JP2005311327A - Laser irradiating equipment and forming method of semiconductor device using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide laser irradiating equipment, in which the irradiation position of a laser beam can be controlled with high precision as compared to the conventional irradiation methods, and to provide a forming method of a semiconductor device which uses the laser irradiating equipment. <P>SOLUTION: The irradiation position of the laser beam is controlled by using a laser oscillator irradiating the laser beam; an optical system shaping the laser beam into a beam spot in an elongated shape, having a short side and a long side on the surface of an object to be irradiated; a means which relatively moves the object to be irradiated in the long-side direction and the short-side direction, with respect to the laser beam; a means for moving the object to be irradiated to the long-side direction of the beam spot with respect to the laser beam at speed slower than movement to the short-side direction and a laser-positioning mechanism. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a laser irradiation apparatus for irradiating an irradiation object with laser light and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the laser irradiation apparatus.

  In recent years, a technique for manufacturing a thin film transistor (TFT) on a substrate has greatly advanced, and application development to an active matrix display device has been advanced. In particular, a TFT using a polycrystalline semiconductor film has higher field effect mobility (also referred to as mobility) than a conventional TFT using a non-single-crystal semiconductor film, and thus can operate at high speed. For this reason, attempts have been made to control a pixel, which is conventionally performed by a drive circuit provided outside the substrate, using a drive circuit formed on the same substrate as the pixel.

  As a substrate used for a semiconductor device, a glass substrate is considered promising from the viewpoint of cost. However, the glass substrate is inferior in heat resistance and easily deforms by heat when the processing temperature is high. Therefore, when a TFT using a polycrystalline semiconductor film is formed on a glass substrate, a laser annealing method is used for crystallization of the semiconductor film formed on the glass substrate in order to avoid thermal deformation of the glass substrate.

  The characteristics of the laser annealing method are that the processing time can be significantly shortened compared with the annealing method using radiation heating or conduction heating, and the semiconductor film is selectively and locally heated to cause almost thermal damage to the substrate. There is no such thing.

  In general, when a semiconductor film is crystallized using a laser annealing method, an optical system is used to shape and irradiate a beam spot into a linear shape or a rectangular shape. The irradiation of the laser beam on the irradiated object is performed by moving the irradiated object relative to the laser beam in two directions, ie, the short side direction and the long side direction of the beam spot. Irradiation can be performed efficiently and mass productivity can be improved. The short side direction refers to a direction parallel to the short side of the rectangular beam spot, and the long side direction refers to a direction parallel to the long side of the rectangular beam spot.

In the laser annealing method, it is important to control the irradiation position of the laser beam on the irradiation object. Conventionally, in order to accurately control the irradiation position of the laser beam, a reference marker is provided on the irradiated object, and the irradiation position is determined using an image processing unit including a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) camera or a personal computer based on the marker. The method of performing control is used. (For example, Patent Document 1)
JP 2003-224084 A

  However, even if the irradiation position of the laser beam is determined once using an image processing means including a CCD camera or the like with reference to the marker provided on the irradiated object, the laser beam is irradiated while the laser beam irradiation is repeated. There arises a problem that the irradiation position is shifted with respect to the region to be performed. This is because when a moving device such as a stage is used when irradiating laser light, the moving device does not have absolute accuracy.

  This deviation is slight immediately after the start of irradiation, but gradually increases as the stage is repeatedly moved. For example, when an attempt is made to control the irradiation position of the laser beam in units of μm on a substrate having a side longer than 1 meter, a shift due to movement appears remarkably and becomes a serious problem.

  For example, when crystallization is performed by irradiating laser light to an amorphous semiconductor film formed on a substrate due to a shift in the position of irradiating laser light, a non-crystallized region or laser light is irradiated repeatedly. There arises a problem that a region is formed. Even when a TFT is manufactured using the semiconductor film formed in this way, it is considered that the electrical characteristics vary and the reliability is lowered.

  Further, when crystallization is performed by irradiating the amorphous semiconductor film with laser light, the crystal is grown along the scanning direction of the laser light. The laser beam is irradiated in two directions. In this case, when the irradiation position of the laser beam is controlled in two directions using an image processing means including a CCD camera or the like, it takes time to control the position and the processing speed is slowed down. Further, when the moving speed of the object to be irradiated with respect to the laser light is fast, a very high-performance image processing means is required to control the irradiation position of the laser light.

  In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a laser irradiation apparatus capable of controlling the irradiation position of laser light with higher accuracy than in the past. It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device by irradiating a semiconductor formed over a large substrate with laser light with high accuracy.

  The above-mentioned problems are similarly caused by the fact that the number of times of positioning when performing laser light irradiation is small and the movement of the beam spot of the irradiated object with respect to the laser light in the short side direction and the long side direction is not distinguished. There seems to be a cause in doing.

  Therefore, in the present invention, a plurality of markers are provided in accordance with the irradiation position of the laser beam to increase the chance of accurately determining the irradiation position, and the movement of the beam spot of the irradiated object in the short side direction and the long side direction are increased. Considering the role of movement, the speed of movement in the short side direction and the speed of movement in the long side direction are set separately. Specifically, the movement of the beam spot that anneals the irradiated object in the short side direction does not need to be controlled with high accuracy, so it is performed at a faster speed than the movement in the long side direction. The movement in the long side direction for determining the position to irradiate is performed at a slower speed than the movement in the short side direction, and the position to which the laser beam is irradiated is controlled with high accuracy.

  The laser annealing in the present invention is a technique for crystallizing a damaged layer or an amorphous layer formed on a semiconductor substrate or semiconductor film, a technique for crystallizing an amorphous semiconductor film formed on a substrate, and non- It refers to the technology for annealing single crystal semiconductors. Moreover, the technique applied to planarization and surface modification of a semiconductor substrate or a semiconductor film is also included.

  A laser irradiation apparatus according to the present invention includes a laser oscillator that emits a first laser beam, an optical system that shapes the first laser beam into an elongated beam spot having a short side and a long side on the surface of an irradiation object. Means for moving the irradiated object relative to the first laser beam in the long side direction and the short side direction of the beam spot, and the beam spot of the irradiated object relative to the first laser beam in the long side direction. And a laser positioning mechanism (mechanism for determining or controlling the irradiation position of the first laser beam). The laser positioning mechanism is characterized by having means for controlling the relative movement of the object to be irradiated in the beam spot long side direction with respect to the first laser beam.

  The laser positioning mechanism includes at least a second laser oscillator that emits the second laser light and a detector that detects the second laser light, and reads the position of the marker formed on the irradiation object to obtain the first laser beam. Means for controlling the irradiation position of the laser beam. The laser positioning mechanism is interlocked with the scanning stage. When the scanning stage is moved, movement and stop of the scanning stage are controlled by the laser positioning mechanism.

  In addition, in this specification, an elongate shape is any shape having a short side and a long side with respect to a first direction of the elongate shape and a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. Any shape may be used, and shapes such as rectangles, lines, and ellipses are included. In the present invention, the long side direction and the short side direction of a beam spot shaped into an elongated shape are respectively referred to as a short side direction and a direction parallel to the long side as a long side direction. . For example, the long side direction and the short side direction of a beam spot shaped into an ellipse shape are defined as a long side direction that is parallel to a line segment having the longest distance between two different points of the ellipse. The direction parallel to the direction perpendicular to the long side direction is called the short side direction.

  In the laser irradiation apparatus of the present invention, the irradiated object moves relative to the first laser beam in the short side direction of the beam spot shaped into an elongated shape such as a rectangle, a line, or an ellipse. Further, annealing is performed by irradiating the irradiated object with the first laser beam. Irradiation of the first laser light on the exact position of the object to be irradiated is prevented so that the first laser light is not irradiated on the object to be overlapped or a region where the first laser laser light is not irradiated is generated. Therefore, it is necessary to control the movement of the beam spot in the long side direction with high accuracy. Therefore, the laser positioning mechanism is characterized in that the movement of the first beam spot in the long side direction can be controlled.

  In addition, as a method of reading the position of the marker using the laser positioning mechanism, the second laser beam is irradiated on the surface of the irradiated object where the marker is formed, and the marker formed on the irradiated object is transmitted through the first And the like that detect the second laser beam. In this case, a laser beam that irradiates the surface of the irradiated object on which the marker is formed uses a laser beam that transmits the marker part formed on the irradiated object but does not transmit the other part. For example, when a semiconductor film is formed over a glass substrate, the marker is formed by selectively removing a portion of the semiconductor film, so that when laser light that passes through the glass substrate and is absorbed by the semiconductor film is used. Good.

  Further, the reading of the marker position is not limited to the case of passing through the marker formed on the irradiated object, and can be similarly performed by detecting the laser light reflected by the marker. In the case where a semiconductor film is formed over a glass substrate, laser light with a large difference in reflectance between the glass substrate and the semiconductor film may be used.

  The laser positioning mechanism controls the movement of the irradiation object in the long side direction of the first beam spot, that is, in one of the two directions to be moved. In this case, it is preferable that the shape of the marker formed on the surface of the irradiated object is such that the second laser beam can be easily detected when the irradiated object moves in the long side direction of the first beam spot. For example, the marker may be elongated along the short side direction of the first beam spot.

  In the method for manufacturing a semiconductor device of the present invention, laser light emitted from a laser oscillator is shaped so as to be a long and narrow beam spot having a short side and a long side on the surface of an irradiation object placed on a scanning stage. While the laser beam is oscillated, the irradiation stage is annealed by moving the scanning stage relative to the laser beam in the long side direction and the short side direction of the beam spot, and the beam spot length of the irradiation object with respect to the laser beam The movement in the side direction is performed at a speed slower than the movement in the short side direction of the beam spot, and control is performed by detecting a marker formed on the irradiated object.

  In the present invention, considering the role of movement of the beam spot of the irradiated object in the short side direction and the movement in the long side direction, the moving speed is set separately. When the object to be irradiated is moved relative to the first laser beam in the short side direction of the beam spot, it is preferably performed at a speed of 100 mm / sec or more and 20 m / sec or less. This speed is within a range in which a crystal having a large particle diameter can be obtained by annealing, and when it is performed at a speed of 20 m / sec or more, the crystal does not grow along the laser scanning direction. Further, when the object to be irradiated is moved relative to the first laser beam in the long side direction of the beam spot, high positional accuracy is required, and therefore, it is preferable to perform at a slow speed of less than 100 mm / sec. .

