Apparatus and method of improving beam shaping and beam homogenization
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for 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;
a second micro-lens array having a plurality of micro-lenses that are adapted to receive at least a portion of 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 a correction lens adapted to improve the uniformity of the at least a portion of the first pulse transmitted by the first lens.
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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.
141 Citations
14 Claims
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1. An apparatus for 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; a second micro-lens array having a plurality of micro-lenses that are adapted to receive at least a portion of 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 a correction lens 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. 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 and to correct quadratic phase aberration. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification