JP2007109943A - Method and device for laser annealing - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize easy laser annealing operation and a simple constitution of a laser anneal device. <P>SOLUTION: Pure water is sprayed in a W-shaped liquid column from a spray nozzle provided to a processing head 6 to a work piece 2 formed by laminating an amorphous semiconductor film on a substrate 2a, and a laser light L is subjected to light guiding into the W-shaped liquid column. Since the inside of the liquid column W is irradiated with the guided laser light L, the amorphous silicon film 2b is crystallized into a polysilicon film, and in the process, pure water of the liquid column W spreads along the amorphous silicon film 2b, thus covering a portion irradiated with the laser light L with the pure water and preventing it from coming into contact with air. Furthermore, a portion heated by the laser light L is rapidly cooled by the pure water of the liquid column W, and the crystal grain of the crystallized polysilicon can be enlarged. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a laser annealing method and apparatus, and more particularly to a laser annealing method and apparatus for irradiating a workpiece with laser light to anneal the workpiece.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a laser annealing method for irradiating a surface of a workpiece with laser light to anneal the workpiece, and particularly when annealing a workpiece such as a semiconductor, laser light is used. In order to prevent oxidation of the irradiated portion, the following laser annealing method is used.
As a first laser annealing method, a semiconductor substrate is placed in a transparent container, and the container is filled with a liquid having a refractive index equal to that of the silicon oxide film. A method of irradiating is known. (Patent Document 1)
As a second laser annealing method, a sample such as a glass substrate having an amorphous silicon film formed on the surface thereof is placed in a vacuum chamber, and laser is passed through the window formed in the chamber on the surface of the sample. A method of irradiating light is known. (Patent Document 2)
As a third laser annealing method, a method is known in which a plastic substrate having an amorphous silicon thin film formed thereon is placed in a vacuum processing chamber, and the surface of the amorphous silicon thin film is irradiated with pulsed laser light. ing. (Patent Document 3)
Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 62-8011 JP 2001-44132 A JP 2004-63924 A

However, in the case of the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, an oxide film is prevented from being generated by placing a semiconductor substrate in a liquid, but it is necessary to exchange and replenish the liquid each time annealing is performed. There is a problem that the work becomes complicated and the apparatus becomes complicated.
In the case of Patent Documents 2 and 3, the formation of an oxide film is prevented by placing a substrate on which an amorphous silicon film is formed in a vacuum. However, the work of evacuating the chamber every time annealing is performed. There is a problem that the work is complicated and the apparatus is complicated.
In view of such a problem, a laser annealing method that does not require complicated work is provided, and a laser annealing apparatus having a simple configuration is provided.

That is, in the laser annealing method according to claim 1, the surface of the workpiece is irradiated with laser light to anneal the workpiece.
Injecting a liquid onto the workpiece, covering a required portion of the surface of the workpiece with the liquid, guiding laser light into the injected liquid, and irradiating the workpiece with the laser light It is characterized by.

The laser annealing apparatus according to claim 5 includes a laser oscillator that irradiates a laser beam, and irradiates the surface of the workpiece with the laser beam to anneal the workpiece.
An injection nozzle for injecting liquid is provided on the workpiece, and the injection nozzle guides laser light to the injected liquid, and further covers a required portion of the surface of the workpiece by the liquid injected from the injection nozzle. It is characterized by that.

According to the present invention, since the ejected liquid covers the position where the laser light is irradiated, the portion does not come into contact with the atmosphere, and the workpiece can be prevented from being oxidized.
For this reason, it is not necessary to replace and replenish the liquid in the container as in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, and it is not necessary to perform the operation of evacuating the chamber as in Patent Documents 2 and 3, so that annealing can be performed efficiently. It becomes possible.
Further, since a container for storing a liquid as in Patent Document 1 and a negative pressure generating means for evacuating a chamber as in Patent Documents 2 and 3 are not required, a simple annealing device can be obtained.

The illustrated embodiment will be described below. FIG. 1 shows a laser annealing apparatus 1 according to the present invention, and a workpiece 2 is annealed by guiding a laser beam L to a liquid column W formed by jetting a liquid. It is a device.
The laser annealing apparatus 1 includes a processing table 3 that supports the workpiece 2, a laser oscillator 4 that oscillates laser light L, a liquid supply means 5 that supplies liquid such as high-pressure pure water, and a workpiece. A processing head 6 for injecting pure water as a liquid column W toward the object 2 and guiding the laser beam L to the liquid column W is provided, and these are controlled by a control means (not shown). .
The processing table 3 is conventionally known and will not be described in detail. However, the workpiece 2 is moved in the horizontal direction with respect to the processing head 6, and the processing head 6 is not shown. It moves in the vertical direction.

