Plasma generator, annealing device, deposition crystallization apparatus and annealing process

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9865435-B2
Application number	US-201515035074-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 13, 2015
Priority date	May 18, 2015
Publication date	Jan 9, 2018
Grant date	Jan 9, 2018

Abstract

A plasma generator, a plasma annealing device, a deposition crystallization apparatus and a plasma annealing process are disclosed. The plasma generator includes: a gas chamber; a gas intake member configured to introduce a gas into the gas chamber; a cathode and an anode that are configured to apply an electric field to the gas introduced into the gas chamber to ionize the gas into plasma; a cooling water circulation member configured to control a temperature of the plasma generator; and a plasma beam outlet disposed on a top face of the gas chamber. The plasma annealing device including the plasma generator can generate a plasma beam, which can be used in annealing to amorphous silicon and crystallize the amorphous silicon to polycrystalline silicon.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A plasma annealing device comprising a vacuum chamber and a plasma generator, the plasma generator comprising:
a gas chamber;
a gas intake member configured to introduce a gas into the gas chamber;
a cathode and an anode that are configured to apply an electric field to the gas introduced into the gas chamber to ionize the gas into plasma;
a cooling water circulation member configured to control a temperature of the plasma generator; and
a plasma beam outlet disposed on a top face of the gas chamber;
wherein the plasma annealing device further comprises a first electrode plate and a second electrode plate that are disposed on the vacuum chamber and configured to apply an accelerating electric field to the plasma.

2. The plasma annealing device according to claim 1 , further comprising a magnetic member that is disposed on a path of a plasma beam of the plasma generator and configured to apply a magnetic field to the plasma beam.

3. The plasma annealing device according to claim 1 , further comprising a controller and a platform configured to bear a substrate, wherein the controller is configured to control the platform to move in a three-dimensional space.

4. A deposition crystallization apparatus comprising a chemical vapor deposition device and the plasma annealing device according to claim 1 , wherein the vacuum chamber of the plasma annealing device is combined with a vacuum chamber of the chemical vapor deposition device.

5. The deposition crystallization apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the platform is disposed above the plasma generator, and a turnover mechanism is disposed in the vacuum chamber of the chemical vapor deposition device or in the vacuum chamber of the plasma annealing device.

6. The plasma annealing device according to claim 1 , wherein the anode is disposed in the gas chamber, the cathode is provided as a top face of the gas chamber or is disposed on the top face of the gas chamber.

7. The plasma annealing device according to claim 1 , wherein the anode and the cathode are replaceable or have an adjustable size.

8. The plasma annealing device according to claim 1 , further comprising an insulating plate, wherein the insulating plate is disposed below the anode.

9. The plasma annealing device according to claim 1 , wherein the cooling water circulation member comprises a cooling water pipe, and the cooling water pipe is disposed in the anode and in a side wall of the gas chamber.

10. A plasma annealing process comprising:
performing an annealing process to a substrate that is provided with an amorphous silicon thin film by adopting plasma to crystallize the amorphous silicon to form polycrystalline silicon; and
before the annealing process, further comprising baking the substrate being provided with an amorphous silicon thin film;
wherein a vacuum chamber of a plasma annealing device is combined with a vacuum chamber of a chemical vapor deposition device, and
before the annealing process to the substrate that is provided with an amorphous silicon thin film, no cleaning process is performed to the substrate after the substrate is baked.

11. The plasma annealing process according to claim 10 , wherein the plasma is applied with an accelerating electric field.

12. The plasma annealing process according to claim 11 , wherein the plasma annealing device further comprising a first electrode plate and a second electrode plate that are disposed on the vacuum chamber and configured to apply the accelerating electric field to the plasma.

13. The plasma annealing process according to claim 10 , wherein the plasma is argon plasma.

14. The plasma annealing process according to claim 10 , wherein the plasma annealing process is performed in a plasma annealing device, the plasma annealing device comprises a vacuum chamber and a plasma generator in the vacuum chamber; and
the plasma generator comprises: a gas chamber; a gas intake member configured to introduce a gas into the gas chamber; a cathode and an anode that are configured to apply an electric field to the gas introduced into the gas chamber to ionize the gas into plasma; a cooling water circulation member configured to control a temperature of the plasma generator; and a plasma beam outlet disposed on a top face of the gas chamber.

15. The plasma annealing process according to claim 14 , wherein a voltage of the electric field between the cathode and the anode is in a range of 1.0-3.0 KV.

16. The plasma annealing process according to claim 14 , wherein the substrate that is provided with an amorphous silicon thin film is disposed above or below the plasma generator.

17. The plasma annealing process according to claim 16 , wherein a distance between the plasma generator and the substrate being provided with an amorphous silicon thin film is in a range of 1-10 mm.

18. The plasma annealing process according to claim 17 , wherein the distance between the plasma generator and the substrate being provided with an amorphous silicon thin film is 3 mm.

Assignees

• Boe Technology Group Co Ltd

Inventors

• Tian Xiangjun
• Fujino Seiji

Classifications

• H10P14/382

  Scanning of a beam · CPC title

• H10P14/3818

  using particle beams · CPC title

• H10P14/3454

  Amorphous · CPC title

• H10P14/3411

  Silicon, silicon germanium or germanium · CPC title

• H01L21/02532

  Electricity · mapped topic