JP5717146B2 - Laser line beam improving apparatus and laser processing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a laser line beam improving apparatus for improving the intensity distribution of a line beam and a laser processing apparatus including the laser line beam improving apparatus.

  In crystallization of an amorphous semiconductor, activation of semiconductor impurities, and the like, a method of annealing a target object by irradiating a laser has been put into practical use. In this laser annealing treatment, the beam shape of the laser is shaped into a predetermined shape through the optical system, the beam intensity is made uniform in the beam cross section (top flat: flat portion), and further if necessary. The beam is condensed and irradiated to the object to be processed.

  As a kind of beam shape, a line beam shape having a short axis width and a long axis width in a cross-sectional view of the beam is known, and by irradiating the object to be processed while scanning this, a large area of the object to be processed is batched. Efficient processing. However, even in a line beam shape with a top flat shape, the energy intensity decreases toward the outside at the edge in the minor axis direction and the major axis direction through various optical members (also called a steepness part). have. On the short axis side, the beam width is reduced by condensing, etc., so that the width of the steepness portion itself is also reduced, and scanning is performed in the short axis direction by overlap irradiation, so the influence of the steepness portion irradiation is reduced. . On the other hand, on the long axis side, the steepness portion is irradiated with a large width, and usually has a width of about 250 times the short axis direction. In the portion of the object to be processed irradiated with such a long axis side steepness portion, the laser is irradiated with an energy intensity different from that of the portion irradiated with the flat portion, and the processing state is different. For this reason, the portion of the object to be processed irradiated with the long axis side steepness portion is usually not used as a product.

In addition, an arrangement has been proposed in which a slit for removing or reducing an attenuation portion corresponding to a steepness portion is disposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
The steepness portion of the line beam that has passed through this slit has been removed or reduced, and in the workpiece that is irradiated with this line beam, the irradiation area of the steepness can be reduced, and the quality is acceptable. Then, it can be commercialized including the irradiation area of the steepness portion.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-252455

By the way, the line beam that has passed through the slit further has a steepness portion due to diffraction or the like after transmission. The longer the distance after transmission, the wider the steepness portion and the larger the width. Therefore, the width of the steepness portion can be reduced as the slit is closer to the object to be processed.
However, the line beam is usually focused on the short axis side to irradiate the object to be processed. The closer to the object to be processed, the higher the energy density, and if a slit is placed near the object to be processed, Damage is likely to occur and durability is significantly reduced. Furthermore, fine fragments may be generated from the damaged slit and may be mixed into the object to be processed as contamination. In particular, a pulse laser has a higher energy density per unit time than a continuous wave laser, and the above problem becomes remarkable. On the other hand, if the slit is disposed at a position far from the object to be processed, the degree of light collection is small and the short axis width is relatively large. Therefore, the energy density is relatively small, and damage to the slit can be reduced. However, if there is a slit at a position far from the object to be processed, the steepness portion generated in the line beam that has passed through the slit will then expand greatly, increasing the width of the steepness portion, and the effect of shielding the steepness portion will be reduced. End up.

Further, when a plurality of panel regions are secured on the semiconductor substrate by laser processing, irradiation is performed so that the above-described steepness portion is located in the gap between the panels. Since the number of panels that can be cut out from a single semiconductor substrate can be increased as the gap between the panels is smaller, there is a desire to reduce the gap between the panels by reducing the width of the steepness portion. Furthermore, recently, in order to efficiently form transistors, there has been an increasing demand for line beam irradiation to semiconductors in which the distance between transistor regions (including planned regions) is reduced. In this line beam irradiation, it is necessary that the irradiation region of the steepness portion be within the interval of the transistor region. In this case, there is a demand for reducing the width of the steepness portion.
However, it is difficult for conventional slits to meet the above demands while suppressing damage to the slits.

  The present invention has been made against the background of the above circumstances, and a laser line beam improving apparatus and a laser processing apparatus capable of reducing the damage of the shielding part and effectively reducing the steepness part generated by the line beam. The purpose is to provide.

That is, in the laser line beam improving apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the first aspect of the present invention irradiates the workpiece, and in the beam intensity profile, the flat portion, the short axis end portion, and the steepness portion positioned at the long axis end portion A first shielding portion that is disposed at a position relatively far from the object to be processed on the optical path of the line beam, and shields transmission of the long-axis end of the line beam; A second shielding portion that is disposed at a relatively close position and further shields transmission of the long-axis end portion of the line beam after the transmission of the long-axis end portion is shielded by the first shielding portion. ,
The first shielding portion shields transmission of a steepness portion at a long axis end portion of the line beam and a long axis side end portion of the flat portion, and the second shielding portion is a long axis of the line beam. direction relative to said der Rukoto performs shielding of the steepness portion outside of the first shielding portion.

