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:
Apr. 02, 2002
Filed:
Feb. 16, 2000
Andrew M. Hawryluk, Los Altos Hills, CA (US);
Weijian Wang, San Jose, CA (US);
David G. Stites, Los Altos, CA (US);
Yu Chue Fong, Fremont, CA (US);
Ultratech Stepper, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
An method of and apparatus ( ) for performing laser thermal processing (LTP) of a workpiece ( ) having one or more workpiece fields ( ). The apparatus includes a pulsed, solid state laser light source ( ) having more than 1000 spatial modes (M) and capable of emitting one or more pulses of radiation with a temporal pulse length between 1 nanosecond and 1 microsecond, a workpiece stage ( ) for supporting the workpiece, and an illumination optical system having an exposure field ( ). The system is arranged between the laser light source and the workpiece stage so as to illuminate within the exposure field at least one of the one or more workpiece fields with the one or more pulses of radiation, with an irradiance uniformity of less than ±5%. The method and apparatus is particularly well-suited for LTP processing of workpieces which require a single pulse or only a few pulses of high-irradiance radiation. Other applications of the present invention include rapid thermal annealing of semiconductor devices in semiconductor device manufacturing and processing, recording information in storage media, and, in general, conditioning surfaces.