Next, the workpiece 2 includes an insulating substrate 2a made of glass or resin and an amorphous silicon film 2b as an amorphous semiconductor film laminated on the surface of the substrate 2a.
Since the amorphous silicon film 2b is amorphous, the mobility of electrons is low, and a large amount of electrons cannot flow in a short time.
Therefore, the amorphous silicon film 2b is irradiated with the laser beam L, heated and melted instantaneously, and then cooled, that is, annealed by the laser beam, so that the amorphous silicon is crystallized and the electron mobility on the substrate 2a is high. A silicon film can be formed and can be used as a high-performance liquid crystal display substrate.

The laser oscillator 4 is a YAG laser oscillator 4, which can perform CW oscillation or pulse oscillation according to processing, and can adjust processing conditions such as its output and pulse oscillation period as appropriate.
In addition, since the wavelength of the fundamental wave (1064 nm) of the YAG laser light L has a low absorption rate into the amorphous silicon, the fundamental wave is transmitted to the second harmonic (532 nm) or the third harmonic in the laser oscillator 4 of the present embodiment. A wavelength converting means (not shown) for converting to a wave (355 nm) is provided.
Between the laser oscillator 4 and the processing head 6, shutter means 11 that blocks the laser light L, a reflection mirror 12 that reflects the laser light L toward the processing head 6, and the irradiated laser light L are collected. And a condenser lens 13 is provided.
The shutter unit 11 is controlled by the control unit, and absorbs the energy of the laser beam L reflected by the reflection mirror 11a that reciprocates on and off the optical path of the laser beam L by a driving unit (not shown). And a damper 11b.
When the reflection mirror 11a is positioned on the optical path of the laser beam L, the laser beam L is reflected by the reflection mirror 11a, and the energy of the laser beam L is absorbed by the damper 11b.
On the other hand, when the reflecting mirror 11 a is moved out of the optical path of the laser beam L, the laser beam L is reflected by the reflecting mirror 12 and then irradiated to the processing head 6 through the condenser lens 13.

Next, the liquid supply means 5 includes a water storage tank 21 that stores pure water, and a pump 22 that supplies the pure water stored in the water storage tank 21 toward the processing head 6. It is connected to the.
The water storage tank 21 is connected to a water supply source 24, and a conduit 23 connecting the water supply source 24 and the water storage tank 21 is provided with an open / close valve 25 for controlling the supply of pure water from the water supply source 24, and the water supply source 24. And a spillage filter 26 that removes foreign matters contained in the pure water supplied from the water.
Between the pump 22 and the processing head 6, a check valve 27 for preventing the backflow of pure water to the pump 22 in order from the upstream pump 22 side, and an electromagnetic opening / closing operation controlled by the controller. An accumulator 29 for accumulating the pure water sent from the valve 28 and the pump 22 and accumulating the pressure from the pump 22 and a filter 30 for removing foreign substances in the pure water are provided.
As is conventionally known, the accumulator 29 adjusts the accumulated pressure by changing the gas pressure enclosed therein.
Further, the conduit 23 from the water supply source 24 to the water storage tank 21 and the conduit 23 from the pump 22 to the processing head 6 are connected by two parallel conduits 23, and one conduit 23 has a check valve. 31 and the other conduit 23 is provided with a pressure regulating valve 32.
The check valve 31 returns high-pressure water discharged from the pump 22 to the water storage tank 24 when the electromagnetic on-off valve 28 is closed, and the pressure adjustment valve 32 is supplied from the pump 22 to the machining head 6. It is provided in order to keep the pressure of the high-pressure water inside the conduit 23 up to a constant.

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of the processing head 6. The processing head 6 includes a housing 41 that is moved by the moving means, an injection nozzle 42 provided at a lower portion of the housing 41, the injection nozzle 42, and the light condensing. A transparent glass plate 43 provided between the lens 13 and the lens 13 is provided.
A side surface of the housing 41 is provided with a connection port 41a that communicates with a liquid passage 45 formed between the glass plate 43 and the injection nozzle 42 and is connected to the conduit 23. The pure water supplied from the means 5 flows into the liquid passage 45 from the connection port 41a and is then ejected as a liquid column W from the ejection nozzle 42.
The injection nozzle 42 is fixed to the center of a stay 46 fitted to the lower end portion of the housing 41, and the stay 46 is fixed to the lower surface of the housing 41 by a ring-shaped fixing member 47.
An injection hole 48 is formed at the center of the injection nozzle 42. The injection hole 48 is formed on the condenser lens 13 side and has a first inclined surface 48a having a diameter reduced toward the processing table 3, and the first inclination. It is comprised from the 2nd inclined surface 48c expanded in diameter toward the process table 3 side from the minimum diameter part 48b of the surface 48a.
Through holes 46a and 47a that penetrate the stay 46 and the fixing member 47 are formed below the injection nozzle 42. The diameters of the through holes 46a and 47a are smaller than the outer diameter of the injection nozzle 42, and The diameter is set larger than the diameter of the lower end portion of the second inclined surface 48c.
The glass plate 43 is located between the spray nozzle 42 and the condenser lens 13 and is fixed to the housing 41 with a nut 49, and the pure water in the liquid passage 45 is above the glass plate 43. The laser light L collected by the condenser lens 13 is transmitted.
Here, as for the diameter of the minimum diameter portion 48b of the injection hole 48 in this embodiment, the larger the diameter of the liquid column W to be injected, the larger the range that can be annealed, while the consumption of pure water increases and the laser oscillator increases. Since it is necessary to improve the output of the laser beam L due to 4, it is desirable to set it to 100 to 200 μm.

