Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US20050074974?dq=4316055
Timestamp: 2017-03-27 11:52:57
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Patent US20050074974 - Semiconductor manufacturing using optical ablation - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inPatentsThe present invention relates to methods and systems for ablation based material removal configuration for use in semiconductor manufacturing that includes the steps of generating an initial wavelength-swept-with-time optical pulse in an optical pulse generator, amplifying the initial pulse, compressing...http://www.google.com/patents/US20050074974?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US20050074974 - Semiconductor manufacturing using optical ablationAdvanced Patent SearchTry the new Google Patents, with machine-classified Google Scholar results, and Japanese and South Korean patents.Publication numberUS20050074974 A1Publication typeApplicationApplication numberUS 10/957,271Publication dateApr 7, 2005Filing dateOct 1, 2004Priority dateOct 2, 2003Also published asUS7115514Publication number10957271, 957271, US 2005/0074974 A1, US 2005/074974 A1, US 20050074974 A1, US 20050074974A1, US 2005074974 A1, US 2005074974A1, US-A1-20050074974, US-A1-2005074974, US2005/0074974A1, US2005/074974A1, US20050074974 A1, US20050074974A1, US2005074974 A1, US2005074974A1InventorsRichard StoltzOriginal AssigneeRichard StoltzExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (99), Referenced by (48), Classifications (12), Legal Events (9) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetSemiconductor manufacturing using optical ablation
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [0020] The present invention provides a method for semiconductor manufacturing techniques using short pulse optical ablation of wafer surfaces (e.g., silicon, GaAs, InP substrates or combinations thereof) for apparently the first time. The use of optical ablation type of material removal allows the removal of any type of material including hard to dry-etch materials (e.g., copper, noble metals and even diamond). Additionally, the optical ablation can done with minimal-temperature rise, high-accuracy (e.g., to avoid thermal effects during machining) and minimal-pressure. [0021] The present invention can use optical ablation scribing to significantly reduced chip breakage. The prior art methods of scribing induce chipping of the surface giving a rough surface and high-stress areas and strains in the material. As a result, the wafer often cracks in places other than along the scribe line. Optical ablation of the present invention produces a smooth “scribe” surface without introducing strains in the wafer. [0022] The ability to ablate any material with dry removal avoids problems of melting or wet-etching (including capillary action) and the problems of hydrocarbon removal during surface cleaning. The present invention may be combined with conventional methods of pre-cleaning if desired. Additionally, the present invention allows surface layers with crystal defects from sawing, chemical-mechanical polishing, and normal cleaning techniques can be removed without causing defects in the newly exposed surface. The optical beam also causes ionization of both the surface and any particles on the surface and, thus, can repel particles larger than the light wavelength. As the top few monolayers of the surface are removed, the atoms leave at high velocity removing the sub-micron particles, which are smaller than the wavelength of the light. One embodiment allows the optical ablation spot to be scanned during cleaning, thus increasing the effective area of ablation. The optical ablation spot is scanned by one or more piezoelectrically driven mirrors or one or more piezoelectrically driven mirror and a motor driven stage (that gives relative motion between the optical beam-emitting probe and the wafer). [0023] The optical ablation can be used in a wide range of semiconductor processing. For example, Auger-type material composition sensing may be done with high accuracy as the present invention avoids the limitations caused by the normal Auger thermal distortions. Optical ablation material removal (e.g., etching, line or groove formation) may be done to a precise depth using material sensing of a stop-indication buried layer. The present invention allows multi-process lithography steps to be eliminated, reducing processing time, especially in prototyping and lower volume production. Additionally, hard to dry-etch materials (e.g., copper or noble metals) can be patterned without using liquids, thus, avoiding problems, such as capillary action, associated with melting or wet-etching. Optical ablation material removal is not limited by the use of a blade to remove the material, thus, allowing