The laser line beam improving apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the first aspect of the present invention, the flat portion is a region of 97% or more of the maximum intensity in the beam intensity profile.

Third laser line beam improving apparatus of the present invention, the first or second Oite the present invention, the second shield portion, different relative distance position relative to the object to be treated, front shielding And a plurality of shielding portions for further shielding the transmission of the long-axis end portion of the line beam after the transmission of the long-axis end portion of the line beam is shielded by the portion.

In the laser line beam improving apparatus according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the present invention, the plurality of shielding portions perform the shielding at a position where the rear shielding portion is at the same position as or outside the front shielding portion. It is characterized by

A laser processing apparatus according to a fifth aspect of the present invention includes a laser light source that outputs a laser, a beam shape of the laser, a steepness portion positioned at a flat portion, a short-axis end portion, and a long-axis end portion in a beam intensity profile. An optical system that shapes and guides the line beam, a processing chamber in which a workpiece is installed, a laser guided by the optical system is introduced through an introduction window, and the workpiece is irradiated; A laser line beam improving device according to any one of the fourth invention,
A first shielding portion of the line beam improving device is disposed outside the processing chamber and between the condensing lens at the final stage of the optical system and the introduction window, and the second shielding of the line beam improving device. The portion is arranged in the processing chamber inside the introduction window.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the laser processing apparatus according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, wherein the processing target is irradiated with a laser to be used for crystallization or activation processing of the processing target.

According to the present invention, transmission of the long-axis end portion of the line beam is shielded by the first shielding portion at a stage where the degree of condensing on the short-axis side is small and the energy density is not high, and the steepness portion is further reduced. The line beam is shielded from transmission at the end of the long axis by the second shielding portion, and the steepness portion is effectively reduced.
In the first shielding part, since the light condensing on the short axis side is in a gradual stage, damage to the first shielding part can be reduced and the steepness part can be reduced. The steepness portion that spreads after passing through the first shielding portion has a smaller spread than the steepness portion when reaching the first shielding portion, and this is the long axis of the line beam at the second shielding portion. By blocking the transmission of the side end portion, a steeperness portion with a smaller spread can be obtained.
The cross-sectional area in which the stepped portion shielded by the second shielding portion is irradiated to the second shielding portion is smaller than that in the case where the second shielding portion is irradiated as it is, and damage to the second shielding portion is caused. Can be reduced. Further, the shielding in the second shielding part can be limited to all or part of the steepness part, and the irradiation cross-sectional area with respect to the second shielding part can be minimized. Since the line beam that has passed through the second shielding part passes through the second shielding part at a position close to the object to be processed, the steepness part caused by diffraction after passing through the second shielding part has a small spread. Thus, the line beam is irradiated to the processing target portion with the width of the steepness portion being small. If the shielding by the second shielding part is made a part on the outer side in the long axis direction of the steepleness part, the irradiation energy of the steeness part irradiated to the second shielding part is further reduced, and the damage to the second shielding part is caused. Becomes smaller.

The line beam has a flat portion and a steepness portion at least on the long axis side, and the flat portion may be composed of a region of 97% or more with respect to the maximum energy intensity of the beam cross section. However, the present invention is not limited to this. At both ends of the flat portion, there are steepness portions having energy intensity lower than that of the flat portion and gradually decreasing toward the outside.
The line beam shape has a large ratio of the major axis to the minor axis, and for example, the ratio is 10 or more. The length on the long axis side and the length on the short axis side are not particularly limited as the present invention. For example, the length on the long axis side is 370 to 1300 mm, and the length on the short axis side is 100 μm to 500 μm. Can be mentioned.

  The first shielding part and the second shielding part each prevent transmission of the end portion on the long axis side of the line beam. In addition to completely blocking, the first shielding part and the second shielding part reduce transmission by reducing the transmittance. It may be. In that case, it is desirable that the transmittance is 50% or less. Further, the shielding method and the degree of shielding may be different between the first shielding part and the second shielding part. For example, one shielding part (for example, the first shielding part) may be blocked, and the other shielding part (for example, the second shielding part) may be used to suppress transmission.

