Laser thin film poly-silicon annealing optical system

Electric heating – Metal heating – By arc

Reexamination Certificate

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

C219S121660, C219S121600

Reexamination Certificate

active

07009140

ABSTRACT:
A high energy, high repetition rate workpiece surface heating method and apparatus are disclosed which may cmprise a pulsed XeF laser operating at or above 4000 Hz and producing a laser output light pulse beam at a center wavelength of about 351 nm; an optical system narrowing the laser output light pulse beam to less than 20 μm in a short axis of the laser output light pulse beam and expanding the laser output light pulse beam to form in a long axis of the beam a workpiece covering extent of teh long axis; the optical system including a field stop intermediate the laser and the workpiece; the workpiece comprising a layer to be heated; wherein the optical system focuses the laser output light pulse beam at a field stop with a magnification sufficient to maintain an intensity profile that has sufficiently steep sidewalls to allow the field stop to maintain a sufficiently steep beam profile at the workpiece without blocking the beam profile at too high an intensity level. 2. The apparatus may also have a high average power in the laser ouput light pulse beam as delivered to the workpiece and a a linebow correction mechanism in a short axis optical assembly. The linebow correction mechanism may comprise a plurality of weak cross cylinders. The system may comprise a catadioptric projection system. The linewidth due to laser diffraction and divergence may be less than geometric limitations. The system may project adjacent peaks of the nominal XeF spectrum to improve overall depth of focus through the separate center wavelengths of each respective adjacent peak having a different focal plane at the workpiece. The system may comprise a linebow is correction mechanism within a field stop optical assembly correcting linebow at the field stop plane and within a workpiece projection optical assembly correcting linebow at the workpiece plane.

