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Abstract

A materials-processing system based on projection irradiation using a pulsed-laser source is disclosed. The salient features include a novel illumination system containing a homogenizer that produces a self-luminous light beam of selected cross-section, spatially uniform intensity, and selected numerical aperture, as well as a novel high-efficiency, energy-recycling exposure system that provides pulse-duration extension. The output of the pulsed-laser source is shaped, optionally attenuated, and homogenized, and the pulse duration is extended by the illumination system, including beam-shaping optics, homogenizer, and optionally a condenser lens or pulse-extender-plate (PEP). The illumination is imaged either onto the mask, which is in turn imaged onto the substrate, or the illumination is imaged onto the substrate directly. The high-fluence irradiation effects a desired physical change in the material, for example melting and solidification as required in the sequential lateral solidification (SLS) process. Concurrently, the substrate and/or mask are translated, in a manner precisely coordinated with the laser pulses, as dictated by the particular process being conducted. The high efficiency of the illumination system, combined with the ability to shape the homogeneous illumination into a variety of shapes, such as a high-aspect-ratio rectangle, for example, and the pulse-duration extension, renders the system uniquely capable of executing various materials-processing operations, such as SLS, post-doping annealing, and ablation in a high-throughput manner.

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First Claim