  Note that when annealing is performed by irradiating laser light, the first laser light may be fixed and the irradiated object placed on the scanning stage may be moved for annealing, or the irradiated object may be fixed. Then, annealing may be performed by moving the first laser beam. Further, annealing may be performed by moving both the first laser beam and the object to be irradiated.

  In the present invention, the position where the laser beam is irradiated can be controlled with high accuracy by using at least two laser positioning mechanisms. By forming markers at both ends of the irradiation object and reading the marker at one end each time the laser beam is scanned once, the irradiation position can be controlled each time scanning is performed. The two or more laser positioning mechanisms may be arranged in any manner, but are preferably arranged on a straight line with the first laser beam interposed therebetween.

In the present invention, a continuous-wave laser beam is used as the first laser beam emitted from the first laser oscillator, thereby forming a large-grain crystal region that extends long along the scanning direction. As the first laser oscillator, a YAG laser, a YVO ₄ laser, a ceramic laser, a GdVO ₄ laser, a YLF laser, or an Ar laser can be used. Laser light emitted from a pulse laser oscillator with a very high frequency of 10 MHz or higher can also be used as the first laser light.

  In the present invention, a plurality of markers are provided on an object to be irradiated in accordance with a laser light irradiation position, and the laser light irradiation position is controlled using a laser positioning mechanism, whereby the object is irradiated with the laser light uniformly. be able to. Further, the entire surface of the semiconductor film formed over the large substrate can be annealed uniformly by controlling the irradiation position of the laser light with high accuracy in one direction and irradiating the laser light.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the following description, and it is easily understood by those skilled in the art that modes and details can be variously changed without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention should not be construed as being limited to the description of the embodiments below. Note that in the structures of the present invention described below, the same reference numerals are used in common in different drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
In this embodiment, an example of a laser irradiation apparatus of the present invention and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the laser irradiation apparatus will be described with reference to drawings.

  In FIG. 1, in this embodiment mode, a semiconductor film 105 formed over a glass substrate 106 is prepared as an irradiation object. Here, after the semiconductor film 105 is formed over a glass substrate, circular markers 113a and 113b and a rectangular marker 114 are selectively formed on the semiconductor film 105 by mask patterning or high-power laser light. In this embodiment mode, rectangular markers 114 having the same number of scans as laser light irradiation from one end to the other end of the substrate 106 are provided at both ends of the substrate (both ends of the semiconductor film 105). It is set as the structure to provide. As the substrate 106, any substrate other than a glass substrate may be used as long as it has translucency. For example, a substrate made of plastic or the like can be used.

  In this embodiment mode, the marker 114 is provided by selectively removing the semiconductor film 105 formed over the substrate. When the laser beams 111e and 112e that pass through the glass substrate 106 but do not pass through the semiconductor film 105 are incident, the laser beam that has been incident on the portion where the marker 114 is formed is removed because the semiconductor film 105 is removed. 111 e and 112 e pass through the glass substrate 106. The transmitted laser beams 111e and 112e are detected using photodetectors 111d and 112d, respectively. The photodetector can convert light into current and measure it, and responds when the current value flows over a certain value.

  On the other hand, in a portion where the marker 114 is not present, that is, a portion where the semiconductor film 105 is formed, the incident laser light is not transmitted and is not detected by the photodetectors 111d and 112d. Thus, the irradiation position on the substrate can be accurately determined by using the laser beam and the photodetector.

  In addition, although the case where the light is detected by converting the light into an electric current when the light is irradiated as a detector is shown here, the present invention is not limited to this, and the light can be detected when the light is irradiated. Any detector can be used. For example, a detector that detects light by converting the light into heat when irradiated with light may be used. In this method, when light is absorbed by a substance, the energy is converted into heat, the temperature of the substance increases, and the resulting physical change is utilized. When this is used, it can be detected by the temperature change when the laser beams 111e and 112e transmitted through the substrate 106 are irradiated to 111d and 112d, respectively.

  Laser light emitted from the laser oscillator 101 is reflected by the mirror 102, and its traveling direction is converted into a direction perpendicular to the semiconductor film 105 formed on the glass substrate 106. Thereafter, the laser light is condensed in one axial direction by the two cylindrical lenses 103 and 104 and shaped into a linear shape on the semiconductor film 105. Note that here, laser light emitted from the laser oscillator 101 is referred to as first laser light, and a laser beam spot formed on the semiconductor film 105 by the first laser light is referred to as a first beam spot.

In the present embodiment, it is preferable to use the first beam spot after shaping it into a linear, elliptical or rectangular shape. In this way, by shaping the first beam spot into a linear, elliptical, or rectangular shape, the first laser beam is end-to-end from the end of the glass substrate 106 along the short-side direction of the first beam spot. The laser annealing can be efficiently performed by moving it relatively to the part. As the laser oscillator 101, a YAG laser, a YVO ₄ laser, a ceramic laser, a GdVO ₄ laser, a YLF laser, an Ar laser, or the like can be used. Laser light emitted from a pulse laser oscillator with a very high frequency of 10 MHz or higher can also be used as the laser light.

  In this embodiment, the glass substrate 106 is installed on a rotary stage 107, and the rotary stage 107 is installed on an X-axis stage 108 that moves in the X-axis direction and a Y-axis stage 109 that moves in the Y-axis direction. Has been. As described above, the rectangular marker 114 obtained by patterning or the like is formed on the semiconductor film 105.

When annealing is performed by irradiating the semiconductor film 105 with the first laser beam, the glass substrate 106 moves back and forth along the X-axis stage with respect to the short side direction (X-axis direction) of the first beam spot. Annealing can be performed efficiently. In this case, the width of the large grain size crystal region obtained by scanning the first laser beam in the X-axis direction from one end to the other end of the semiconductor film 105 once (hereinafter referred to as the large grain size). The Y-axis stage is slid in the Y-axis direction by an amount corresponding to the width in which the crystal region is formed is denoted by d ₁ . Thereafter, the first laser beam is irradiated on the entire surface of the semiconductor film 105 without waste by repeating the operation of moving once in the X-axis direction opposite to the previous time, performing annealing, and sliding it by d _{1 in the} Y-axis direction. Can be irradiated. (See Figure 2)

  The irradiation position of the first laser beam is controlled by stopping the Y-axis stage when the laser beam 111e or 112e described above passes through the markers 114a to 114f and is detected by the photodetector 111d or 112d. . That is, by setting the distance between the centers of the markers 114a, 114d, 114e and the markers 114b, 114c, 114f, the movement in the Y-axis direction can be controlled with an arbitrary value.

In this case, it is preferable to set the distance between the centers of the markers so as to be adjacent to each other at an interval of d ₁ . By based on these markers 114a~114f controlling the movement of the Y-axis direction, Y-axis stage 109 is also moved at an interval of d _1, it is possible to irradiate the laser beam to the semiconductor film 105 over the entire surface. Note that the interval between the markers may be appropriately set by the practitioner according to the application in consideration of the beam spot diameter of the irradiated laser light and the width in which the large particle diameter region is formed.

  When the laser beams 111e and 112e emitted from the laser oscillators 111a and 112a are incident on these markers, the incident laser beams are detected by the photodetectors 111d and 112d. The laser beams 111e and 112e respectively emitted from the laser oscillators 111a and 112a are set as the second laser beam, and the beam spot of the laser beam formed by the second laser beam is set as the second beam spot.

  Here, as the laser light emitted from the laser oscillators 111a and 112a, laser light having a wavelength of green or blue having an output of 1 mW or less, which is not absorbed by the glass substrate but absorbed by the semiconductor film, is used. Laser beams 111e and 112e respectively emitted from the laser oscillators 111a and 112a are incident on the glass substrate 106 in the vertical direction by the mirrors 111b and 112b, respectively, and are shaped into circular beam spots by the objective lenses 111c and 112c. . A system including the laser oscillator 111a, the mirror 111b, the objective lens 111c, and the photodetector 111d is referred to as a laser positioning mechanism 111. Similarly, the laser positioning mechanism 112 is denoted by 112a to 112d.

  Further, at least two laser positioning mechanisms are used. This is because the glass substrate 106 reciprocates in the X-axis direction on the X-axis stage 108, so that means for determining the positions at the left and right ends on the X-axis of the glass substrate are provided.

  In the present embodiment, the marker 114 has a rectangular shape. However, the marker 114 is not limited to this and may have an elliptical shape or a circular shape. Also, the shape of the second beam spot used for position control is not limited to a circle, but may be an ellipse or a rectangle. The length of the second beam spot in the direction parallel to the Y-axis direction is determined by the marker It is made sufficiently smaller than the width of 114 so as to maintain high positioning accuracy.

  In the present embodiment, it is important that the scanning stripe of the first beam spot is scanned on the irradiation surface while maintaining a uniform interval. Therefore, the position is accurately controlled using the marker 114. The long side direction of the first beam spot, that is, the Y-axis direction is used. Therefore, when the side of the marker 114 is sufficiently longer than the side parallel to the Y-axis direction, the second laser light emitted when the substrate moves in the Y-axis direction can be easily detected. Therefore, it is preferable.

  Further, the movement of the substrate in the X-axis direction is preferably performed at a speed of 100 mm / sec to 20 m / sec at which a crystal having a large particle diameter is obtained by laser light irradiation. On the other hand, the movement of the substrate in the Y-axis direction may be set at a speed at which the laser positioning mechanism can read the marker and accurately control the position. In this case, the movement is performed at a speed of less than 100 mm / sec.

When determining the start position for irradiating the first laser beam, a fixed CCD camera 110 and two markers 113a and 113b are used to correct a shift in the rotation direction of the substrate. This method is a conventionally used method, and by using the markers 113a and 113b, the rotation angle of the substrate with respect to the markers is corrected, and the irradiation start position is determined. As a method for correcting the shift in the rotation direction, first, the marker 113a is moved under the fixed CCD camera 110 to obtain the X _a and Y _a coordinates of the marker 113a. Then move the marker 113b under the CCD camera 110 to obtain X _b, Y _b coordinates of the marker 113b. At this time, by moving the rotary stage 107 so that Y _b −Y _a = 0, the shift in the rotational direction of the stage can be corrected.

