Methods for producing uniform large-grained and grain boundary location manipulated polycrystalline thin film semiconductors using sequential lateral solidification

A system for processing a silicon thin film into a polycrystalline silicon thin film, comprising:

• (a) an excimer laser for generating a plurality of excimer laser pulses of a predetermined fluence,
• (b) an energy density modulator, optically coupled to said excimer laser, for controllably modulating said fluence of said excimer laser pulses emitted by said excimer laser;
• (c) a beam homogenizer, optically coupled to said energy density modulator, for homogenizing said modulated laser pulses in a predetermined plane, said homogenized laser pulses each having a substantially predetermined size;
• (d) a mask having one or more slits having a predetermined width, optically coupled to said beam homogenizer, for masking each said homogenized modulated laser pulse to generate one or more laser beamlets corresponding to each homogenized laser pulse, such that each beamlet has a shape defined by a length corresponding to the predetermined laser pulse size and a width corresponding to the slit width;
• (e) a sample stage, optically coupled to said mask and adapted for translation, for receiving the one or more laser beamlets for each laser pulse to effect melting of a portion of any silicon thin film placed thereon corresponding to the shape of said laser beamlet;
• and
• (f) a computer, coupled to said excimer laser and said energy density modulator, for controlling said controllable fluence modulation of said excimer laser pulses and relative positions of said sample stage and said mask, and for coordinating said excimer pulse generation and said fluence modulation with said relative positions of said sample stage and said mask, to thereby process said silicon thin film into a polycrystalline silicon thin film by sequential translation of said sample stage relative to said mask and irradiation of said thin film by one or more laser beamlets for each laser pulse at corresponding sequential locations thereon.