The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 07, 1999
Filed:
Sep. 19, 1997
Masashi Maekawa, Vancouver, WA (US);
Jer-shen Maa, Vancouver, WA (US);
Sharp Laboratories of America, Inc., Camas, WA (US);
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A method for rapid thermally annealing a thin amorphous film on a transparent substrate with the use of a radiation absorption film is provided. Unlike a transmissive silicon thin film, or transparent substrate, the metal absorptive film has excellent radiation absorption characteristics. When a radiation absorption layer is added to the substrate it is possible to rapidly anneal an amorphous silicon film with convention IC process radiation lamps. The metal absorption film also acts to conduct the heat to the amorphous silicon. The control provided by the choice of metal material, metal thickness, the oxidation of the metal surface, and the heat and duration of the RTA process provide unique opportunities to control the crystallization process. Polysilicon made by the above-described method has the potential of high electron mobility and low production costs. A thin-film structure for use in a TFT, made through the above-described method, is also provided.