  In this embodiment, it is set so that the second laser beam 111e is incident on the marker 114a when the laser irradiation start position is determined using the markers 113a and 113b. This case will be described with reference to FIG.

  In FIG. 2, when the second laser beam is incident on the marker 114a, the laser beam 111e is transmitted through the substrate because the semiconductor film is not formed on the marker 114a. The transmitted laser light is detected by a photodetector 111d installed below the substrate, and the Y-axis stage 109 stops at the time of detection. Then, the movement of the X-axis stage is started simultaneously with the stop of the Y-axis stage.

  First, when the X-axis stage moves in the Q1 direction shown in FIG. 2, the semiconductor film 105 is irradiated with laser light, and the C1 portion is annealed. In this case, since the first beam spot is fixed and the substrate is moved in the X-axis direction, the direction in which the substrate moves and the direction in which the substrate is irradiated by the beam spot are reversed. The movement starts from one end of the X-axis stage, the substrate is gradually accelerated, and after reaching a certain speed, the first laser beam is incident on the semiconductor film 105 to be annealed. That is, the moving speed in the X-axis direction is set to be constant during the period in which the first laser light is applied to the semiconductor film. By irradiating the laser beam at a constant speed, the semiconductor film is annealed uniformly, so that crystallization can be performed uniformly.

  When the first beam spot finishes scanning the C1 portion on the semiconductor film, the substrate starts to decelerate gradually and stops when it reaches the other end. In the scanning of the C1 portion, the start position and the stop position of the stage are indicated by dotted lines in FIG. The direction of annealing by the first beam spot is indicated by a dotted arrow.

  Next, the movement of the Y-axis stage starts simultaneously with the stop of the X-axis stage. The Y-axis stage moves in the long side direction of the first beam spot, that is, the Y-axis direction (P direction in FIG. 2), but the second laser beam 112e is incident on the marker 114c and transmitted through the substrate. When the laser beam is detected by the photodetector 112d, the Y-axis stage 109 stops. Then, by moving the X-axis stage 108 in the Q2 direction this time, annealing of the C2 portion is performed from the opposite direction to that of C1. After the annealing of the C2 portion is finished and the X-axis stage is stopped, the Y-axis stage moves in the P direction as before. When the second laser beam 111e enters the marker 114e, it is detected by the photodetector 111d, and the Y-axis stage 109 stops. Then, the X-axis stage starts moving again in the Q1 direction.

  By repeating these series of operations, the entire surface of the semiconductor film 105 formed over the large-area glass substrate 106 can be irradiated with the first laser light. Even when laser annealing is performed on the entire surface of the substrate, only one direction in the Y-axis direction is controlled with high accuracy, so the position in two directions is controlled using image processing such as a CCD camera that has been conventionally performed. An accurate position can be read in a shorter time than the method, and laser light irradiation can be performed efficiently.

  In this embodiment, a rectangular marker 114 having the same number of scans as the first laser beam to be annealed is provided at both ends of the substrate (both ends of the semiconductor film) in the X-axis direction, respectively, as shown in FIG. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the marker 114 may be arranged in any way as long as the irradiation position of the first laser beam can be controlled and the entire surface of the substrate can be annealed. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the markers 114 may be alternately formed on both ends of the substrate 106 in the X-axis direction (both ends of the semiconductor film 105). In the first laser light irradiation method described above, each time the substrate is scanned once in the X-axis direction, the marker to be read is different at the left and right ends of the substrate (semiconductor film) in the X-axis direction. In the case shown in FIG. 9 formed alternately at both ends in the X-axis direction, the position can be controlled as in FIG. Furthermore, in this case, since the number of markers 114 formed is half, the processing speed is also improved.

  In this embodiment, the movement of the X-axis stage and the Y-axis stage is performed asynchronously. However, when the first laser beam can be uniformly irradiated on the semiconductor film, the movement of the X-axis stage and the Y-axis stage are performed. The movement of the stage may be performed in synchronization. For example, the X axis stage may be moved while the Y axis stage is moving. In this case, the Y-axis stage may be moved while the X-axis stage is accelerating or decelerating. Alternatively, the Y-axis stage may be operated simultaneously with the X-axis stage in order to finely adjust the position of the beam spot during annealing. Processing time can be further shortened by synchronizing the movement of the X-axis stage and the Y-axis stage.

  In this embodiment mode, the scanning stage on which the substrate is arranged is moved to irradiate the irradiation object with the first laser beam. However, the laser beam is moved by moving the first laser beam. Irradiation may be performed, or the movement of the scanning stage and the movement of the first laser light may be combined.

(Embodiment 2)
In this embodiment, the laser light prepared for correcting the irradiation position of the photodetector and the laser beam is divided into a plurality of laser beams using an optical element, and the transmitted light of the divided laser beam is used. An example of controlling the irradiation position will be described with reference to FIGS. In addition, when the same thing as FIG.1 and FIG.2 is represented, the same code | symbol is used.

  The glass substrate and the semiconductor film provided over the glass substrate are similar to those used in Embodiment 1. FIG. 4 is a plan view of a glass substrate and a stage in the laser irradiation apparatus shown in FIG. The glass substrate 106 is installed on a rotary stage 107, and the rotary stage 107 is installed on an X-axis stage 108 that moves in the X-axis direction and a Y-axis stage 109 that moves in the Y-axis direction. As described above, the rectangular marker 114 obtained by patterning or the like is formed on the semiconductor film 105.

Here, for example, consider a case where the length of the rectangular marker 114 in the short side direction is 5 μm and the length in the long side direction is about 1 mm. In the case where annealing is performed by irradiating the semiconductor film with the first beam spot, in this embodiment mode, the width of the large grain region obtained by crystallization by one-time laser light irradiation is set to 500 μm. When the substrate is reciprocated from one end to the other end on the X axis, the Y axis stage 109 is moved in the Y axis direction by the width d ₁ (in this case 500 μm) at which a large grain size region is formed. The crystal having a large grain size can be formed on the entire surface of the substrate by irradiating with laser light. Therefore, in this case, in FIG. 4, the distance between the centers of the markers 114a, 114d, 114e and the markers 114b, 114c, 114d is set to be adjacent to each other at an interval of 500 μm. By doing so, if the Y-axis stage 109 moves at intervals of 500 μm based on these markers, the entire surface of the substrate can be irradiated with laser light.

In the present embodiment, the width d _{1 in} which the large particle size region is formed is 500 μm, and the interval between the markers 114 is also 500 μm, but the marker interval is determined by the spot diameter or crystal of the irradiated laser light. The practitioner may set as appropriate according to the application in consideration of the range to be converted, and is not limited to the above numerical values.

  When the laser beams emitted from the laser oscillators 311a and 312a are incident on these markers, they are detected by the three-divided photodetectors 311f and 312f. The laser beams emitted from the laser oscillators 311a and 312a are the second laser beams, and the beam spot formed by the second laser beams is the second beam spot.

  Laser beams emitted from the laser oscillators 311a and 312a are lasers that are not absorbed by the glass substrate but are absorbed by the semiconductor film. In this embodiment, the second laser light emitted from the laser oscillators 311a and 312a is converted into 0th-order light, + 1st-order diffracted light, and −1st-order diffracted light that travel straight through the optical elements 311b and 312b, respectively. The laser beam is divided into three laser beams. Then, the collimating lenses 311c and 312c suppress the spread of the beam, and the mirrors 311d and 312d change the traveling direction of the laser light to a direction perpendicular to the glass substrate 106. As the optical elements 311b and 312b, for example, diffraction gratings are used.

  Thereafter, the laser beams divided into three are condensed on the glass substrate 106 by the objective lenses 311e and 312e, and the laser beams transmitted through the glass substrate are detected by the three-divided photodetectors 311f and 312f. The system including the laser oscillator 311a, the optical element 311b, the collimator lens 311c, the mirror 311d, the objective lens 311e, and the three-divided photodetector 311f is referred to as a laser positioning mechanism 311. Similarly, let 312a-312f be the laser positioning mechanism 312. Two laser positioning mechanisms are used at both ends on the X-axis stage 108. This is because the glass substrate 106 reciprocates on the X-axis stage 108.

但し、

で表される。 Here, the size of the second beam spot on the glass substrate 106 is 5 μm in diameter. In the beam spot of the laser beam divided into three, the distance p between the centers of the respective beam spots (the interval p between the three beam spots) is set to about 20 μm, and as shown in FIGS. Adjust so as to take an oblique arrangement with respect to the long side direction. At this time, when the 0th-order light is at the center of the marker 114, adjustment is made so that the beam spot of ± 1st-order light is applied to the ridges of the marker 114. The interval p between the three beam spots on the glass substrate 106 is d for the pitch of the optical elements (interval between grooves in the diffraction grating), l for the distance between the diffraction grating and the collimating lens, and λ for the wavelength of the laser beam used. When the focal lengths of the objective lens and the collimator are f ₀ and f _c , respectively.

However,

It is represented by

  Three-divided photodetectors 311f and 312f are arranged below the glass substrate 106 in accordance with the positions of the three beam spots. The three-split photodetectors 311f and 312f are arranged so that the three beams are incident on the split photodetectors.

  Next, a method for controlling the position when three beam spots and a three-divided photodetector are used will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 5, three beam spots are indicated by circles, and the circles indicated by dotted lines indicate portions that are absorbed by the semiconductor film and are not detected by the photodetector. A rectangular solid line indicates the marker 114, and a square indicates the three-divided photodetector 311f. Each of the divided photodetectors in order from the top includes a detector 311fa and a detector 311fb. , Detector 311fc.

  In this positioning method, when the center zero-order light is detected by the detector 311fb, and the ± first-order lights on both sides thereof detect the same current value in the detector 311fa and the detector 311fc (FIG. 5B). Assume that the Y-axis stage 109 is stopped when a signal is detected.

