Laser heat treatment method, laser heat treatment apparatus, and semiconductor device

DETAILED DESCRIPTION A laser heat treatment method according to one aspect of the present invention comprises the steps of: forming a laser beam generated from a pulse laser source having a wavelength of 350 nm to 800 nm into a linear beam having a width and length; and directing the linear beam onto a film material formed on a substrate.
According to this laser heat treatment method, a high-quality thin film having a large crystal grain size can be stably obtained.
In the laser heat treatment method of the present invention, the length of the linear beam is preferably ten times or more of the width thereof.
In this case, lateral crystal growth can be reliably achieved, whereby a high-quality polycrystalline film can be obtained.
A laser heat treatment method according to another aspect of the present invention comprises the steps of: forming a laser beam generated from a pulse laser source having a wavelength of 350 nm to 800 nm into a linear beam having a width and length; and directing the linear beam onto a film material formed On a substrate, wherein the linear beam has an energy density gradient of 3 mJ/cm.
sup.
2 /.
mu.
m or more in the width direction thereof.
According to this laser heat treatment method, a higher-quality thin film having a larger crystal grain size can be stably obtained.
In the laser heat treatment method according to the another aspect of the present invention, an energy-density distribution in the width direction of the linear beam preferably has an approximately Gaussian profile.
In this case, a post-anneal effect can be expected to be obtained.
In the laser heat treatment method according to the another aspect of the present invention, an energy-density distribution in the width direction of the linear beam preferably has an approximately top-flat profile.
In this case, a peak value that causes ablation is suppressed, so that a gradient of the irradiation energy-density distribution can be increased.
In the laser heat treatment method according to the another aspect of the present invention, an energy-density distribution in the length direction of the linear beam preferably has an approximately top-flat profile of which standard deviation is 0