Sony Corporation

Toshiyuki Sameshima

Naoki Sano

Masaki Hara

Setsuo Usui

Dharam Pal Gosain

Mitsunobu Sekiya

Hiroshi Mori

Yasuhiro Kanaya

Ryuichi Ugajin

Jonathan Westwater

Michihisa Yano

Atsushi Kono

Gosain D Pal

Atsushi Kohno

A target semiconductor device can be obtained stably by reforming an insulating film and a semiconductor. In a process of manufacturing a semiconductor device, at least one of the semiconductor and the insulating film is reformed after an annealing process for annealing the semiconductor at a temperature ranging from 20 to 400&deg; C. in the atmosphere containing a gas of water (H O) with a partial pressure from 1 Torr to a saturated vapor pressure for an annealing time ranging from 15 seconds to 20 hours.

Process of manufacturing semiconductor device

A target semiconductor device can be obtained stably by reforming an insulating film and a semiconductor. In a process of manufacturing a semiconductor device, at least one of the semiconductor and the insulating film is reformed after an annealing process for annealing the semiconductor at a temperature ranging from 20 to 400&deg; C. in the atmosphere containing a gas of water (H,O) with a partial pressure from 1 Torr to a saturated vapor pressure for an annealing time ranging from 15 seconds to 20 hours.

Process of manufacturing semiconductor devices

The present invention is directed to a thin film transistor (TFT) structure having a channel region formed of a crystallized SiGe and is to provide a thin film transistor having a large carrier mobility. In this case, a channel region (4) is formed of a crystallized SiGe thin film.

Thin film transistor and manufacturing method of the thin film transistor

A semiconductor device advantageously has first and second oxidized silicon insulating layers formed on the surface of a substrate. A first oxidized silicon insulating layer is formed through a low temperature process and a second oxidized silicon insulating layer may be formed at a higher manufacturing process temperature. Advantageously, the first oxidized silicon insulating layer has a lower voltage resistance than the second oxidized silicon insulating layer.

Semiconductor device having first and second insulating layers

Semiconductor device having an improved thin film transistor

An insulation film-forming method comprising the steps of:

Insulation film-forming method for semiconductor device manufacturing

A method and an apparatus for fabricating a thin film semiconductor device are disclosed. An a-Si:H thin film produced on a wafer is melting-recrystallized by irradiating a laser beam to it in a laser annealing chamber to produce a polycrystalline Si thin film. The wafer is then transported to a CVD chamber without exposing it to the outside air. A gate insulating film is produced on a clean surface of the polycrystalline Si thin film in the CVD chamber. In another case, an a-Si:H thin film is melting-recrystallized in the laser annealing chamber to produce a polycrystalline Si thin film and then the wafer is transported to a hydrogenating chamber without exposing it to the outside air. Thereafter the polycrystalline Si thin film is plasma hydrogenated in the hydrogenating chamber. The method and apparatus can fabricate thin film semiconductor devices having a high performance and a high reliability with a good uniformity by making a clean and high quality semiconductor/insulator interface or by hydrogenating a semiconductor thin film without changes in electrical conductivity.

Method and apparatus for fabricating a thin film semiconductor device

A field effect transistor has a quantum dot array in its channel region. The quantum dot array is composed of a plurality of quantum dots arranged adjacent to each other on a common plane. Each quantum dot may be made of heterojunction of compound semiconductors or junction of a semiconductor and an insulator. The field effect transistor has a differential negative resistance.

Field effect transistor having channel with plural quantum boxes

Method of manufacturing Si-Ge thin film transistor

In a heating method for semiconductor devices, gas is filled in a heat chamber in which a heat target (semiconductor device) is mounted, and then the gas is compressed to produce heat. The heat target is heated to a desired temperature by the produced heat. Before the gas compression is performed, the heat target is preferably pre-heated by a heater.

Heating method and manufacturing method for semiconductor device

An active layer of an insulated-gate type field effect transistor is formed by a thin film of an intrinsic polycrystalline semiconductor and a source electrode and a drain electrode are formed on the active layer. A source region and a drain region are not formed in the active layer. A main gate electrode is formed on a gate insulating film of a portion between the source electrode and the drain electrode. Subgate electrodes are formed on the gate insulating film in a portion between the source electrode and the main gate electrode and a portion between the drain electrode and the main gate electrode, respectively.

Insulated-gate-type field effect transistor which has subgates that have

A thin semiconductor film having at least one an edge is formed on a base whose material is different from the material of the thin semiconductor film. A laser beam, for example, is applied to the semiconductor film thereby to melt the semiconductor film including the edge for thereby beading the edge upwardly. The melted semiconductor film including the edge is solidified and hence recrystallized into a semiconductor crystal. A plurality of spaced reflecting films may be formed on the thin semiconductor film before the laser beam is applied. Various semiconductor devices including a thin-film transistor, a solar cell, and a bipolar transistor may be fabricated of the semiconductor crystal.

Method of forming semiconductor crystal and semiconductor device

A plasma system which eliminates damage derived from charged particles in the plasma and which is able to perform uniform plasma CVD and plasma etching on a large area substrate, wherein a mesh plate having a plurality of holes is placed at the interface of a plasma generation chamber and a substrate treatment chamber which holds a substrate, a high frequency electrical field being applied between an upper electrode in the plasma generation chamber and the mesh plate so as to disassociate the plasma forming gas by electrodischarge so as to cause the generation of plasma. By this, the plasma is isolated from the substrate. On the other hand, source gas supply ports are opened near the holes of the mesh plate, the source gas being introduced from there being brought into contact with the plasma through the holes, whereby the reaction product can be uniformly produced in a broad area. If the reaction product is a deposit-like substance, plasma CVD becomes possible, while if of the etching type, plasma etching becomes possible.

Plasma system comprising hollow mesh plate electrode

A method of crystallizing a semiconductor thin film moves a laser beam emitted by a pulse laser in a first direction to irradiate the semiconductor tin film with the laser beam for scanning. The laser beam is split into a plurality of secondary laser beams of a width smaller than the pitch of step feed, respectively having different energy densities forming a stepped energy density distribution decreasing from the middle toward the opposite ends thereof with respect to the direction of step feed. The energy density of the first secondary laser beam corresponding to the middle of the energy distribution is higher than a threshold energy density, i.e., the minimum energy density that will melt the semiconductor thin film to make the same amorphous, and lower than a roughening energy density, i.e., the minimum energy density that will roughen the surface of the semiconductor thin film, the energy density of each of the secondary laser beams on the front side of the first secondary laser beam with respect to the direction of step feed is lower than a melting energy density, i.e., the minimum energy density of each of the secondary laser beams on the back side of the first secondary laser beam with respect to the direction of step feed is higher than the melting energy density and lower than and nearly equal to the threshold energy density.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Toshiyuki Sameshima