When the three beam spots are on the left side from the marker 114 (FIG. 5A), the current value detected by the detector 311fa is smaller than the current value of the detector 311fc, so the Y-axis stage 109 does not stop. Further, when the three beam spots are on the right side from the marker 114 (FIG. 5C), the current value detected by the detector 311fa is larger than the current value of the detector 311fc, so the Y-axis stage 109 does not stop. When the three beam spots are off the marker 114 (FIG. 5D), the current value detected by the detector 311fa is equal to the current value detected by the detector 311fc, but the detector 311fb. Since no current value is detected, the Y-axis stage 109 does not stop.

  By using this method, the position of the center position in the short side direction of the marker 114 can be controlled with high accuracy of several μm. Note that the diameter of the three beam spots and the size of the marker 114 may be appropriately determined by the practitioner according to the purpose.

  In the present embodiment, the marker has a rectangular shape, but is not limited to this and may have an elliptical shape or a circular shape. However, the three beam spots must satisfy the aforementioned conditions. The shape of the second beam spot used for controlling the position is not limited to a circle, and may be an ellipse or a rectangle. However, a perfect circle is preferable to maintain high positioning accuracy.

  In the present invention, since it is important that the first beam spot is scanned on the irradiation surface while maintaining a uniform interval with respect to the Y-axis direction, the position can be accurately controlled using the marker. The long side direction of the first beam spot, that is, the Y-axis direction is used. Therefore, it is preferable that the shape of the marker 114 be set such that the side parallel to the X-axis direction is longer than the side parallel to the Y-axis direction because the second laser light irradiated when the substrate moves in the Y-axis direction can be easily detected. .

  Next, laser light is irradiated to anneal the semiconductor film. When determining the laser irradiation start position, a fixed CCD camera 110 and two circular markers 113a and 113b can be used to correct a shift in the rotation direction of the substrate. Similar to the first embodiment described above, the coordinates of the markers 113a and 113b are obtained and adjusted by the rotary stage 107, whereby the deviation in the rotation direction of the substrate can be corrected.

  When the laser irradiation start position is determined, the second laser beam is set to be incident on the marker 114a, and laser beam irradiation is performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment, whereby the glass substrate 106 is formed. The entire surface of the formed semiconductor film 105 can be annealed uniformly. In the configuration of the first embodiment, the Y stage stops when a current of a certain value or more flows in the photodetector, but in this embodiment, three divided beam spots are used. As a result, the position can be controlled with higher accuracy. In the present embodiment, the example in which the second laser light is divided into three is shown. However, the present invention is not limited to three, and the second laser light may be divided into two or four or more in the same manner. Good.

(Embodiment 3)
In this embodiment, an example in which an irradiation position of a laser beam is determined using a photodetector and a laser positioning mechanism that uses reflected light when the laser beam is incident on a substrate will be described with reference to FIGS. To do.

  In Embodiments 1 and 2, the angle of the rotation axis is adjusted using a CCD camera. In this embodiment, a laser having three beam spots obtained by dividing a laser beam into three. The angle of the rotation axis is adjusted using light (three-spot laser) and a marker that extends long in the laser scanning direction (X-axis direction). In addition, since there is a space limitation in the method of placing a photodetector under the glass substrate, in this embodiment, by providing a photodetector above the substrate, reflected light from the glass substrate and the semiconductor film can be reduced. Detects strength and performs positioning.

  In FIG. 6, a semiconductor substrate 605 formed on a large area glass substrate 606 is prepared. In this embodiment mode, after the semiconductor film 605 is formed over the entire surface of the glass substrate 606, the marker 614 extending in the laser light scanning direction is formed by mask patterning or high-power laser light. Here, the same number of markers as the number of scans of the laser beam are provided by mask patterning.

  When the surface of the substrate 606 on which the semiconductor film 605 is formed is irradiated with laser light, the portion where the marker 614 is formed is removed from the semiconductor film, so that it is reflected compared to the surface of the semiconductor film. The intensity of the laser beam is different. For example, when laser light with a wavelength of 632 nm is irradiated, when the amorphous semiconductor film is deposited to 55 nm on the glass substrate 606, the reflectance is about 65%, and the amorphous semiconductor film is formed. With no glass substrate, the reflectivity is about 10%.

  The reflected laser beam is detected by using the three-divided photodetectors 610f to 613f to detect the current value, and the Y-axis stage 609 stops when the current value is under a specific condition. When the current value does not satisfy a certain condition, the stage does not stop. In addition, by using two laser positioning mechanisms at the same time, the reflected light of the three-spot laser is detected at two different locations on the substrate, thereby adjusting the displacement in the rotation direction of the substrate. Using these things, the irradiation position of the beam spot is accurately determined.

  The laser light emitted from the laser oscillator 601 is reflected by the mirror 602 and is incident in a direction perpendicular to the semiconductor film 605 formed on the glass substrate 606. Incident light is collected in one axial direction by two cylindrical lenses 603 and 604 and shaped into a linear shape on the semiconductor film 605. A laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 601 is a first laser beam, and a beam spot formed by the first laser beam is a first beam spot. In the present embodiment, the first beam spot is linear. However, the first beam spot is not limited to this, and may be elliptical or rectangular with a large aspect ratio. By relatively moving the glass substrate 606 in the short side direction of the first beam spot, annealing can be performed efficiently.

  FIG. 7 is a plan view of a glass substrate and a stage in the laser irradiation apparatus shown in FIG. The same reference numerals are used for the same parts in both figures. The glass substrate 606 is placed on a rotary stage 607, and the rotary stage 607 is installed on an X-axis stage 608 that moves in the X-axis direction and a Y-axis stage 609 that moves in the Y-axis direction. As described above, the rectangular marker 614 obtained by patterning or the like is formed on the semiconductor film 605. The shape of the rectangular marker 614 may be appropriately set by the practitioner in consideration of the laser beam spot and the like.

Further, the practitioner may set the distances between the centers of the markers 614a, 614b, and 614c as appropriate. However, since the Y-axis stage 609 moves based on these markers, the first beam spot causes the top of the semiconductor film. It is preferable to set the width d ₁ of the large particle diameter region formed in the above.

  Laser light emitted from the laser oscillators 610a to 613a is incident on these markers. A laser beam emitted from the laser oscillators 610a to 613a is a second laser beam, and a beam spot formed by the second laser beam is a second beam spot. In addition, at least four systems of laser positioning mechanisms are used. This is because the deviation of the rotation angle is always corrected when the glass substrate 606 reciprocates on the X-axis stage 608. That is, the four laser beams are arranged within an interval that can be positioned on the glass substrate at the moment when there are two systems of positioning mechanisms.

  For the laser oscillators 610a to 613a, a red laser such as a HeNe laser having a low reflection efficiency for the glass substrate and a good reflection efficiency for the semiconductor film and having an output of 1 mW or less is used. Divided into three waves including 0th-order light, + 1st-order diffracted light, and -1st-order diffracted light traveling straight by the elements 610b to 613b, the beam spread is suppressed by the collimating lenses 610c to 613c, and the half mirrors 610d to 613d Thus, the traveling direction is converted to a direction perpendicular to the glass substrate 606.

  Thereafter, the laser light is condensed on the glass substrate 606 by the optical systems 610e to 613e. Here, a system including the laser oscillator 610a, the optical element 610b, the collimating lens 610c, the half mirror 610d, the objective lens 610e, and the three-part photodetector 610f is referred to as a laser positioning mechanism 610. Similarly, systems including 611a to 611f, 612a to 612f, and 613a to 613f are referred to as laser positioning mechanisms 611, 612, and 613, respectively.

  Here, for example, the size of the second beam spot on the glass substrate 606 is 5 μm in diameter. The distance p between the centers of the beam spots of the laser beam divided into three (the interval p between the three beam spots) is about 20 μm, and the long side of the marker 614 is shown in FIGS. Adjust to take an oblique arrangement with respect to the direction. At this time, adjustment is made so that ± first-order light is always applied to the eyelids of the marker 614 when the zero-order light is at the center of the marker 614.

  Further, in accordance with the positions of the three beam spots, the three-divided photodetectors 610f to 613f are arranged directly above the half mirrors 610d to 613d, respectively. The three-split photodetectors 610f to 613f are installed so that the three beams are incident on the split photodetectors. As a positioning detection method using three beam spots and a three-divided photodetector, the method described in the second embodiment (FIG. 5) is used.

In order to correct the deviation in the rotation direction of the substrate, two of the three-divided photodetectors 610f to 613f installed on the glass substrate are simultaneously used. As a method for correcting the shift in the rotation direction, the rotation and the movement in the Y-axis direction may be repeated so that the two detectors simultaneously satisfy the state of FIG. For example, when the Y-axis stage starts to move in the P direction in FIG. 7 and one of the three-split photodetectors 610f and 611f first satisfies the state of FIG. 5B, θ shown in FIG. The stage is rotated in the direction, and the substrate is rotated to a position where the other three-split photodetector becomes the state shown in FIG. Assuming that the rotated angle is θ ₁ (0 <θ ₁ <π / 2) and the interval between the two three-split photodetectors 610f and 611f is l, the split split light that satisfies the state of FIG. by the detector rotates the substrate by theta _1/2 from the state since the position shown in FIG. 5 (b) in the opposite direction, further moves the Y-axis stage only direction P l × θ _1/4, marker The angle deviation of 614 can be corrected.

  When the laser irradiation position is determined, the second laser beam is set to enter the marker 614a. Since the semiconductor film is not formed on the marker 614, the intensity of the reflected laser beam is weak. The reflected laser light is detected by a three-divided photodetector 610f installed immediately above the half mirror, and the Y-axis stage 609 stops when a current value under a specific condition is detected.

  On the other hand, the first beam spot is scanned on the portion C1 using the X-axis stage 608 in the Q1 direction shown in FIG. Thereafter, the Y-axis stage 609 is slid using the Y-axis stage 609 in the long side direction of the beam spot, that is, in the P direction in FIG. At this time, the second laser beam is incident on the marker 614b, and the Y-axis stage 609 stops when the reflected laser beam detects a current value that satisfies a specific condition by the photodetector 613f.