The first shielding portion may be disposed so as to shield at least the steepness portions at both ends on the long axis side of the line beam, and may shield a part of the outside of the steepness portion. Furthermore, it is possible to reliably reduce the steepness portion by shielding the entire steepness portion and a part of the flat portion. In the first shielding part, since the degree of light collection on the short axis side is low, even if the flat part side is shielded, damage to the shielding part is relatively small.
The second shielding part may be arranged so as to shield at least the steepness part of the line beam transmitted through the first shielding part. In this case, a part of the outside of the steepness portion may be shielded. Preferably, after passing through the first shielding portion, the formed steepness portion may be shielded, and the shielding position of the first shielding portion and the shielding position of the second shielding portion are set to the long axis of the line beam. The same position in the direction (for example, the long axis direction center reference) or the shielding position of the second shielding part can be outside the shielding position of the first shielding part.

The arrangement positions of the first shielding part and the second shielding part in the perspective direction on the optical path are such that the first shielding part is relatively far from the object to be processed and the second shielding part is relative to the object to be processed. The relative perspective relationship is a relationship between the first shielding portion and the second shielding portion with respect to the object to be processed. As long as it has this relative relationship as this invention, the arrangement position of both shielding parts will not be specifically limited, However, The 1st shielding part is based on the laser beam introduction window of a process chamber. Examples are those that are placed outside the introduction window and the second shield is placed inside the introduction window. If the first shielding part is placed outside the introduction window, it can be arranged at an appropriate position in the region, and if the second shielding part is placed inside the introduction window, it corresponds to the object to be processed. It can be arranged at an appropriate position in the region.
The second shielding part may be composed of a plurality of shielding parts with different relative perspective positions. In this case, the steepness portion of the line beam can be shielded by the front shielding portion, and the steepness portion generated by the transmitted line beam can be shielded by the rear shielding portion.
In this case, the shielding part in the rear stage can perform the shielding at the same position as or outside the shielding part in the front stage.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the steepness portion generated by the line beam can be effectively reduced, and processing using this can be performed satisfactorily. Furthermore, damage to the shielding portion can be reduced by condensing the minor axis direction of the line beam.

It is the schematic which shows the laser line beam improvement apparatus and laser processing apparatus of one Embodiment of this invention. Similarly, it is a top view which shows the line beam which permeate | transmits a shielding part and a shielding part. Similarly, it is a figure of the front view of the line beam which permeate | transmits a shielding part. It is a figure of the front view of the line beam which permeate | transmits the shielding part in other embodiment of this invention. It is a figure of the front view of the line beam which permeate | transmits the conventional slit. It is a figure which shows the long axis beam profile of a line beam.

Hereinafter, a laser line beam improving apparatus and a laser processing apparatus including the laser line beam improving apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a laser annealing processing apparatus 1 corresponding to a laser processing apparatus. The laser annealing processing apparatus 1 includes a processing chamber 2, a scanning device 3 that can move in the X-Y direction in the processing chamber 2, and a base 4 on the top thereof. A substrate placement table 5 is provided on the base 4 as a stage. The scanning device 3 is driven by a motor (not shown).
The processing chamber 2 is provided with an introduction window 6 for introducing a pulse laser from the outside.

During the annealing process, an amorphous silicon film 100 or the like is placed on the substrate placement table 5 as a semiconductor film. The silicon film 100 is formed on a substrate (not shown) with a thickness of 40 to 100 nm (specifically, for example, 50 nm). The formation can be performed by a conventional method, and the method for forming a semiconductor film is not particularly limited in the present invention.
In the present embodiment, the description will be made on laser processing for crystallizing an amorphous film by laser processing. However, the present invention is not limited to this, for example, non-single crystal The semiconductor film may be single-crystallized or the crystalline semiconductor film may be modified. Moreover, it may be related to other processing, and the object to be processed is not limited to a specific one.

  A pulsed laser light source 10 is installed outside the processing chamber 2. The pulse laser light source 10 is composed of an excimer laser oscillator (trade name: LSX315C), and can output a pulse laser having a wavelength of 308 nm and a repetition oscillation frequency of 300 Hz. Control can be performed to maintain the output of the pulse laser within a predetermined range. Note that the type of the pulse laser light source is not limited to the above.

  The pulse laser 15 oscillated and output by the pulse laser light source 10 is adjusted in energy density by an attenuator 11 as necessary, and is constituted by optical members such as a homogenizer 12a, a reflection mirror 12b, and a condenser lens 12c. The optical system 12 shapes or deflects the beam into a line beam shape, and irradiates the amorphous silicon film 100 in the processing chamber 2 through the introduction window 6 provided in the processing chamber 2. In addition, the optical member which comprises the optical system 12 is not limited to the above, Various lenses, a mirror, a waveguide part, etc. can be provided.

