providing a laser beam having a cross section perpendicular to propagation of the laser beam;
- modifying the laser beam so that the cross section of the laser beam is increased in a first direction and reduced in a second direction perpendicular to said first direction;
- and
- irradiating the semiconductor film with the modified laser beam, wherein a length of the modified laser beam in the first direction is 10 cm or larger and a width of the modified laser beam in the second direction is 1 cm or less;
- and
- changing a relative location of the semiconductor film with respect to the modified laser beam in the second direction,
- wherein the modification of the laser beam is conducted by using at least a first lens array which includes a plurality of cylindrical lenses arranged in the first direction, a second lens array which includes a plurality of second cylindrical lenses arranged in the second direction and an expanding lens which expands light only in the second direction, said expanding lens being located before said second lens array.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.