  Then, the C2 portion is irradiated using the X-axis stage 608 in the Q2 direction. Thereafter, the Y-axis stage 609 is similarly moved in the P direction, but when the second laser light is incident on the next marker 614c, a current value that satisfies a specific condition is detected in the three-segment photodetector 610f, The Y-axis stage 609 stops. Then, the substrate is moved in the Q1 direction on the X-axis stage.

  By repeating these series of operations, the entire surface of the semiconductor film 605 formed over the large-area glass substrate 606 can be irradiated with laser light. If the stage is moved by detecting the laser beam using a photodetector, it is preferable because accurate positioning can be performed in a shorter time than when image processing is performed using a CCD camera. In this embodiment, the laser positioning mechanism and the stage are interlocked so that no deviation occurs.

  In the first to third embodiments, the configuration in which the scanning stage on which the substrate is placed is moved and the irradiated object is irradiated with the laser beam has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the object to be irradiated may be fixed and the laser beam may be moved to perform annealing, or the movement of the scanning stage and the movement of the laser beam may be combined.

  In this embodiment, a structure in which annealing is performed only on a region to be crystallized by selectively forming a marker for controlling the irradiation position of laser light will be described with reference to FIG. In addition, the same symbol is used for the same location as the above-described embodiment.

  In the first to third embodiments, annealing is performed by irradiating the entire surface of the substrate with laser light by arranging markers for controlling the position in the Y-axis direction at equal intervals. In this embodiment, by selectively forming the position of the marker that controls the position in the Y-axis direction, only the region to be crystallized is selectively irradiated with the laser beam.

  In FIG. 8, the markers 914 formed on both ends of the substrate are selectively formed, not at regular intervals as shown in the embodiment. The position in the Y-axis direction is controlled by the marker 914, and the laser beam is scanned in the X-axis direction that is the long side direction of the marker 914 that is formed. That is, by selectively forming the marker 914 at a position where it is desired to anneal and crystallize, the laser light can be irradiated to an arbitrary place.

  Note that, in the region where crystallization is desired, a portion of the semiconductor film formed over the substrate that remains on the substrate after patterning can be grasped in advance according to a mask. Then, a laser beam scanning portion is determined so that at least a portion obtained by patterning can be crystallized, and a marker 914 is arranged so that a laser beam spot is applied to the scanning portion. Crystallize. That is, in this embodiment, the laser beam is not scanned and irradiated on the entire surface of the semiconductor film, but the laser beam is scanned so that at least an indispensable portion can be crystallized at a minimum.

  By selectively irradiating only the region to be crystallized, not the entire surface of the substrate, the annealing processing efficiency is improved. In addition, by placing a marker in advance at a position where annealing is desired, the irradiation position can be controlled with high accuracy.

  In FIG. 8, the configuration for detecting the transmitted laser beam is shown in the position control. However, a laser positioning mechanism that controls the position by reflection as shown in the third embodiment (FIG. 7) may be used. . That is, in FIG. 7, the annealing speed can be improved by selectively forming the marker 614 and irradiating only the region to be crystallized with laser light.

  A specific example in the case of selectively irradiating laser light is shown in FIG. FIG. 10A illustrates an example in which one semiconductor device is manufactured from one substrate, and FIG. 10B illustrates an example in which four semiconductor devices are manufactured from one substrate. In FIG. 10A, a semiconductor film 701 is formed over a substrate. Here, a pixel portion 707, a signal line driver circuit 702, and a scan line driver circuit 703 which are formed later are indicated by dotted lines. A region where a plurality of markers are formed (marker forming portion 704) is provided at the end of the substrate.

  In this case, the marker forming portion 704 is formed only on a portion where crystallization is desired to be performed, so that the laser beam is irradiated only to the minimum necessary region. In FIG. 10, the processing speed can be improved by irradiating a laser beam only on a portion where a semiconductor film is formed in the pixel portion 707, the signal line driver circuit 702, and the scan line driver circuit 703. In addition, the pixel portion 707 can be selectively irradiated with a laser beam on a portion where a semiconductor film is left on the substrate after patterning, instead of irradiating the entire surface with the laser beam.

  Also in FIG. 10B, a marker formation portion 706 is provided at an end portion of the semiconductor film 708 formed over the substrate. In this case, a plurality of semiconductor devices are manufactured from one substrate. Here, four semiconductor devices can be manufactured by dividing the substrate along the scribe line 705 in a later step.

  The marker forming portion 706 is a portion where a marker is formed, and is provided so as to be positioned at both ends of the substrate. Also in this case, similarly to FIG. 10A, by providing the marker formation portion 706 in a portion to be crystallized (a portion where a semiconductor film of a pixel portion, a signal line driver circuit, and a scan line driver circuit is formed) Annealing can be performed with the minimum necessary laser beam irradiation. By using the positioning mechanism of the present invention, the position of a large substrate can be accurately controlled and laser light irradiation can be performed, so that a plurality of semiconductor devices can be manufactured from one substrate at the same time and more efficiently. Mass production is possible.

  Note that this example can be implemented in combination with any of Embodiments 1 to 3.

  In the first to third embodiments, the method of irradiating the irradiation object with the laser beam by moving the scanning stage on which the irradiation object is arranged while fixing the laser beam has been described. In this embodiment, an example in which laser annealing is performed by moving both the laser beam and the scanning stage on which the irradiation object is arranged will be described with reference to FIG.

  Similarly to FIG. 1, FIG. 15 is prepared by forming a semiconductor film 805 on a glass substrate 806. The glass substrate 806 is installed on a rotary stage 802, and the rotary stage 802 is installed on a first scanning stage 801 that moves in one direction along the X axis. In addition, a rectangular marker 803 obtained by patterning or the like is formed on the semiconductor film 805 as in the first to third embodiments.

  In this embodiment, a second scanning stage 804 is provided, and the second scanning stage 804 is provided with a laser oscillation device 807 that moves in the Y-axis direction. As the laser oscillation device, the same one as used in the first to third embodiments may be used. A semiconductor laser can be used as the laser oscillation device. Since the semiconductor laser is small, there is an advantage that the laser oscillation device 807 can be easily moved.

  In FIG. 15, consider the case where annealing is performed by irradiating a semiconductor film with laser light. Annealing is performed by irradiating the semiconductor film with laser light when moving the glass substrate 806 in the short side direction (X-axis direction) of the beam spot. Further, when the laser oscillation device 807 is moved in the long side direction (Y-axis direction) of the beam spot, the laser oscillation device 807 is moved with high accuracy in order to control the irradiation position of the laser beam.

  Specifically, after moving the glass substrate 806 in the X-axis direction and irradiating laser light from one end of the glass substrate 806 to the other end, the laser oscillation device 807 provided in the second scanning stage 804 is provided. Is moved in the Y-axis direction. Movement in the Y-axis direction can be controlled by selectively arranging markers. Thereafter, the glass substrate 806 is moved in the X-axis direction opposite to the previous one to irradiate laser light from one end of the glass substrate 806 to the other end, and then the laser oscillation device 807 is moved in the Y-axis direction. By repeating this operation, the entire surface of the substrate can be irradiated with laser light.

  The irradiation position of the laser light in this case is controlled by laser positioning mechanisms 808 arranged at both ends of the first scanning stage 801 as in the embodiment. The laser positioning mechanism is interlocked with the laser oscillation device 807 and controls the movement of the laser oscillation device 807. Further, the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillation device 807 may also be used as a laser for controlling the position, and the position in the Y-axis direction may be controlled. A laser may be mounted separately.

  Also, in this example, as in the embodiment, it is moved at a high speed in the X-axis direction and is moved at a low speed in the Y-axis direction. In FIG. 15, the laser oscillation device 807 is moved in the Y-axis direction where the moving speed is slow and the glass substrate 806 is moved in the X-axis direction. However, the opposite configuration may be used. Further, laser annealing may be performed by moving the laser oscillation device 807 in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction without moving the glass substrate 806.

  Note that this embodiment can be implemented by being freely combined with the first to third embodiments and the first embodiment.

  In this embodiment, an example of a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device of the present invention will be described. Note that in this embodiment, a light-emitting device is described as an example of one of the semiconductor devices; however, a semiconductor device that can be manufactured using the present invention is not limited thereto, and a liquid crystal display device or other semiconductor devices is used. It may be.

  The light emitting device is a semiconductor device in which a light emitting element and a means for supplying current to the light emitting element are provided in each of a plurality of pixels. A light emitting element such as an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) has a layer (electroluminescent layer) containing an electroluminescent material from which luminescence generated by applying an electric field is obtained, an anode layer, and a cathode layer. doing. The electroluminescent layer is provided between the anode and the cathode, and is composed of a single layer or a stacked layer. In some cases, these layers contain an inorganic compound.

  First, as shown in FIG. 11A, a substrate 500 on which a TFT (thin film transistor) is formed is prepared. Specifically, for example, a glass substrate such as barium borosilicate glass or alumino borosilicate glass is used as the substrate 500. Alternatively, a quartz substrate, a ceramic substrate, a metal substrate, or a semiconductor substrate having an insulating film formed on the surface thereof may be used. A substrate made of a synthetic resin having flexibility such as plastic generally tends to have a lower heat resistant temperature than the above substrate, but can be used as long as it can withstand the processing temperature in the manufacturing process. . The surface of the substrate 500 may be planarized by polishing such as a CMP method.

  Next, a base film 501 made of an insulating film such as a silicon oxide film, a silicon nitride film, or a silicon oxynitride film is formed over the substrate 500 by a known means (a sputtering method, an LPCVD method, a plasma CVD method, or the like). In this embodiment, a single-layer base film is used as the base film 501, but a structure in which two or more insulating films are stacked may be used.

  Next, an amorphous semiconductor film 502 having a thickness of 50 to 60 nm is formed on the base film 501 by a plasma CVD method. Although it depends on the amount of hydrogen contained in the amorphous semiconductor film, it is preferable that the dehydrogenation treatment is performed by heating at 400 to 550 ° C. for several hours, and the crystallization step is performed with the amount of hydrogen contained being 5 atom% or less. . In addition, the amorphous semiconductor film may be formed by another manufacturing method such as a sputtering method or an evaporation method, but it is desirable to sufficiently reduce impurity elements such as oxygen and nitrogen contained in the film.

