Apparatus and method of improving beam shaping and beam homogenization
First Claim
1. An apparatus of thermally processing a substrate, comprising:
- an energy source that has an output and is adapted to deliver a first energy pulse;
a first micro-lens array having a plurality of micro-lenses that are adapted to receive at least a portion of the first energy pulse transmitted from the output of the energy source;
a second micro-lens array having a plurality of micro-lenses that are adapted to receive the at least a portion of the energy transmitted from the first micro-lens array;
a first lens that is positioned to receive the at least a portion of the energy transmitted from the micro lenses in the second micro-lens array and transmit the energy received from the second micro-lens array; and
a second lens that is positioned to receive the at least a portion of the first energy pulse and cause the image received by two or more micro-lenses in the first micro-lens array to be at least partially different, wherein the second lens is adapted to improve the uniformity of the at least a portion of the first pulse transmitted by the first lens.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention generally relates to an optical system that is able to reliably deliver a uniform amount of energy across an anneal region contained on a surface of a substrate. The optical system is adapted to deliver, or project, a uniform amount of energy having a desired two-dimensional shape on a desired region on the surface of the substrate. Typically, the anneal regions may be square or rectangular in shape. Generally, the optical system and methods of the present invention are used to preferentially anneal one or more regions found within the anneal regions by delivering enough energy to cause the one or more regions to re-melt and solidify.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. An apparatus of thermally processing a substrate, comprising:
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an energy source that has an output and is adapted to deliver a first energy pulse; a first micro-lens array having a plurality of micro-lenses that are adapted to receive at least a portion of the first energy pulse transmitted from the output of the energy source; a second micro-lens array having a plurality of micro-lenses that are adapted to receive the at least a portion of the energy transmitted from the first micro-lens array; a first lens that is positioned to receive the at least a portion of the energy transmitted from the micro lenses in the second micro-lens array and transmit the energy received from the second micro-lens array; and a second lens that is positioned to receive the at least a portion of the first energy pulse and cause the image received by two or more micro-lenses in the first micro-lens array to be at least partially different, wherein the second lens is adapted to improve the uniformity of the at least a portion of the first pulse transmitted by the first lens. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An apparatus of thermally processing a substrate, comprising:
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an energy source assembly that has an output that is adapted to deliver a first energy pulse; a pulse stretching device that comprises; a first beam splitting device that is adapted to split the first energy pulse delivered from the energy source assembly into a first sub-pulse and a second sub-pulse, wherein the first sub-pulse is transferred along a first path having a first length to a beam combining device; and a first plurality of mirrors that are aligned to reflect the second sub-pulse received from the first beam splitting device along a second path having a second length to the beam combining device, wherein the beam combining device is adapted to transmit the first sub-pulse and second sub-pulse to one or more components that are used to direct them to a surface of a substrate; a first micro-lens array having a plurality of micro-lenses that are adapted to receive at least a portion of the first energy pulse; a second micro-lens array having a plurality of micro-lenses that are adapted to receive the at least a portion of the energy transmitted from the first micro-lens array; a first lens that is positioned to receive the at least a portion of the energy transmitted from the micro lenses in the second micro-lens array and transmit the energy received from the second micro-lens array to one or more components that are used to direct the energy received to the surface of the substrate; and a random diffuser that is positioned to receive at least a portion of the first energy pulse and transmit the at least a portion of the first energy pulse to the first micro-lens array. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An apparatus of thermally processing a substrate, comprising:
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a first energy source that has an output that is adapted to deliver a first energy pulse; a second energy source that has an output that is adapted to deliver a second energy pulse; a pulse stretching device that comprises; a first beam splitting device that is adapted to split the first pulse delivered from the energy source into a first sub-pulse and a second sub-pulse, and the second energy pulse delivered from the energy source into a third sub-pulse and a fourth sub-pulse, wherein the first sub-pulse and the third sub-pulse are transferred along a first path having a first length to a beam combining device; and a first plurality of mirrors that are aligned to reflect the second sub-pulse and the fourth sub-pulse received from the first beam splitting device along a second path having a second length to the beam combining device; a first micro-lens array having a plurality of micro-lenses that are adapted to receive at least a portion of the first energy pulse and a portion of the second energy pulse; a second micro-lens array having a plurality of micro-lenses that are adapted to receive the at least a portion of the energy transmitted from the first micro-lens array; a first lens that is positioned to receive the at least a portion of the energy transmitted from the micro lenses in the second micro-lens array and transmit the energy received from the second micro-lens array; a random diffuser that is positioned to receive at least a portion of the first energy pulse and a portion of the second energy pulse and transmit the at least a portion of the first energy pulse and a portion of the second energy pulse to the first micro-lens array, wherein the random diffuser is adapted to receive at least a portion of the first sub-pulse, the second sub-pulse, the third sub-pulse, and the fourth sub-pulse delivered from the beam combining device; and a controller that is adapted to synchronize the delivery of the first energy pulse and the second energy pulse, wherein a composite pulse formed by summing the first energy pulse and the second energy pulse over time has a pulse width that is greater than the pulse width of the first energy pulse and the second energy pulse. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of thermally processing a substrate, comprising:
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positioning a substrate on a substrate support; delivering a first energy pulse having a first wavelength and first pulse width to a first lens from a first energy source; transmitting at least a portion of the first energy pulse to a first micro-lens array from the first lens so that the uniformity of the image received by two or more micro-lenses is at least partially different; transmitting at least a portion of the energy received by the first micro-lens array to a second micro-lens array, wherein the first micro-lens array is adapted to increase the energy density of the portion of the energy received by the second lens array; and transmitting at least a portion of the energy received by the second micro-lens array to a second lens, wherein the second lens is adapted to transmit the received energy to components that transfer the energy to a region on the surface of the substrate positioned on the substrate support. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification