Ihi Corporation

Other

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.

Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co., Ltd.

Ishikawajima-harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd.

Kenichiro Nishida

Norihito Kawaguchi

Miyuki Masaki

Ryusuke Kawakami

Masaru Morita

Koichiro Tanaka

Atsushi Yoshinouchi

Syunsuke Suma

Takehito Yagi

Shingo Hosoda

Mikito Ishii

Setsuo Nakajima

Gaku Fujihashi

Jun Izawa

Zinc oxide powder of the present invention contains zinc oxide particles, in which primary particles of the zinc oxide particles have a minor axis of 35 nm or more and 350 nm or less and have a Heywood diameter of 35 nm or more and 400 nm or less, and a coefficient of variation of a number distribution of the Heywood diameters of the primary particles of the zinc oxide powder is 50% or less.

Zinc oxide powder, dispersion, composition, and cosmetic

In a zinc oxide powder of the present invention, a content of a water-soluble substance is 0.30% by mass or less, and a mass ratio between an alkali metal and an alkaline earth metal which are included in the water-soluble substance is in a range of 1:2 to 10:1.

Zinc oxide powder, dispersion, and cosmetics

Disclosed are a laser annealing method and apparatus capable of forming a crystalline semiconductor thin film on the entire surface of a substrate without sacrificing the uniformity of crystallinity in a seam portion in a long-axis direction of laser light, the crystalline semiconductor thin film having good properties and high uniformity to an extent that the seam portion is not visually recognizable. During the irradiation of a linear beam, portions corresponding to the edges of the linear beam are shielded by a maskwhich is disposed on the optical path of a laser light, and the maskis operated so that the amount of shielding is periodically increased and decreased.

Laser annealing method and apparatus

A laser annealing apparatus is provided that is capable of reducing irradiation unevenness of laser light caused by a refraction phenomenon of the laser light due to fluctuation in the temperature of inert gas. The laser annealing apparatus includes a gas supply unit for supplying inert gas G to at least a laser irradiation area of a workpiece, and a gas temperature controller for regulating the temperature of the inert gas G. The gas temperature controller controls the temperature of the inert gas G supplied to the laser irradiation area so as to decrease a temperature difference between the temperature of the inert gas G and the atmospheric temperature of a space (a room R) that is disposed outside the supply area of the inert gas so the temperature controlled inert gas surrounds the optical path of the laser light.

Laser annealing apparatus

The energy distribution in the short-side direction of a rectangular laser beam applied to an amorphous semiconductor film (amorphous silicon film) is uniformized. It is possible to the energy distribution in the short-side direction of the rectangular laser beam by the use of a cylindrical lens array or a light guide and concentrating optical systems or by the use of an optical system including a diffracting optical element. Accordingly, since the effective energy range of a laser beam applied to the amorphous semiconductor film is widened and the transport speed of a substrate can be enhanced as much, it is possible to improve the processing ability of the laser annealing.

Laser annealing method and laser annealing device

In the case of a lens array type homogenizer optical system, the incident angle and intensity of a laser beamentering a large-sized lens (long-axis condenser lens) of a long-axis condensing optical system, which is provided on the rear side, are changed for every shot by performing laser irradiation while long-axis lens arraysandare reciprocated in a direction corresponding to a long axial direction of a linear beam (X-direction). Therefore, vertical stripes are significantly reduced. Further, the incident angle and intensity of a laser beamentering a large-sized lens (projection lens) of a short-axis condensing optical system, which is provided on the rear side, are changed for every shot by performing laser irradiation while short-axis lens arraysandare reciprocated in a direction corresponding to a short axial direction of a linear beam (Y-direction). Therefore, horizontal stripes are significantly reduced.

In laser annealing using a solid state laser, a focus position of a minor axial direction of a rectangular beam is easily corrected depending on positional variation of a laser irradiated portion of a semiconductor film. By using a minor-axis condenser lenscondensing incident light in a minor axial direction and a projection lensprojecting light, which comes from the minor-axis condenser lens, onto a surface of a semiconductor film, laser beamis condensed on the surface of the semiconductor filmin the minor axial direction of a rectangular beam. The positional variation of a vertical direction of the semiconductor filmin a laser irradiated portion of the semiconductor filmis detected by a positional variation detector, and the minor-axis condenser lensis moved in an optical axis direction based on a value of the detection.

Laser annealing method and laser annealing apparatus

The energy distribution in the short-side direction of a rectangular laser beam applied to an amorphous semiconductor film (amorphous silicon film) is uniformized. It is possible to the energy distribution in the short-side direction of the rectangular laser beam by the use of a cylindrical lens arrayor a light guideand concentrating optical systemsandor by the use of an optical system including a diffracting optical element. Accordingly, since the effective energy range of a laser beam applied to the amorphous semiconductor film is widened and the transport speed of a substratecan be enhanced as much, it is possible to improve the processing ability of the laser annealing.

An object of the present invention is to provide a laser annealing method and apparatus capable of performing uniform beam emission. By means of the present invention, uniform beam application to a sample can be achieved because a linear cross-sectional configuration can be created in an optical system with a beam having a Gaussian distribution while areas of strong light intensity are avoided by rotating the beam from a laser light source at a prescribed angle by means of rotating means even when the beam pattern of the beam from the laser light source has a non-uniform intensity distribution.

Method and apparatus for laser annealing configurations of a beam

A laser irradiation apparatus having a low running cost compared to the conventional, and a laser irradiation method using the laser irradiation apparatus, are provided. Crystal grains having a size in the same order as, or greater than, conventional grains are formed. The cooling speed of a semiconductor film is made slower, and it becomes possible to form crystal grains having a grain size in the same order as, or greater than, the size of grains formed in the case of irradiating laser light having a long output time to the semiconductor film. This is achieved by delaying one laser light with respect to another laser light, combining the laser lights, and performing irradiation to the semiconductor film in the case of irradiating laser light using a solid state laser as a light source, which has a short output time.

Laser irradiation apparatus and method of laser irradiation

Disclosed is a laser irradiating apparatus which forms a laser beam having an improved and uniform energy distribution on or near its irradiation surface in case where a laser oscillator having a high coherence is used. The laser irradiating apparatus forms a laser beam having a cyclic energy distribution by intentionally forming interference fringes on or near the irradiation surface by utilizing a high coherence, so that the energy distribution of the laser beam is cyclically repeated. From a macro viewpoint, such a laser beam can be considered as having a uniform energy distribution.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Kenichiro Nishida