  Note that not only silicon but also silicon germanium can be used for the semiconductor film. When silicon germanium is used, the concentration of germanium is preferably about 0.01 to 4.5 atomic%.

  Here, the base film 501 and the amorphous semiconductor film 502 are both formed by a plasma CVD method. At this time, the base film 501 and the amorphous semiconductor film 502 are continuously formed in a vacuum. Also good. By adopting a process in which the interface between the base film 501 and the amorphous semiconductor film 502 is not exposed to the air atmosphere, contamination of the interface can be prevented, and variation in characteristics of the manufactured TFT can be reduced.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 11B, the amorphous semiconductor film 502 is crystallized by a laser crystallization method. The laser crystallization method is performed using the laser irradiation apparatus of the present invention. Of course, not only the laser crystallization method but also other known crystallization methods (thermal crystallization method using an RTA or furnace annealing furnace, thermal crystallization method using a metal element that promotes crystallization, etc.) You may go.

When crystallizing an amorphous semiconductor film, a solid laser capable of continuous oscillation is used, and a crystal having a large grain size is obtained by using the second harmonic, the third harmonic, or the fourth harmonic of the fundamental wave. Can do. Typically, it is desirable to use the second harmonic (532 nm) or the third harmonic (355 nm) of an Nd: YVO ₄ laser (fundamental wave 1064 nm). Specifically, laser light emitted from a continuous wave YVO ₄ laser is converted into a harmonic by a non-linear optical element to obtain laser light with an output of 10 W. There is also a method of emitting harmonics by putting a YVO ₄ crystal and a nonlinear optical element in a resonator. Then, it is preferably formed into a rectangular or elliptical laser beam on the irradiation surface by an optical system, and irradiated to the object to be processed. In this case, a power density of about 0.01 to 100 MW / cm ² (preferably 0.1 to 10 MW / cm ²⁾ is required. Then, irradiation is performed by moving the amorphous semiconductor film 502 relative to the laser light at a speed of about 10 to 2000 cm / sec.

For laser irradiation, a continuous wave gas laser or solid-state laser can be used. Examples of gas lasers include Ar laser and Kr laser, and solid-state lasers include YAG laser, YVO ₄ laser, ceramic laser, GdVO ₄ laser, YLF laser, YAlO ₃ laser, alexandride laser, Ti: sapphire laser, Y ₂ O. ₃ Laser etc. are mentioned. As a solid state laser, a laser using a crystal such as YAG, YVO ₄ , YLF, YAlO ₃ , GdVO ₄ doped with Cr, Nd, Er, Ho, Ce, Co, Ti, Yb or Tm can be used. is there. The fundamental wave of the laser differs depending on the material to be doped, and a laser beam having a fundamental wave of about 1 μm can be obtained. The harmonic with respect to the fundamental wave can be obtained by using a nonlinear optical element.

  By the laser crystallization described above, a marker is formed in a portion to be crystallized, and the amorphous semiconductor film is selectively irradiated with laser light, whereby a region 503 with improved crystallinity is formed.

  Next, the crystalline semiconductor film 503 is patterned into a desired shape to form island-shaped semiconductor films 504 to 506 to be active layers of the TFT (FIG. 11C). Note that after forming the semiconductor films 504 to 506, a small amount of impurity element (boron or phosphorus) may be doped in order to control the threshold value of the TFT.

Next, as illustrated in FIG. 11D, a gate insulating film 507 containing silicon oxide or silicon nitride as a main component is formed so as to cover the semiconductor films 504 to 506. In this embodiment, TEOS (Tetraethyl Orthosilicate) and O ₂ are mixed by a plasma CVD method, a reaction pressure is 40 Pa, a substrate temperature is 300 to 400 ° C., a high frequency (13.56 MHz), and a power density of 0.5 to 0.8 W. A silicon oxide film was formed by discharging at / cm ² . The silicon oxide film thus manufactured can obtain good characteristics as a gate insulating film by subsequent thermal annealing at 400 to 500 ° C. Aluminum nitride can be used as the gate insulating film. Aluminum nitride has a relatively high thermal conductivity and can effectively diffuse the heat generated in the TFT. In addition, after forming silicon oxide or silicon oxynitride which does not contain aluminum, a laminate of aluminum nitride may be used as the gate insulating film.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 11E, a conductive film is formed to a thickness of 100 to 500 nm over the gate insulating film 507 and patterned to form gate electrodes 508 to 510.

  In this embodiment, the gate electrode is an element selected from tantalum (Ta), tungsten (W), titanium (Ti), molybdenum (Mo), aluminum (Al), and copper (Cu), or the above-described element as a main component. It is made of an alloy material or a compound material. Alternatively, a semiconductor film typified by a polycrystalline silicon film doped with an impurity element such as phosphorus may be used. Further, instead of a single conductive film, a conductive film composed of a plurality of layers may be stacked.

  For example, when the gate electrode has two layers, the first conductive film is formed using tantalum nitride, the second conductive film is formed using tungsten, the first conductive film is formed using tantalum nitride, and the second conductive film is formed. It is preferable that the first conductive film is formed of tantalum nitride and the second conductive film is formed of Cu. Further, as the first conductive film and the second conductive film, a semiconductor film typified by a polycrystalline silicon film doped with an impurity element such as phosphorus, an alloy of silver (Ag), palladium (Pd), and copper (Cu) (AgPdCu) may be used.

  The structure is not limited to the two-layer structure, and for example, a three-layer structure in which a tungsten film, an aluminum film containing silicon, and a titanium nitride film are sequentially stacked may be employed. In the case of a three-layer structure, tungsten nitride may be used instead of tungsten, an alloy film of aluminum and titanium may be used instead of an aluminum film containing silicon, or titanium instead of a titanium nitride film. A membrane may be used. Note that it is important to select an optimum etching method and etchant type depending on the material of the conductive film.

Next, a step of adding an n-type impurity element is performed to form n-type impurity regions 512 to 517. Here, an ion doping method using phosphine (PH ₃ ) was used.

Next, as shown in FIG. 12A, a step of covering the region where the n-channel TFT is formed with a resist mask 520 and adding a p-type impurity element to the region where the p-channel TFT is formed. P-type impurity regions 518 and 519 were formed. Here, diborane (B ₂ H ₆ ) was used to add by ion doping.

  Then, for the purpose of controlling the conductivity type, a step of activating the impurity element added to each island-like semiconductor layer is performed. This step is performed by a thermal annealing method using a furnace annealing furnace. In addition, a laser neal method or a rapid thermal annealing method (RTA method) can be applied. In the thermal annealing method, the oxygen concentration is 1 ppm or less, preferably 0.1 ppm or less in a nitrogen atmosphere at 400 to 700 ° C., typically 500 to 600 ° C. In this example, the temperature is 500 ° C. for 4 hours. Heat treatment is performed. However, when the gate electrodes 508 to 510 are vulnerable to heat, activation is preferably performed after an interlayer insulating film (having silicon as a main component) is formed in order to protect wirings and the like.

In the case of using the laser neil method, it is possible to use a laser used for crystallization. For activation, the moving speed is required power density of the same west and crystallization, 0.01 to 100 MW / cm ² about (preferably 0.01~10MW / cm ^2). Further, a continuous wave laser may be used for crystallization, and a pulsed laser may be used for activation.

  Further, a heat treatment is performed at 300 to 450 ° C. for 1 to 12 hours in an atmosphere containing 3 to 100% hydrogen to perform a step of hydrogenating the island-shaped semiconductor layer. This step is a step of terminating dangling bonds in the semiconductor layer with thermally excited hydrogen. As another means of hydrogenation, plasma hydrogenation (using hydrogen excited by plasma) may be performed.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 12B, a first inorganic insulating film 521 made of silicon oxynitride with a thickness of 10 to 200 nm is formed by a CVD method. Note that the first inorganic insulating film is not limited to the silicon oxynitride film, and may be any inorganic insulating film containing nitrogen that can prevent moisture from entering and leaving the organic resin film to be formed later. Aluminum nitride or aluminum oxynitride can be used. Note that aluminum nitride has a relatively high thermal conductivity, and can effectively diffuse the heat generated in a TFT, a light emitting element, or the like.

  Next, an organic resin film 522 made of a positive photosensitive organic resin is formed on the first inorganic insulating film 521. In this embodiment, the organic resin film 522 is formed using positive photosensitive acrylic, but the present invention is not limited to this.

  In this embodiment, positive photosensitive acrylic is applied by a spin coating method, and is baked to form the organic resin film 522. The film thickness of the organic resin film 522 is set to about 0.7 to 5 μm (more preferably 2 to 4 μm) after firing.

  Next, the part which wants to form an opening part is exposed using a photomask. And after developing with the developing solution which has TMAH (tetramethylammonium hydroxide) as a main component, a board | substrate is dried and baking for about 1 hour at 220 degreeC is performed. Then, as shown in FIG. 12B, an opening is formed in the organic resin film 522, and the first inorganic insulating film 521 is partially exposed in the opening.

  Note that since positive photosensitive acrylic is colored light brown, a decoloring process is performed when light emitted from the light emitting element is directed toward the substrate. In this case, the entire photosensitive acrylic after development is exposed again before baking. The exposure at this time is such that a slightly stronger light is applied or the irradiation time is extended compared to the exposure for forming the opening so that the exposure is performed completely. For example, when decolorizing a positive acrylic resin with a thickness of 2 μm, multi-wavelength light consisting of g-line (436 nm), h-line (405 nm) and i-line (365 nm), which is the spectrum light of an ultra-high pressure mercury lamp, is used. When using the same magnification projection exposure apparatus (specifically, MPA manufactured by Canon), irradiation is performed for about 60 seconds. By this exposure, the positive acrylic resin is completely decolorized.

  In this embodiment, baking is performed at 220 ° C. after development. However, baking may be performed at a low temperature of about 100 ° C. as a pre-bake after development and then baking at a high temperature of 220 ° C.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 12C, the second inorganic insulating film made of silicon nitride is formed by RF sputtering, covering the opening from which the first inorganic insulating film 521 is partially exposed and the organic resin film 522. A film 523 is formed. The film thickness of the second inorganic insulating film 523 is desirably about 10 to 200 nm. The second inorganic insulating film is not limited to a silicon nitride film, and may be any inorganic insulating film containing nitrogen that can suppress the entry and exit of moisture into the organic resin film 522. For example, silicon oxynitride, aluminum nitride Alternatively, aluminum oxynitride can be used.

