Hitachi, Ltd.

Akira Shintani

Yasuo Wada

Masahiko Ogirima

Hidekazu Okuhira

Yusuke Yajima

Keizo Suzuki

Eiichi Maruyama

Nobuyoshi Natsuaki

Seiichi Murayama

Yoichi Tamaki

Yasuhiro Shiraki

Toshikazu Shimada

Masao Tamura

Kiyonori Ohyu

Katsumi Takami

Yoshimasa Murayama

Yoshifumi Katayama

Hirokazu Matsubara

Takao Miyazaki

Akitoshi Ishizaka

Kiyoshi Miyake

Tadashi Suzuki

Kanji Tsujii

Seiichi Isomae

Kyo Suda

Mitsuo Nanba

Michiyoshi Maki

Hirotsugu Kozuka

Shinobu Hase

Shoji Syukuri

An equipment for manufacturing semiconductor devices has: a reaction chamber in which a substrate to be processed is placed; means for evacuating the reaction chamber; means for introducing a reaction gas into the reaction chamber; means for applying polarized light to the surface of the substrate for the purpose of depositing a thin film on the surface of the substrate using a photochemical reaction between the light and the reaction gas; and means for adjusting the direction of polarization of the light so as to be substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of a stepped circuit pattern present on the surface of the substrate for the purpose of flattening the circuit pattern.

Equipment for manufacturing semiconductor devices

A method of forming a thin film wherein a gas which contains an element used to constitute a desired thin film as at least a part of its constituent elements or a condensed solid layer of this gas is irradiated with a high output power laser beam to dissociate the gas or the solid layer of the gas and thereby locally produce a plasma, and a substrate is irradiated with reactive particles produced in the plasma, thereby obtaining a highly-pure high-quality thin film. Also disclosed is an apparatus for realizing this method.

Method of and apparatus for forming a thin film

First conductivity type impurity ions are implanted at a predetermined depth all over a region where impurity ions are to be implanted, and second conductivity type impurity ions are implanted in a dose about twice as large as that of the first conductivity type impurity ions at substantially the same implantation depth of the first conductivity type impurity ions, followed by annealing. In this way, mutually contiguous first and second conductivity type regions having substantially the same impurity concentrations and located at substantially the same depths are formed.

Method of forming twin doped regions of the same depth by high energy

A thin film solar cell formed on a substrate, comprising at least first and second electrodes, at least one of which is capable of passing light, a silicon film interposed between said first and second electrodes, and at least one junction formed in the silicon film for separating electrons and positive holes when the cell is exposed to light, wherein said silicon film comprises a mixed phase consisting of a polycrystalline phase and an amorphous phase, and includes at least about 50% by volume of fibrous crystalline grains, each of said grains having a maximum bottom diameter of about 1 .mu.m and a minimum height of about 50 nm and having its grain boundaries terminated with a monovalent element. The solar cell has a high photoelectric conversion efficiency comparable to that of a single-crystal solar cell, and can be produced at a low cost.

Thin film solar cell

Alumina or aluminum is arranged on, or in the vicinity of, a wafer surface into which an impurity, particularly antimony, is to be diffused, and the impurity is vapor-diffused. The impurity can be diffused in much larger quantities than in a prior art vapor diffusion, and a very low sheet resistance for the diffused layer of antimony can be attained.

Method of diffusing an impurity

A germanium-containing silicon nitride film has a germanium content of 0.5 to 10 atomic-% that of the silicon content. Since the film has a much smaller stress than a conventional silicon nitride (Si.sub.3 N.sub.4) film, it is very suitable as a mask for fabricating a semiconductor device and an insulating or a protective film for a semiconductor device.

Germanium-containing silicon nitride film

In forming a film of a purposive substance on a substrate by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD), the size of the film-forming substance particles formed in a reactor is detected as an electrical signal and flow rates of respective gases introduced into the reactor are controlled in response to this electrical signal. According to this control method, the fogging phenomenon owing to formation of the film-forming substance in the gas flow can be effectively prevented.

Method for controlling chemical vapor deposition

Growing community of inventors

Machida, Japan

Akira Shintani