Hereinafter, the operation of the laser annealing apparatus 1 having such a configuration will be described.
In this embodiment, the minimum diameter portion 48b of the injection nozzle 6 is φ150 μm, the water pressure of the liquid column W to be injected is 5 to 30 MPa, the laser intensity of the laser oscillator 4 is 50 to 200 mJ / pulse, and the pulse width is 10 to 100 ns. The relative moving speed between the processing table 3 and the processing head 6 was set to 100 mm / s.
When the laser annealing apparatus 1 is started from this state, the control means controls the liquid supply means 5 and starts feeding the pure water in the water storage tank 21 toward the processing head 6 by the pump 22. A sufficient amount of pure water is supplied to the water storage tank 21 in advance from the water supply source 24.
When the pump 22 fills the liquid passage 45 in the processing head 6 through the accumulator 29 and the conduit 23 to the processing head 6, the pure water is injected from the injection hole 48 of the injection nozzle 42. The injected pure water becomes a liquid column W and reaches the amorphous silicon film 2b on the surface of the workpiece 2.
Then, the pure water that has reached the amorphous silicon film 2b spreads along the surface of the amorphous silicon film 2b, and the portion where laser annealing is performed is covered with the pure water.

In parallel with this, the control means controls the laser oscillator 4 and the laser oscillator 4 starts oscillation of the laser light L. At this time, the reflection mirror 11a of the shutter means 11 is located on the optical path of the oscillated laser beam L, the laser beam L is guided to the damper 11b by the reflection mirror 11a, and the energy of the laser beam L is absorbed. .
When the liquid column W ejected from the ejection hole 48 becomes stable after closing the electromagnetic opening / closing valve 28, the control unit immediately controls the shutter unit 11 to move the reflection mirror 11a out of the optical path of the laser beam L. Thus, the laser beam L is reflected by the reflection mirror 12 and then condensed by the condenser lens 13.
The condensed laser light L passes through the pure water in the glass plate 43 and the liquid passage 45, is further reflected by the first inclined surface 48 a of the injection hole 48, and is guided into the pure water formed in the liquid column W. Then, the amorphous silicon film 2b is irradiated while being repeatedly reflected in the liquid column W.

When the amorphous silicon film 2b is irradiated with the laser light L in this way, the portion irradiated with the laser light L is heated, and at the same time, it is rapidly cooled by the pure water of the liquid column W.
As a result, the amorphous silicon film 2b is annealed and crystallized to become a polysilicon film. Since the polysilicon film formed at this time is rapidly cooled by pure water supplied from the injection nozzle 42, the crystal grains become larger than that of laser annealing in a vacuum, and a polycrystal having high electron mobility. A silicon film can be obtained.
Further, since the portion irradiated with the laser light L is covered with the pure water of the liquid column W, the portion can be kept away from the atmosphere, and oxidation of the polysilicon film can be prevented.
Further, since the laser beam L is irradiated on the amorphous silicon film 2b while being repeatedly reflected in the liquid column W, the intensity of the laser beam L can be made uniform without using a beam homogenizer or the like. There is no need to adjust the focal length of the light precisely.

On the other hand, in the case of Patent Document 1, since the liquid is passed through the container and irradiated with the laser beam, the liquid must be replaced and replenished every time laser annealing is performed. A container for storage was required.
Further, in the case of Patent Document 1, since the substrate is located in the liquid, the amorphous silicon film does not come into contact with the atmosphere, but the liquid is not flowing. It will be high.
When the water temperature rises, the crystal grain of the polysilicon film cannot be enlarged without obtaining a rapid cooling effect, and a temperature boundary layer is formed in the liquid, so that the laser beam is refracted in the boundary layer. The problem of doing so will also occur.
In the case of Patent Documents 2 and 3, the chamber has to be evacuated each time laser annealing is performed, and equipment such as negative pressure generating means is required.
In Patent Documents 2 and 3, rapid cooling of the position irradiated with the laser beam could not be performed.