A first shielding plate 20 corresponding to the first shielding part is disposed between the condenser lens 12 c and the introduction window 6, and a second shielding part corresponding to the second shielding part is disposed in the processing chamber 2. Two shielding plates 21 are arranged. As shown in FIG. 2, the first shielding plate 20 is disposed such that two shielding plates that are paired face each other and the first transmission gap 20 a is secured therebetween. The first transmission gap 20a has a gap of a length that can shield the end of the pulse laser 150 in the long axis direction. Similarly, the second shielding plate 21 is disposed such that two shielding plates in a pair face each other and the second transmission gap 21a is secured between them. The second transmission gap 21 a has a length that can shield the end in the major axis direction of the pulse laser 150 that has passed through the second shielding plate 21. The said 1st shielding board 20 and the 2nd shielding board 21 comprise the laser line beam improver apparatus of this invention.
In addition, in the 1st shielding board 20 and the 2nd shielding board 21, the two shielding boards used as a pair can be moved automatically or manually so that the mutual gap | interval amount may be adjusted.

Next, the operation of the laser annealing apparatus 1 will be described.
The pulse laser 15 that is output after being pulsated by the pulse laser light source 10 has, for example, a pulse half width of 200 ns or less. However, the present invention is not limited to these.
The pulse energy density of the pulse laser 15 is adjusted by the attenuator 11. The attenuator 11 is set to a predetermined attenuation rate, and the attenuation rate is adjusted so that a predetermined irradiation pulse energy density is obtained on the irradiation surface of the semiconductor film. For example, when the amorphous silicon film 100 is crystallized, the energy density can be adjusted to 100 to 500 mJ / cm ² on the irradiated surface.

The pulse laser 15 transmitted through the attenuator 11 is shaped into a line beam shape by the optical system 12, and further, the short axis width is condensed through a condenser lens 12 c such as a cylindrical lens of the optical system 12 and provided in the processing chamber 2. It is introduced into the introduction window 6. FIG. 6 shows a beam intensity profile in the major axis direction of the line beam 150 emitted from the optical system 12. The profile of FIG. 6 is illustrated in a simplified manner.
The line beam 150 has a flat portion 151 that is 97% or more of the maximum energy intensity, and is located at both ends in the major axis direction, has an energy intensity smaller than that of the flat portion 151, and gradually increases toward the outside. And a steepness portion 152 that decreases. The major axis direction width 152a of the steepness portion is not particularly limited, but usually has a width of about 1 mm to 25 mm as a width up to 10% of the maximum strength. Note that it is possible to appropriately determine the percentage of the flat portion with respect to the maximum energy intensity.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the first transmission gap 20 a of the first shielding plate 20 shields the line beam 150 to a position where it partially extends into the steepness portion 152 and the flat portion 151 at both ends. Is arranged.
As shown in FIG. 2, the line beam 150 with the reduced steepness portion 152 passes through the first transmission gap 20a of the first shielding plate 20, so that the steepness portions 153 are formed at both ends in the major axis direction due to diffraction or the like. It is formed. However, since the steepness portion 153 is formed by shielding the steepness portion 152, the spreading width is considerably smaller than that of the steepness portion 152.

The line beam 150 having the steepness part 153 passes through the introduction window 6 and is introduced into the processing chamber 2.
The line beam 150 further proceeds and reaches the second shielding plate 21 as shown in FIGS. In the second shielding plate 21, the long axis direction width of the second transmission gap 21a is longer than the long axis direction width of the first transmission gap 20a. A steepness portion 153 is located. For this reason, the second shielding plate 21 shields the remaining steepness portion 153 except for a part of the steepness portion 153 on the inner side in the long axis direction. In the line beam 150 that has passed through the second transmission gap 21a, a steepness portion 154 is formed by diffraction or the like as shown in FIGS. It is smaller and the steepness part is reduced.
It should be noted that how far the steepness portion 153 is shielded by the second shielding plate 21 can be appropriately set. In this case, the shielding amount can be set in consideration of the damage of the second shielding plate 21 and the spread width of the steepness portion 153 to be reduced. In this example, the width in the major axis direction of the second transmission gap 21a is set in accordance with the width of the flat portion 151.

The second shielding plate 21 is disposed at a position relatively close to the silicon film 100, and the line beam 150 transmitted through the second shielding plate 21 is irradiated to the silicon film 100 without the steepness portion 153 expanding greatly. Is done.
In the annealing process in which the line beam 150 is irradiated while being relatively scanned by moving the silicon film 100 with the scanning device 3, the width of the region irradiated with the steepness portion 154 becomes relatively small, which is useless. Can be made smaller. Further, in response to a request for processing with a reduction in the arrangement interval of the transistors, it becomes possible to satisfactorily crystallize the transistor region with the flat portion 151 by positioning the steepness portion 154 at the interval.
In the present invention, the scanning speed is not limited to a specific one, but can be selected within a range of 1 to 100 mm / second, for example.

