US 7,804,647 B2Granted

Sub-resolutional laser annealing mask

AssigneeSharp Laboratories of America, Inc.

InventorsYasuhiro Mitani, Apostolos T. Voutsas, Mark A. Crowder

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Abstract

A method for smoothing an annealed surface uses a sub-resolution mask pattern. The method supplies a laser beam having a first wavelength and a mask with a first mask section having apertures with a first dimension and a second mask section with apertures having a second dimension, less than the first dimension. A laser beam having a first energy density is applied to a substrate region, melting a substrate region in response to the first energy density and crystallizing the substrate region. A diffracted laser beam is applied to the substrate region, smoothing the substrate region surface. Applying a diffracted laser beam to the substrate area may include applying a diffracted laser beam having a second energy density, less than the first energy density, to the substrate region.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A laser annealing mask with adjacent sections of fully resolved and sub-resolutional aperture patterns, the mask comprising:

a first section with a plurality of first apertures and an opaque spacing between each first aperture, each first aperture having a first pattern shape that is sized for transmitting approximately 100% of incident light, fully resolved in a beam having the first aperture pattern shape, at a first energy density;
a second section, located adjacent the first section, with a plurality of second apertures and an opaque spacing between each second aperture, each second aperture having a second pattern shape that is sized for transmitting approximately 100% of incident light, incompletely resolved in a diffracted beam having a blurred second aperture pattern shape;
and,
wherein the second aperture patterns each transmit a second energy density in the blurred second aperture pattern shape that is less than the first energy density.

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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.