FIG. 3 shows a laser annealing apparatus 1 according to a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the laser annealing apparatus 1 has the same configuration except for the processing head 6 in the first embodiment. .
The processing head 106 according to the present embodiment includes a housing 141 that moves in the vertical direction by the elevating means, and an injection nozzle 142 that is provided in the lower portion of the housing 141.
A liquid passage 145 is formed inside the housing 141 and connected to the conduit 23 of the liquid supply means 5. A glass plate 143 that transmits the laser light L is fitted in the center of the upper surface of the housing 141. .
Inside the spray nozzle 142, a conical portion 142a that communicates with the liquid passage 145 and has a diameter reduced downward, and a columnar portion 142b that is positioned below the conical portion 142a are formed. .
The distance between the lower end 142c of the spray nozzle 142 and the upper surface of the amorphous silicon film 2b as the workpiece is about 1 mm, and the pure water supplied from the liquid supply means 5 flows into the liquid passage 145. After that, it is ejected from the cylindrical portion 142b of the ejection nozzle 142.
When the processing table 3 moves in the horizontal direction with respect to the processing head 106, the distance between the lower end portion 142c of the injection nozzle 142 and the upper surface of the amorphous silicon film 2b is kept constant.

When the laser annealing apparatus 1 of this embodiment is operated, the pure water sprayed through the liquid passage 145, the conical portion 142a, and the cylindrical portion 142b is in contact with the lower end portion 142c of the spray nozzle 142 and the amorphous silicon film 2b. And spread along the surface of the amorphous silicon film 2b.
When the laser beam L is irradiated from the laser oscillator 4 in this state, the laser beam L passes through the glass plate 143, is reflected by the conical portion 142a of the injection nozzle 142, and then repeats reflection in the cylindrical portion 142b. Irradiation is performed from the position of the lower end portion 142c of the injection nozzle.
At this time, since the gap between the lower end 142c and the amorphous silicon film 2b is narrow, the amorphous silicon film 2b is immediately irradiated with laser light, and as a result, laser annealing is performed to obtain a polysilicon film.
Also in the case of the present embodiment, since the pure water ejected from the ejection nozzle 142 spreads so as to cover the position where the laser light L is irradiated, the same effect as the first embodiment can be obtained, and the pure water Are sequentially supplied, so that the position irradiated with the laser beam L can be rapidly cooled.
With respect to the first embodiment, there is an effect that the liquid column W does not diffuse before reaching the amorphous silicon film 2b.

  In the above embodiment, the amorphous silicon film 2b is annealed. However, in addition to this, it is necessary to prevent the irradiated portion of the laser beam L from being oxidized, or the irradiated portion of the laser beam L must be rapidly cooled. It is possible to anneal even the material that does not become.

The block diagram of the laser annealing apparatus concerning a present Example. Sectional drawing about a processing head. Sectional drawing about the processing head which shows a 2nd Example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Laser annealing apparatus 2 Workpiece 2b Amorphous silicon film 4 Laser oscillator 6, 106 Processing head 42, 142 Injection nozzle L Laser beam W Liquid column

Claims (7)

In a laser annealing method for irradiating a surface of a workpiece with laser light and annealing the workpiece,
Injecting a liquid onto the workpiece, covering a required portion of the surface of the workpiece with the liquid, guiding laser light into the injected liquid, and irradiating the workpiece with the laser light A laser annealing method characterized by the above.   2. The work piece includes a substrate and an amorphous semiconductor film formed on the substrate, and is crystallized by irradiating the amorphous semiconductor film with a laser beam. The laser annealing method as described.   3. The laser annealing method according to claim 1, wherein the liquid is ejected in a liquid column state, and laser light is guided into the liquid column.   The laser annealing method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the laser beam is a harmonic of a YAG laser. In a laser annealing apparatus that includes a laser oscillator that oscillates laser light and performs annealing of the workpiece by irradiating the surface of the workpiece with laser light,
An injection nozzle for injecting liquid is provided on the workpiece, and the injection nozzle guides laser light to the injected liquid, and further covers a required portion of the surface of the workpiece by the liquid injected from the injection nozzle. A laser annealing apparatus characterized by that.   6. The workpiece according to claim 5, wherein the workpiece includes a substrate and an amorphous semiconductor film formed on the substrate, and is crystallized by irradiating the amorphous semiconductor film with a laser beam. The laser annealing apparatus as described.   The laser annealing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the spray nozzle sprays the liquid in a liquid column state and guides the laser beam to the liquid column.

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