  Note that in a silicon oxynitride film or an aluminum oxynitride film, the ratio of atomic% of oxygen and nitrogen is greatly related to the barrier property. The higher the ratio of nitrogen to oxygen, the higher the barrier properties. Specifically, it is desirable that the ratio of nitrogen is higher than the ratio of oxygen.

A film formed using an RF sputtering method has high density and excellent barrier properties. For example, when a silicon oxynitride film is formed, RF sputtering is performed by flowing N ₂ , Ar, and N ₂ O at a gas flow ratio of 31: 5: 4 using a Si target and a pressure of 0.4 Pa. The film is formed with an electric power of 3000 W. Further, for example, when a silicon nitride film is formed, N ₂ and Ar in the chamber are flowed so that the gas flow ratio is 1: 1 with a Si target, the pressure is 0.8 Pa, the power is 3000 W, and the film formation temperature is set. The film is formed at 215 ° C.

  The organic resin film 522, the first inorganic insulating film 521, and the second inorganic insulating film 523 form a first interlayer insulating film.

  Next, as illustrated in FIG. 12C, a resist mask 524 is formed in the opening of the organic resin film 522, and the gate insulating film 507, the first inorganic insulating film 521, and the second inorganic insulating film 523 are dry-dried. Contact holes are formed using an etching method.

Due to the opening of the contact hole, the impurity regions 512 to 515, 518, and 519 are partially exposed. The conditions for this dry etching are appropriately set depending on the materials of the gate insulating film 507, the first inorganic insulating film 521, and the second inorganic insulating film 523. In this embodiment, silicon oxide is used for the gate insulating film 507, silicon oxynitride is used for the first inorganic insulating film 521, and silicon nitride is used for the second inorganic insulating film 523. Therefore, CF ₄ , O ₂ , and He are first etched. The second inorganic insulating film 523 made of silicon nitride as the gas and the first inorganic insulating film 521 made of silicon oxynitride are etched, and then the gate insulating film 507 made of silicon oxide is etched using CHF ₃ .

  It is important to prevent the organic resin film 522 from being exposed in the opening during etching.

  Next, a conductive film is formed over the second inorganic insulating film 523 so as to cover the contact hole, and patterned to form wirings 526 to 531 connected to the impurity regions 512 to 515, 518, and 519. (FIG. 12D).

  In this embodiment, a conductive structure having a three-layer structure in which a titanium (Ti) film, an aluminum (Al) film, 300 nm, and a titanium (Ti) film, 150 nm are continuously formed on the second inorganic insulating film 523 by a sputtering method. Although it is a film, the present invention is not limited to this configuration. A single-layer conductive film may be formed, or a conductive film including a plurality of layers other than three layers may be formed. Further, the material is not limited to this.

  For example, a conductive film in which an aluminum (Al) film containing titanium (Ti) is stacked after a titanium (Ti) film is formed may be used, or after a titanium (Ti) film is formed, tungsten (W A conductive film in which an aluminum (Al) film containing) is stacked may be used.

  Next, an organic resin film serving as a partition is formed on the second inorganic insulating film 523. In this embodiment, positive photosensitive acrylic is used, but the present invention is not limited to this. In this embodiment, an organic resin film is formed by applying positive photosensitive acrylic by a spin coating method and baking it. The film thickness of the organic resin film is about 0.7 to 5 μm (more preferably 2 to 4 μm) after firing.

  Next, the part which wants to form an opening part is exposed using a photomask. And after developing with the developing solution which has TMAH (tetramethylammonium hydroxide) as a main component, a board | substrate is dried and baking for about 1 hour at 220 degreeC is performed. Then, an insulating film 533 having an opening is formed as shown in FIG. 12E, and the wirings 529 and 531 are partially exposed in the opening.

  Note that since positive photosensitive acrylic is colored light brown, a decoloring process is performed when light emitted from the light emitting element is directed toward the substrate. The decoloring process is performed in the same manner as the decoloring process performed on the organic resin film 522.

  By using a photosensitive organic resin for the insulating film 533, the opening cross section can be rounded, so that the coverage of an electroluminescent layer and a cathode to be formed later can be improved, and the light emitting region is reduced. Defects called shrink can be reduced.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 13A, a third inorganic insulating film 534 made of silicon nitride is formed by RF sputtering, covering the openings from which the wirings 529 and 531 are partially exposed and the insulating film 533. Form a film. The thickness of the third inorganic insulating film 534 is desirably about 10 to 200 nm. The third inorganic insulating film 534 is not limited to a silicon nitride film, and may be any inorganic insulating film containing nitrogen that can suppress the entry and exit of moisture into the insulating film 533. For example, silicon oxynitride, aluminum nitride Alternatively, aluminum oxynitride can be used.

  Note that in a silicon oxynitride film or an aluminum oxynitride film, the ratio of atomic% of oxygen and nitrogen is greatly related to the barrier property. The higher the ratio of nitrogen to oxygen, the higher the barrier properties. Specifically, it is desirable that the ratio of nitrogen is higher than the ratio of oxygen.

  Then, a resist mask 535 is formed in the opening of the insulating film 533, and a contact hole is formed in the third inorganic insulating film 534 using a dry etching method.

Due to the opening of the contact hole, the wirings 529 and 531 are partially exposed. The conditions for this dry etching are appropriately set depending on the material of the third inorganic insulating film 534. In this embodiment, since silicon nitride is used for the third inorganic insulating film 534, the third inorganic insulating film 534 made of silicon nitride is etched using CF ₄ , O ₂ , and He as etching gases.

  Note that it is important that the insulating film 533 is not exposed in the opening during etching.

  Next, a transparent conductive film, for example, an ITO film is formed to a thickness of 110 nm, and patterning is performed to form a pixel electrode 540 in contact with the wiring 531 and a lead wiring 541 for obtaining a current generated in the diode. Alternatively, a transparent conductive film in which 2 to 20% zinc oxide (ZnO) is mixed with indium oxide may be used. This pixel electrode 540 becomes the anode of the light emitting element (FIG. 13B).

  Next, an electroluminescent layer 542 is formed on the pixel electrode 540 by an evaporation method, and a cathode (MgAg electrode) 543 is further formed by an evaporation method. At this time, it is preferable that the pixel electrode 540 is subjected to heat treatment to completely remove moisture before forming the electroluminescent layer 542 and the cathode 543. In this embodiment, the MgAg electrode is used as the cathode of the OLED. However, other known materials such as Ca, Al, CaF, MgAg, and AlLi may be used as long as the conductive film has a low work function.

  Note that when AlLi is used as the cathode, the third inorganic insulating film 534 containing nitrogen can prevent Li in AlLi from entering the substrate side from the third inorganic insulating film 534.

  Note that a known material can be used for the electroluminescent layer 542. In this embodiment, a two-layer structure including a hole transporting layer and a light emitting layer is used as an electroluminescent layer, but any one of a hole injection layer, an electron injection layer, and an electron transport layer is provided. In some cases. As described above, various examples of combinations have already been reported, and any of the configurations may be used. For example, SAlq or CAlq may be used as the electron transport layer or the hole blocking layer.

  The thickness of the electroluminescent layer 542 may be 10 to 400 nm (typically 60 to 150 nm), and the thickness of the cathode 543 may be 80 to 200 nm (typically 100 to 150 nm).

  Thus, a light emitting device having a structure as shown in FIG. 13B is completed. In FIG. 13B, reference numeral 550 denotes a pixel portion, and 551 corresponds to a driver circuit portion. In the pixel portion 550, a portion 552 where the pixel electrode 540, the electroluminescent layer 542, and the cathode 543 overlap corresponds to a light emitting element.

  Note that the structure and specific manufacturing method of the TFT shown in this embodiment are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to this structure.

  In actuality, when completed up to FIG. 13B, packaging is performed with a protective film (laminate film, UV curable resin film, etc.) or a translucent cover material that is highly airtight and less degassed so as not to be exposed to the outside air. (Encapsulation) is preferable. At that time, if the inside of the cover material is made an inert atmosphere or if a hygroscopic material (for example, barium oxide) is arranged inside, the reliability of the OLED is improved.

  This example can be freely combined with Embodiment Modes 1 to 3, Example 1 or 2.

  As an electronic device using a semiconductor device formed by the method for manufacturing a semiconductor device of the present invention, a video camera, a digital camera, a goggle type display (head mounted display), a navigation system, a sound reproducing device (car audio, audio component, etc.) A recording medium such as a computer, a game machine, a portable information terminal (mobile computer, cellular phone, portable game machine, electronic book, etc.), an image reproducing device (specifically a DVD (digital versatile disc)) equipped with a recording medium And a device having a display capable of reproducing and displaying the image). Specific examples of these electronic devices are shown in FIGS.

  FIG. 14A illustrates a television receiver which includes a housing 2001, a support base 2002, a display portion 2003, a speaker portion 2004, a video input terminal 2005, and the like. A television receiver can be manufactured by applying the laser irradiation apparatus described in any of the above embodiments or examples and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the laser irradiation apparatus to processing of the display portion 2003 and the like.

  FIG. 14B shows a digital camera, which includes a main body 2101, a display portion 2102, an image receiving portion 2103, operation keys 2104, an external connection port 2105, a shutter 2106, and the like. A digital camera can be manufactured by applying the laser irradiation apparatus described in any of the above embodiments or examples and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the laser irradiation apparatus to processing of the display portion 2102 and other circuits. .

  FIG. 14C illustrates a computer, which includes a main body 2201, a housing 2202, a display portion 2203, a keyboard 2204, an external connection port 2205, a pointing mouse 2206, and the like. A computer can be manufactured by applying the laser irradiation apparatus described in any of the above embodiments or examples and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the laser irradiation apparatus to processing of the display portion 2203 and other circuits.