In addition, although the said embodiment demonstrated what has the 1st shielding board 20 equivalent to a 1st shielding part, and the 2nd shielding board 21 equivalent to a 2nd shielding part, it is equivalent to a 2nd shielding part. A plurality of shielding plates may be provided along the optical path of the line beam, and the steepness portion may be shielded by each shielding plate. FIG. 4 shows an example having the second shielding plate 21 and the third shielding plate 22 as the second shielding portion, and the number is not particularly limited in the present invention. Like the other shielding plates, the third shielding plate 22 is disposed with a pair of two shielding plates facing each other with a gap between them, and a third transmission gap 22a is secured between them. Yes. In the third shielding plate 22 as well, the two shielding plates that are paired can be moved automatically or manually so as to adjust the mutual gap amount.
Since the line beam 150 transmits through the third transmission gap 22a of the third shielding plate 22, the steepness portion can be further reduced.
In addition, in the 3rd shielding board 22 located in the back | latter stage of the 2nd shielding board 21, a shielding position inner side end can be made into the same position or an outer side as a 2nd shielding board in a major axis direction.

  On the other hand, FIG. 5 shows an example in which the line beam 150 is shielded by the conventional slit portion 25. If the slit portion 25 is disposed relatively far from the silicon film 100 so that damage to the slit portion 25 is small, the step portion 153 formed by diffraction gradually spreads after the step portion 152 is shielded by the slit portion 25, and the step portion. The width is increased, the shielding effect by the slit portion is reduced, and a sufficient laser line beam improvement effect cannot be obtained.

  In addition, although the said embodiment demonstrated as what has a shielding board as a shielding part, a shielding part can also be comprised by the slit part which has a slit.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated based on the said embodiment, this invention is not limited to the content of the said embodiment, A suitable change is possible unless it deviates from the scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Laser annealing processing apparatus 2 Processing chamber 3 Scanning apparatus 5 Substrate arrangement table 6 Introduction window 10 Pulse laser light source 11 Attenuator 12 Optical system 12c Condensing lens 20 First shielding plate 20a First transmission gap 21 Second shielding plate 21a Second transmission Gap 22 Third shielding plate 22a Third transmission gap 100 Silicon film

Claims (6)

The workpiece is irradiated and , in the beam intensity profile, is relatively far from the workpiece on the optical path of a line beam having a flat portion, a short axis end portion, and a steepness portion located at the long axis end portion. A first shielding part that is disposed at a position and shields the transmission of the long-axis end of the line beam, and a position that is relatively close to the object to be processed. A second shielding part further shielding the transmission of the long-axis end of the line beam after the transmission of the part is shielded ;
The first shielding portion shields transmission of a steepness portion at a long axis end portion of the line beam and a long axis side end portion of the flat portion, and the second shielding portion is a long axis of the line beam. laser line beam improvement device according to claim der Rukoto performs shielding of the steepness portion outside of the first shielding portion with respect to the direction. The flat portion, the laser line beam improving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the 97% or more areas of maximum intensity in the beam intensity profile. The long axis end portion of the line beam after the second shielding portion is different in relative perspective position with respect to the object to be processed and the transmission of the long axis end portion of the line beam is shielded by the preceding shielding portion. laser line beam improvement device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a plurality of shielding portions for transmitting further shields the. 4. The laser line beam improving apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the plurality of shielding portions are configured such that a rear-stage shielding portion performs the shielding at the same position or outside as the front-stage shielding portion. A laser light source that outputs a laser, and an optical system that shapes and guides the beam shape of the laser into a line beam having a flat portion, a short-axis end portion, and a steepness portion located at the long-axis end portion in a beam intensity profile A processing chamber in which a workpiece is installed, a laser guided by the optical system is introduced through an introduction window, and the workpiece is irradiated, and the laser line beam improvement according to any one of claims 1 to 4 With the device,
A first shielding portion of the line beam improving device is disposed outside the processing chamber and between the condensing lens at the final stage of the optical system and the introduction window, and the second shielding of the line beam improving device. The laser processing apparatus, wherein the section is disposed in the processing chamber inside the introduction window. 6. The laser processing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the laser processing apparatus is used for crystallization or activation processing of the processing object by irradiating the processing object with a laser.

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