Semiconductor device manufacturing: process – Making device or circuit responsive to nonelectrical signal – Responsive to electromagnetic radiation
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-15
2001-10-09
Christianson, Keith (Department: 2813)
Semiconductor device manufacturing: process
Making device or circuit responsive to nonelectrical signal
Responsive to electromagnetic radiation
Reexamination Certificate
active
06300159
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of producing a semiconductor device or a photodetector device by adhering a plurality of semiconductor substrates in a planar manner, and more particularly to a method of producing a semiconductor device having a plurality of semiconductor elements over a large area, a one- or two-dimensional image reading device adapted for use in a facsimile, a digital copying apparatus or a scanner, and a photodetector device for converting a radiation such as X-ray or gamma-ray into visible light or the like by a fluorescent plate and reading thus converted light.
2. Related Background Art
The amorphous silicon (hereinafter abbreviated as “a-Si”) has been conventionally utilized as the semiconductor material for a large-area semiconductor device or as the photoelectric converting semiconductor material for a photodetecting device such as a sensor array. In particular, such film can be easily formed on a large-area glass plate and further it can be used not only as the photoelectric converting material but also as the semiconductor material for the switching TFT (thin film transistor). It is also widely employed as the semiconductor material for the sensor array, since the semiconductor layer of the photoelectric converting elements and the semiconductor layer of the switching TFT can be simultaneously formed.
As a typical example of the sensor array employing such a-Si film, there will be explained the constitution of a sensor array in which a PIN type photoelectric converting element is combined with an inverse staggered TFT constituting a switching TFT as a part of the control unit.
FIG. 1
is a schematic plan view of such a sensor array. In
FIG. 1
, numeral
101
indicates a PIN type photosensor;
102
a switching TFT;
103
a data line;
104
a gate line; and
105
a bias line. Each pixel is composed of a sensor portion and a switching TFT portion, wherein each photosensor is connected to each switching TFT which is connected to the data line
103
.
FIG. 2
is a schematic cross-sectional view of one of the pixels shown in FIG.
1
. In
FIG. 2
, numeral
101
indicates a PIN type photosensor;
102
a switching TFT;
201
a glass substrate;
202
a Cr gate electrode;
203
a SiN (silicon nitride) gate insulation film;
204
an i-type a-Si film;
205
a SiN channel protective film;
206
an n
+
-type a-Si film;
207
an Al S-D electrode;
210
,
211
,
212
p-, i- and n-type a-Si films, respectively;
208
a Cr electrode;
209
an ITO electrode;
213
a SiN interlayer insulation film; and
214
a protective film.
In the following there will be briefly explained a radiation image pickup device as an example of the photodetector device utilizing the above-described sensor array substrate.
FIG. 3
shows a schematic cross-sectional view of the structure of such a device.
As shown in
FIG. 3
, the radiation image pickup device is composed, for example, of a sensor array
301
; a base member
308
serving to support the sensor array and to function as a shield against the radiation; an adhesive
309
for connecting the sensor array
301
and the base member
308
; a fluorescent member
302
functioning as a wavelength converting member for converting the radiation into light to which the sensor array is sensitive; a processing circuit board
303
for processing electrical signals obtained from the sensor array; an IC
307
for driving the sensor array and the processing circuit; and a flexible wiring
304
for connecting the processing circuit board with the sensor array. These components are fixed by a frame
305
constituting the outer frame of the radiation image pickup device. The radiation enters from a direction indicated by an arrow
310
. Such structure realizes a light and thin radiation image pickup device of a large size.
Lower cost, higher performance and larger area are currently being demanded for such photodetector devices but such demands have not been met because of various problems which are yet to be solved. These problems will be explained in the following.
Firstly, for realizing a larger area, particularly a size in excess of 400×400 mm, there are required a capital investment on the large-sized manufacturing facility for matching the large substrate size and automation of each equipment constituting such facility and the substrate transportation therein. This leads to an increase in the product cost.
Secondly, in case of producing a large array substrate such as the two-dimensional sensor, the increase of the substrate size results in the decrease of a manufacturing yield, leading to the increase of the product cost.
Thirdly, the increase of the area deteriorate the uniformity of device properties, and the uneven distribution of the properties within the panel (substrate) deteriorates the product quality.
Though these problems are associated with the increase of size, there is desired a large-sized semiconductor device or photodetector device of a lower cost and a higher performance.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to realize a large-sized photodetector device of a low cost and a high performance, which does not strongly necessitate a manufacturing facility for matching a large substrate size and which does not result in an increase of cost and is not associated with loss in manufacturing yield or in the uniformity of performance resulting from the increase of the substrate area.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of producing a semiconductor device comprising a large-sized panel on which a plurality of semiconductor WF substrates are adjacently arranged in a planar manner, at least one of the sides of a semiconductor substrate is formed by cutting, which method comprises the steps: forming a plurality of semiconductor substrates by cutting so that an opposite side of each of the semiconductor substrates to be adjacently arranged is formed by substantially vertical full-cutting to remove an unnecessary portion and so that an end surface of the semiconductor substrate other than the opposite side has a groove merely formed by half-cutting between the semiconductor substrate and the unnecessary portion to leave an unnecessary portion; handling the semiconductor substrate by holding the left unnecessary portion; removing the unnecessary portion by snapping off the unnecessary portion; and arranging the semiconductor substrates so as to be adjacent to one another while the full-cutting sides thereof are mutually opposed.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of producing a photosensor device comprising a plurality of sensor array substrates, each having a plurality of pixels each composed of a photoelectric converting element and a switch, and a base member for supporting the plurality of sensor array substrates so as to be adjacently arranged, which, the method comprises the steps of: forming the sensor array substrate by cutting so that an opposite side of the sensor array substrate to be adjacently arranged is formed by substantially vertical full-cutting to remove an unnecessary portion and so that an end surface of sensor array substrate other than the opposite side has a groove merely formed by half-cutting between the sensor array substrate and the unnecessary portion to leave the unnecessary portion; handling the sensor array substrate by holding the left unnecessary portion; removing the left unnecessary portion by snapping off such unnecessary portion; and arranging the sensor array substrates so as to be adjacent to one another while the full-cutting sides thereof are mutually opposed.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method of producing a semiconductor device comprising a plurality of substrates each having a plurality of semiconductor elements, at least one of the sides of each of the substrates being mutually arranged so as to be adjacent to one another, which method comprises the steps of: forming a plurality of substrates by carrying out full-cutt
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Christianson Keith
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
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