  FIG. 14D illustrates a mobile computer, which includes a main body 2301, a display portion 2302, a switch 2303, operation keys 2304, an infrared port 2305, and the like. A mobile computer can be manufactured by applying the laser irradiation apparatus described in any of the above embodiments or examples and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the laser irradiation apparatus to processing of the display portion 2302 and other circuits. .

  FIG. 14E shows a portable image reproducing device (such as a DVD reproducing device) provided with a recording medium, which includes a main body 2401, a housing 2402, a display portion A 2403, a display portion B 2404, and a recording medium (DVD etc.) reading portion 2405. Operation key 2406, speaker unit 2407, and the like. A display portion A2403 mainly displays image information, and a display portion B2404 mainly displays character information. By applying the laser irradiation apparatus described in any of the above embodiments or examples and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the laser irradiation apparatus to processing of the display portion A 2403, the display portion B 2404, or other circuits, an image reproducing device Can be produced. Note that the image reproducing device provided with the recording medium includes a game machine and the like.

  FIG. 14F illustrates a goggle type display (head mounted display), which includes a main body 2501, a display portion 2502, and an arm portion 2503. A goggle type display can be manufactured by applying the laser irradiation apparatus described in any of the above embodiments or examples and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the laser irradiation apparatus to processing of the display portion 2502 and other circuits. it can.

  FIG. 14G illustrates a video camera, which includes a main body 2601, a display portion 2602, a housing 2603, an external connection port 2604, a remote control reception portion 2605, an image receiving portion 2606, a battery 2607, an audio input portion 2608, operation keys 2609, and an eyepiece. Part 2610 and the like. A video camera can be manufactured by applying the laser irradiation apparatus described in any of the above embodiments or examples and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the laser irradiation apparatus to processing of the display portion 2602 and other circuits. .

  FIG. 14H illustrates a mobile phone, which includes a main body 2701, a housing 2702, a display portion 2703, an audio input portion 2704, an audio output portion 2705, operation keys 2706, an external connection port 2707, an antenna 2708, and the like. A mobile phone can be manufactured by applying the laser irradiation apparatus described in any of the above embodiments or examples and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the laser irradiation apparatus to processing of the display portion 2703 and other circuits. .

  Note that, in addition to the electronic devices described above, a front-type or rear-type projector may be manufactured by using the present invention.

  As described above, the applicable range of the present invention is so wide that it can be used for electronic devices in various fields.

The figure which shows the laser irradiation apparatus in this invention. The figure which shows the irradiation method of the laser beam in this invention. The figure which shows the laser irradiation apparatus in this invention. The figure which shows the irradiation method of the laser beam in this invention. The figure which shows the conditions under which the laser beam which permeate | transmitted the marker is detected. The figure which shows the laser irradiation apparatus in this invention. The figure which shows the irradiation method of the laser beam in this invention. The figure which shows the irradiation method of the laser beam in this invention. The figure which shows the irradiation method of the laser beam in this invention. The figure which shows the method of irradiating a laser beam to a board | substrate partially. 10A and 10B illustrate a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using a laser irradiation apparatus of the present invention. 10A and 10B illustrate a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using a laser irradiation apparatus of the present invention. 4A and 4B illustrate a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the laser light irradiation method of the present invention. 4A and 4B each illustrate an electronic device manufactured using a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device of the present invention. The figure which shows the laser irradiation apparatus of this invention.

Claims (22)

A first laser oscillator that emits a first laser beam;
An optical system for shaping the first laser beam into an elongated beam spot having a short side and a long side on the surface of the irradiated object;
Means for moving the irradiated object relative to the first laser beam in the long side direction and the short side direction of the beam spot;
Means for moving the irradiated object with respect to the first laser light in the long-side direction of the beam spot at a slower speed than moving in the short-side direction;
A laser positioning mechanism,
The laser positioning mechanism includes a second laser oscillator that emits a second laser beam, and a photodetector that detects the second laser beam, and the object to be irradiated with respect to the first laser beam A laser irradiation apparatus comprising means for controlling relative movement in the long side direction of a beam spot. A first laser oscillator that emits a first laser beam;
An optical system for shaping the first laser beam into an elongated beam spot having a short side and a long side on the surface of the irradiated object;
Means for moving the irradiated object relative to the first laser beam in the long side direction and the short side direction of the beam spot;
Means for moving the irradiated object with respect to the first laser light in the long-side direction of the beam spot at a slower speed than moving in the short-side direction;
Image processing means for determining a position to irradiate the first laser beam;
A laser positioning mechanism,
The laser positioning mechanism includes a second laser oscillator that emits a second laser beam, and a photodetector that detects the second laser beam, and the beam of the irradiation object with respect to the first laser beam. A laser irradiation apparatus comprising means for controlling relative movement in the long side direction of a spot. In claim 2,
The laser irradiation apparatus, wherein the image processing means has a CCD camera. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3,
The laser positioning mechanism causes the second laser light to be incident on a surface of the irradiated object on which a marker is formed, and detects the second laser light transmitted through the marker with the photodetector. A laser irradiation apparatus comprising: means for controlling a relative movement of the irradiation object in the long side direction of the beam spot with respect to the first laser beam. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3,
The laser positioning mechanism causes the second laser light to be incident on a surface of the irradiated object on which a marker is formed, and detects the second laser light reflected by the marker with the photodetector. A laser irradiation apparatus comprising: means for controlling relative movement of the irradiation object in the beam spot long side direction with respect to the first laser beam. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 5,
The laser positioning mechanism is
A laser irradiation apparatus comprising: an optical element that divides the second laser beam into a plurality of laser beams; and a split detector that detects the plurality of laser beams. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 6,
A laser irradiation apparatus comprising two or more laser positioning mechanisms. In claim 7,
The laser irradiation apparatus is characterized in that the laser positioning mechanism is arranged on a straight line across the first laser beam on the irradiated object. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 8,
2. The laser irradiation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the elongated beam spot is a rectangular, linear or elliptical beam spot. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 9,
The laser irradiation apparatus, wherein the first laser oscillator is one of a YAG laser, a YVO ₄ laser, a ceramic laser, a GdVO ₄ laser, a YLF laser, and an Ar laser. The first laser beam emitted from the first laser oscillator is shaped to be a long and narrow beam spot having a short side and a long side on the surface of the irradiation object arranged on the scanning stage,
While oscillating the first laser beam, the irradiation stage is annealed by moving the scanning stage relative to the first laser beam in the long side direction and the short side direction of the beam spot,
Movement of the irradiated object in the beam spot long side direction with respect to the first laser beam,
The second laser beam is incident on the surface of the irradiated object on which the marker is formed and is transmitted through the marker formed on the irradiated object. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, wherein the second laser beam is controlled by being detected by a photodetector. The first laser beam emitted from the first laser oscillator is shaped to be a long and narrow beam spot having a short side and a long side on the surface of the irradiation object arranged on the scanning stage,
While oscillating the first laser beam, the irradiation stage is annealed by moving the scanning stage relative to the first laser beam in the long side direction and the short side direction of the beam spot,
Movement of the irradiated object in the beam spot long side direction with respect to the first laser beam,
Performed at a slower speed than the movement in the beam spot short side direction,
In addition, the second laser beam is emitted from the second laser oscillator, the second laser beam is divided into a plurality of laser beams by an optical element, and the plurality of the laser beams transmitted through the marker formed on the irradiated object A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, characterized in that control is performed by detecting laser light with a split photodetector. The first laser beam emitted from the first laser oscillator is shaped to be a long and narrow beam spot having a short side and a long side on the surface of the irradiation object arranged on the scanning stage,
While oscillating the first laser beam, the irradiation stage is annealed by moving the scanning stage relative to the first laser beam in the long side direction and the short side direction of the beam spot,
Movement of the irradiated object in the beam spot long side direction with respect to the first laser beam,
The second laser beam is incident on the surface of the irradiated object where the marker is formed, and the marker is formed on the irradiated object. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, wherein the reflected second laser light is controlled by being detected by a photodetector. The first laser beam emitted from the first laser oscillator is shaped to be a long and narrow beam spot having a short side and a long side on the surface of the irradiation object arranged on the scanning stage,
While oscillating the first laser beam, the irradiation stage is annealed by moving the scanning stage relative to the first laser beam in the long side direction and the short side direction of the beam spot,
Movement of the irradiated object in the beam spot long side direction with respect to the first laser beam,
Performed at a slower speed than the movement in the beam spot short side direction,
In addition, the second laser beam is emitted from the second laser oscillator, the second laser beam is divided into a plurality of laser beams by an optical element, and the plurality of laser beams reflected by the marker formed on the irradiated object A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising: controlling the laser beam by detecting the laser beam with a split photodetector. In any one of Claims 11 thru | or 14,
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, wherein the position of irradiation with the first laser light is controlled by image processing means. In claim 15,
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, wherein the image processing means uses a CCD camera. In claim 14,
The position where the first laser beam is irradiated is
Two or more second laser oscillators each irradiate the second laser beam at two different locations, and the second laser beam is divided into a plurality of laser beams by an optical element and formed on the irradiated object. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, wherein the plurality of laser beams reflected by a marker are controlled by detecting them at two different locations simultaneously with a split detector. In any one of Claims 11 thru / or Claim 17,
The semiconductor device controls the movement of the irradiated object in the long side direction of the beam spot with respect to the first laser beam by detecting a marker having a shape elongated in the short side direction of the beam spot. Manufacturing method. In claim 18,
The semiconductor device is characterized in that movement of the irradiated object in the beam spot long side direction with respect to the first laser light is controlled by moving the stage so as to be parallel to the short side of the marker. Manufacturing method. In any one of claims 11 to 19,
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, wherein any of a YAG laser, a YVO ₄ laser, a ceramic laser, a GdVO ₄ laser, a YLF laser, and an Ar laser is used as the first laser oscillator. In any one of claims 11 to 20,
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, wherein the elongated beam spot is shaped into a rectangle, a line, or an ellipse. In any one of Claims 11 to 21,
The relative movement of the irradiated object with respect to the first laser beam in the direction of the short side of the beam spot is performed at 100 mm / sec or more and 20 m / sec or less,
The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, characterized in that the relative movement of the irradiation object in the long-side direction of the beam spot with respect to the first laser light is performed at a rate of less than 100 mm / sec.

Images