REFERENCES:
patent: 4223279 (1980-09-01), Bradford, Jr. et al.
patent: 4410992 (1983-10-01), Javan
patent: 4455658 (1984-06-01), Sutter et al.
patent: 4550408 (1985-10-01), Karning et al.
patent: 4606034 (1986-08-01), Eden et al.
patent: 4618759 (1986-10-01), Muller et al.
patent: 4891820 (1990-01-01), Rando et al.
patent: 4959840 (1990-09-01), Akins et al.
patent: 5005180 (1991-04-01), Edelman et al.
patent: 5023884 (1991-06-01), Akins et al.
patent: 5025445 (1991-06-01), Anderson et al.
patent: 5025446 (1991-06-01), Kuizenga
patent: 5189678 (1993-02-01), Ball et al.
patent: 5313481 (1994-05-01), Cook et al.
patent: 5315611 (1994-05-01), Ball et al.
patent: 5359620 (1994-10-01), Akins
patent: 5416391 (1995-05-01), Correa et al.
patent: 5432122 (1995-07-01), Chae
patent: 5448580 (1995-09-01), Birx et al.
patent: 5471965 (1995-12-01), Kapich
patent: 5771258 (1998-06-01), Morton et al.
patent: 5852621 (1998-12-01), Sandstrom
patent: 5863017 (1999-01-01), Larson et al.
patent: 5891764 (1999-04-01), Ishihara et al.
patent: 5953360 (1999-09-01), Vitruk et al.
patent: 5978394 (1999-11-01), Newman et al.
patent: 5982800 (1999-11-01), Ishihara et al.
patent: 5991324 (1999-11-01), Knowles et al.
patent: 6005879 (1999-12-01), Sandstrom et al.
patent: 6014398 (2000-01-01), Hofmann et al.
patent: 6016325 (2000-01-01), Ness et al.
patent: 6018537 (2000-01-01), Hofmann et al.
patent: 6028880 (2000-02-01), Carlesi et al.
patent: 6067306 (2000-05-01), Sandstrom et al.
patent: 6067311 (2000-05-01), Morton et al.
patent: 6094448 (2000-07-01), Fomenkov et al.
patent: 6104735 (2000-08-01), Webb
patent: 6128323 (2000-10-01), Myers et al.
patent: 6143661 (2000-11-01), Kousai et al.
patent: 6151349 (2000-11-01), Gong et al.
patent: 6164116 (2000-12-01), Rice et al.
patent: 6177301 (2001-01-01), Jung
patent: 6188710 (2001-02-01), Besaucele et al.
patent: 6192064 (2001-02-01), Algots et al.
patent: 6208674 (2001-03-01), Webb et al.
patent: 6208675 (2001-03-01), Webb
patent: 6212211 (2001-04-01), Azzola et al.
patent: 6215595 (2001-04-01), Yamazaki et al.
patent: 6219368 (2001-04-01), Govorkov
patent: 6240117 (2001-05-01), Gong et al.
patent: 6300176 (2001-10-01), Zhang et al.
patent: 6314119 (2001-11-01), Morton
patent: 6316338 (2001-11-01), Jung
patent: 6317447 (2001-11-01), Partlo et al.
patent: 6322625 (2001-11-01), Im
patent: 6330261 (2001-12-01), Ishihara et al.
patent: 6359922 (2002-03-01), Partlo et al.
patent: 6368945 (2002-04-01), Im
patent: 6381257 (2002-04-01), Ershov et al.
patent: 6393042 (2002-05-01), Tanaka
patent: 6396856 (2002-05-01), Sucha et al.
patent: 6414979 (2002-07-01), Ujazdowski et al.
patent: 6440785 (2002-08-01), Yamazaki et al.
patent: 6466365 (2002-10-01), Maier et al.
patent: 6477193 (2002-11-01), Oliver et al.
patent: 6535531 (2003-03-01), Smith et al.
patent: 6538737 (2003-03-01), Sandstrom et al.
patent: 6549551 (2003-04-01), Partlo et al.
patent: 6555449 (2003-04-01), Im et al.
patent: 6563077 (2003-05-01), Im
patent: 6567450 (2003-05-01), Myers et al.
patent: 6573531 (2003-06-01), Im et al.
patent: 6582827 (2003-06-01), Im
patent: 6618421 (2003-09-01), Das et al.
patent: 6625191 (2003-09-01), Knowles et al.
patent: 6638800 (2003-10-01), Ishihara et al.
patent: 6671294 (2003-12-01), Kroyan et al.
patent: 6687562 (2004-02-01), Patel et al.
patent: 6721340 (2004-04-01), Fomenkov et al.
patent: 6750972 (2004-06-01), Sandstrom et al.
patent: 6757316 (2004-06-01), Newman et al.
patent: 6782031 (2004-08-01), Hofmann et al.
patent: 2002/0006149 (2002-01-01), Spangler et al.
patent: 2002/0012376 (2002-01-01), Das et al.
patent: 2002/0021728 (2002-02-01), Newman et al.
patent: 2002/0022293 (2002-02-01), Rule et al.
patent: 2002/0048288 (2002-04-01), Kroyan et al.
patent: 2002/0101589 (2002-08-01), Sandstrom et al.
patent: 2002/0105994 (2002-08-01), Partlo et al.
patent: 2002/0167975 (2002-11-01), Spangler et al.
patent: 2002/0167986 (2002-11-01), Pan et al.
patent: 2003/0096489 (2003-05-01), Im et al.
patent: 2003/0099269 (2003-05-01), Ershov et al.
patent: 2003/0118072 (2003-06-01), Wittak et al.
patent: 2003/0119286 (2003-06-01), Im et al.
patent: 2004/0060504 (2004-04-01), Takeda et al.
H. Kahlert et al., “High-resolution optics for thin Si-film crystallization using eximer lasers: present status and future development,” Proc. or SPIE-IS&T, Electronic Imaging, SPIE vol. 5004 (2003), pp. 20-27.
A. Voutsas et al., “Effect of process parameters on the structural characteristics of laterally grown, laser-annealed polycrystalline silicon films,” Jour. of Appld. Phys., vol. 94, No. 12 (Dec. 15, 2003).
K. Lee, “A study on laser annealed polycrystalline silicon thin film transistors (TFTs) with SiNx gate insulator,” Chapter 5, Electrical and Structural Properties of ELA Poly-Si Films, http://tftlcd.khu.ac.kr/research/poly-Si/chapter5.html.
J.J. Ewing et al., Phys. Rev. A12, 129 (1975).
M. Hoffman et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 9, 538 (1976).
K. Lee, “A study on laser annealed polycrystalline silicon thin film transistors (TFTs) with SiNx gate insulator,” Chapter 4, Experimental Details, http://tftlcd.kyunghee.ac.kr/research/poly-Si/chapter4.html.
C. Kim et al., “Excimer-laser crystallized poly-si TFT's with transparent gate, IEEE transactions on electron devices”, vol. 43, No. 4 (Apr. 1996), p. 576-579.
K. Sera et al., “High-performance TFT's fabricated by XeCI excimer laser annealing of hydrogenated amorphous-silicon film,” IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 36, Np. 12, (1989), pp. 2868-2872.
Y. Morita et al., “UV pulsed laser annealing of Si implanted silicon film and low-temperature super thin-film transistors,” Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., vol. 28, No. 2 (1989) pp. L309-L311.
K. Shimizu et al., “On-Chip bottom gate polysilicon and amorphous silicon thin-film transistors using excimer laser annealed silicon nitride gate,” Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., vol. 29, No. 10 (1990), pp. L1775-1777.
M. Furuta, et al., “Bottom-gate poly-si thin film transistors using XeCI excimer laser annealing an dion doping techniques,” IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, vol. 40, No. 14 (1993) pp. 1964-1969.
Y. Sun et al., “Excimer laser annealing pr

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for the USA inventors and patents. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Laser thin film poly-silicon annealing optical system does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Laser thin film poly-silicon annealing optical system, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Laser thin film poly-silicon annealing optical system will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3610707

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.