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:
Oct. 25, 2005
Filed:
Jul. 22, 2004
Apostolos T. Voutsas, Vancouver, WA (US);
Mark A. Crowder, Portland, OR (US);
Yasuhiro Mitani, Osaka, JP;
Apostolos T. Voutsas, Vancouver, WA (US);
Mark A. Crowder, Portland, OR (US);
Yasuhiro Mitani, Osaka, JP;
Sharp Laboratories of America, Inc., Camas, WA (US);
Abstract
A wide-slit lateral growth projection mask, projection system, and corresponding crystallization process are provided. The mask includes an opaque region with at least one a transparent slit in the opaque region. The slit has a width in the range of 10X to 50X micrometers, with respect to a X:1 demagnification system, and a triangular-shaped slit end. The triangular-shaped slit end has a triangle height and an aspect ratio in the range of 0.5 to 5. The aspect ratio is defined as triangle height/slit width. In some aspects, the triangular-shaped slit end includes one or more opaque blocking features. In another aspect, the triangular-shaped slit end has stepped-shaped sides. The overall effect of the mask is to promote uniformly oriented grain boundaries, even in the film areas annealed under the slit ends.