Systems and methods for processing thin films
First Claim
1. A method of processing a plurality of thin films, comprising:
- loading a first thin film onto a first loading fixture;
loading a second thin film onto a second loading fixture;
generating laser beam pulses, each said generated laser beam pulse having a pulse duration;
splitting each said generated laser beam pulse into at least a first laser beam pulse and a second laser beam pulse;
directing at least one first laser beam pulse onto a first optical path and directing at least one second laser beam pulse onto a second optical path;
irradiating said first thin film with said at least one first laser beam pulse to induce melting and subsequent crystallization of at least a portion of said first thin film; and
irradiating said second thin film with said at least one second laser beam pulse to induce melting and subsequent crystallization of at least a portion of said second thin film, wherein at least a portion of said step of irradiating said first thin film and at least a portion of said step of irradiating said second thin film occur simultaneously.
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Abstract
The present disclosure is directed to methods and systems for processing a thin film samples. In an exemplary method, semiconductor thin films are loaded onto two different loading fixtures, laser beam pulses generated by a laser source system are split into first laser beam pulses and second laser beam pulses, the thin film loaded on one loading fixture is irradiated with the first laser beam pulses to induce crystallization while the thin film loaded on the other loading fixture is irradiated with the second laser beam pulses. In a preferred embodiment, at least a portion of the thin film that is loaded on the first loading fixture is irradiated while at least a portion of the thin film that is loaded on the second loading fixture is also being irradiated. In an exemplary embodiment, the laser source system includes first and second laser sources and an integrator that combines the laser beam pulses generated by the first and second laser sources to form combined laser beam pulses. In certain exemplary embodiments, the methods and system further utilize additional loading fixtures for processing additional thin film samples. In such methods and systems, the irradiation of thin film samples loaded on some of the loading fixtures can be performed while thin film samples are being loaded onto the remaining loading fixtures. In certain exemplary methods and systems, the crystallization processing of the semiconductor thin film samples can consist of a sequential lateral solidification (SLS) process.
202 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method of processing a plurality of thin films, comprising:
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loading a first thin film onto a first loading fixture;
loading a second thin film onto a second loading fixture;
generating laser beam pulses, each said generated laser beam pulse having a pulse duration;
splitting each said generated laser beam pulse into at least a first laser beam pulse and a second laser beam pulse;
directing at least one first laser beam pulse onto a first optical path and directing at least one second laser beam pulse onto a second optical path;
irradiating said first thin film with said at least one first laser beam pulse to induce melting and subsequent crystallization of at least a portion of said first thin film; and
irradiating said second thin film with said at least one second laser beam pulse to induce melting and subsequent crystallization of at least a portion of said second thin film, wherein at least a portion of said step of irradiating said first thin film and at least a portion of said step of irradiating said second thin film occur simultaneously. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system for processing a plurality of thin films, comprising:
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a laser source system for generating laser beam pulses each having a pulse duration;
a first loading fixture for securing a thin film;
a second loading fixture for securing a thin film;
a beam splitting element for splitting said generated laser beam pulses into at least first laser beam pulses and second laser beam pulses; and
wherein a thin film loaded on said first loading fixture can be irradiated with said first laser beam pulses and a thin film loaded on said second loading fixture can be irradiated with said second laser beam pulses, and wherein at least a portion of said thin film loaded on said second loading fixture can be irradiated while said thin film loaded on said first loading fixture is being irradiated. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method of processing a thin film, comprising:
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loading a thin film onto a loading fixture;
generating laser beam pulses having a pulse duration;
splitting said generated laser beam pulses into at least first laser beam pulses and second laser beam pulses;
irradiating a first region of said thin film with said first laser beam pulses to induce melting and subsequent crystallization of said first region of said thin film; and
irradiating a second region of said thin film with said second laser beam pulses to induce melting and subsequent crystallization of said second region of said thin film, wherein at least portions of said steps of irradiating said first region and irradiating said second region occur simultaneously.
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24. A system for processing a thin film, comprising:
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a laser source system for generating laser beam pulses having a pulse duration;
a holding fixture for securing a thin film;
a beam splitting element for splitting said generated laser beam pulses into at least first laser beam pulses and second laser beam pulses; and
wherein a region of a thin film that is loaded on said holding fixture can be irradiated with said first laser beam pulses and another region of said thin film can be simultaneously irradiated with said second laser beam pulses.
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Specification