US 7,183,229 B2Granted

Semiconductor thin film forming method, production methods for semiconductor device and electrooptical device, devices used for these methods, and semiconductor device and electrooptical device

AssigneeSony Corporation

InventorHideo Yamanaka

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Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for easily forming a polycrystalline semiconductor thin-film, such as polycrystalline silicon having high crystallinity and high quality, or a single crystalline semiconductor thin-film at inexpensive cost, the crystalline semiconductor thin-film having a large area, and to provide an apparatus for processing the method described above. In forming a polycrystalline (or single crystalline) semiconductor thin-film (7), such as a polycrystalline silicon thin-film, having high crystallinity and a large grain size on a substrate (1), or in forming a semiconductor device having the polycrystalline (or single crystalline) semiconductor thin-film (7) on the substrate (1), a method comprises forming a low-crystallization semiconductor thin-film (7A) on the substrate (1), and subsequently heating and cooling this low-crystallization semiconductor thin-film (7A) to a fusion, a semi-fusion, or a non-fusion state by flash lamp annealing to facilitate the crystallization of the low-crystallization semiconductor thin-film, whereby a polycrystalline (single crystalline) semiconductor thin-film (7) is obtained. A method for forming the semiconductor device and an apparatus for processing the methods are also disclosed.

Claims9

Dependent claims

A method for manufacturing a semiconductor thin-film comprising:

forming a low-crystallization semiconductor thin-film on a substrate;
and
heating and cooling the low-crystallization semiconductor thin-film to a fusion, a semi-fusion, or a non-fusion state by flash lamp annealing with a flash lamp source apparatus,
wherein,
the flash lamp source apparatus is selected from the group consisting of:
(b1) a flash lamp source apparatus comprising:
(b1I) a housing,
(b1II) a reflecting member in the housing, the reflecting member being at earth potential and optionally comprising irregularities on its surface, and
(b1III) a lamp in said housing;
(b2) a flash lamp source apparatus comprising:
(b2I) a housing,
(b2II) a reflecting member in the housing,
(b2III) an IR-blocking filter or an IR-reducing filter, and
(b2IV) a lamp in the housing;
(b3) a flash lamp source apparatus comprising:
(b3I) a housing,
(b3II) a reflecting member in the housing,
(b3III) a lamp in the housing, and
(b3IV) a condesing lens or a light homogenizer;
(b4) a flash lamp source apparatus comprising:
(b4I) a housing, and
(b4II) a reflecting member,
wherein,
the housing and the reflecting are cooled by a circulating coolant, and
the configuration of the flash lamp source apparatus is selected from the group consisting of:
(1) a reflecting member is provided in a housing which contains a lamp and which is at the earth potential, arid when necessary, miiiute irregularities are formed on the surface of the reflecting member;
(2) a lamp and a reflecting member are provided in a housing having shading properties, and when necessary, flash emission light is transmitted through a transparent member having infrared-reducing properties or infrared-blocking properties;
(3) a lamp and a reflecting member are provided in a housing, and flash emission light reflected and condensed and flash emission light passing in the forward direction are transmitted through a condensing lens or a light homogenizer;
and
(4) a reflecting member and a housing are cooled by a circulating coolant.

27 more elements

A method for manufacturing a semiconductor thin-film comprising:

forming a low-crystallization semiconductor thin-film on a substrate;
and
heating and cooling the low-crystallization semiconductor thin-film to a fusion, a semi-fusion, or a non-fusion state by flash lamp annealing with a flash lamp source apparatus,
wherein,
the flash lamp source apparatus selected from the group consisting of:
(b1) a flash lamp source apparatus comprising:
(b1I) a housing,
(b1II) a reflecting member in the housing, the reflecting member being at earth potential and optionally comprising irregularities on its surface, and
(b1III) a lamp in said housing;
(b2) a flash lamp source apparatus comprising:
(b2I) a housing,
(b2II) a reflecting member in the housing,
(b2III) an IR-blocking filter or an IR-reducing fitter, and
(b2IV) a lamp in the housing;
(b3) a flash lamp source apparatus comprising:
(b3I) a housing,
(b3II) a reflecting member in the housing,
(b3III) a lamp in the housing, and
(b3IV) a condesing lens or a light homogenizer;
(b4) a flash lamp source apparatus comprising:
(b4I) a housing, and
(b4II) a reflecting member,
wherein,
the housing and the reflecting member are cooled by a circulating coolant, and the lamp comprises:
(i) a parallel plate light-emitting tube,
(ii) at least a pair of counter electrodes in the light-emitting tube, and
(iii) a trigger electrode thin-film or a trigger electrode assembly for each pair of the counter electrodes, wherein the trigger electrode thin-film or the trigger electrode assembly is between the counter electrodes and on the external wall of the light emitting tube.

24 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 10/182,784Filed 7 Dec 2001
Priority: JP 2000-3738268 Dec 2000
Published: US 2003/0013280 A116 Jan 2003
Granted: 27 Feb 2007
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification42 codes

C23C 16/24
Characterised by the deposition of inorganic material, other than metallic material: deposition of silicon only
C23C 16/56
Chemical coating by decomposition of gaseous compounds, without leaving reaction products of surface material in the coating, i.e. chemical…
C30B 13/24
By irradiation or electric discharge: using electromagnetic waves
H10D 30/0314
Characterised by the gate electrodes: of lateral top-gate TFTs comprising only a single gate