the removal of a thin slice of material compared to removed using a conventional sawing. The quality of the removal of the material is increased as dull, damaged or inefficient blades are not used. The related maintenance (e.g., blade replacement) is also eliminated as there is never a need to replace blades. In ablative cutting, the beam can be introduced at a perpendicular or non-perpendicular angle. Optical ablative ionization of air above one or more contact pads can allow probe-less electrical testing of individual chips, e.g., on a grounded wafer. Ablation can provide individual chip tuning by trimming capacitors or resistors without inducing extraneous thermal effects on the circuit or do fuse “blowing” (cutting links) to customize circuits. [0024] High ablative pulse repetition rates are preferred and the total pulses per second (the total system repetition rate) from the one or more parallel optical amplifiers is preferably greater than about 0.6 million pulses per second. The use of about a one (1) nanosecond pulse with an optically-pumped pulse amplifier and air optical-compressor (e.g., a Treacy grating compressor) typically gives compression with about a 40% losses. At less than one (1) nanosecond, the losses in a Treacy grating compressor are generally lower. If the other-than-compression losses are about 10%, two (2) nanoJoules are needed from the amplifier to get one (1) nanoJoule on the target. The present invention may use a 1550 nm light for safety purposes, however other wavelength may be used. The use of greater than one (1) nanosecond pulses in an air optical-compressor presents two problems; the difference in path length for the extremes of long and short wavelengths needs to be more than about three (3) cm and thus the compressor is large and expensive, and the losses increase with a greater degree of compression. In other embodiments, a chirped fiber Bragg gratings can be used in place of the Treacy gratings for stretching and/or compressing. [0025] The initial pulse may be generated using a semiconductor and a SOA preamplifier to amplify the initial pulse before splitting to drive multiple amplifiers may be used. Additionally, ablation of a smaller spot may be scanned to get a larger effective ablation area. The resulting scanned spot may be smaller than in the fiber-amplifier case. The present invention may use parallel amplifiers to generate a train of pulses and increases the ablation rate by further increasing the effective repetition rate, while avoiding thermal problems and allowing control of the ablation rate by the use of a lesser number of operating amplifiers. The system of the present invention may be operated with pulse energy densities on the surface of about three times the materials ablation threshold for greater ablation efficiency. [0026] Ablative material removal often has an ablation threshold of less than one (1) Joule per square centimeter, but may occasionally require removal of material with an ablation threshold of up to about two (2) Joules per square centimeter. The use of more than one amplifier in parallel train mode allows pulses from one amplifier to be delayed to arrive one or more nanoseconds after those from another amplifier. At lower desired powers, one or more amplifiers can be shut off (e.g., the optical pumping to an optically-pumped pulse amplifier), and there will be fewer pulses per train. For example, with twenty (20) amplifiers there would be a maximum of twenty (20) pulses in a train, however many embodiments may use only three or four amplifiers and three or four pulses per train. [0027] Generally, the optically-pumped pulse amplifiers are optically-pumped continuous wave (CW) and are amplifying perhaps 100,000 times per second in 1 nanosecond pulses. Alternately, non-CW-pumping might be used in operating amplifiers, with amplifiers operate in a staggered fashion,, e.g., one on for a first half-second period and then turned off for a second half-second period, and another amplifier, dormant during the first-period, turned on during the second period, and so forth, to spread the heat load. [0028] The present system allows control of input optical signal power into the optical amplifier, optical pumping power of optically-pumped pulse amplifiers, timing of input pulses, length of input pulses, and timing between start of optical pumping and start of optical signals into the optical amplifier to control pulse power and the average degree of energy storage in fiber. [0029] Many optically-pumped pulse amplifiers have a maximum power of four (4) MW, and thus a ten (10) microjoule-ablation pulse could be as short as two (2) picoseconds. Thus, a ten (10) picoseconds, ten (10) microjoule pulse, at 500 kHz (or 50 microjoule with 100 kHz), and, if heating becomes a problem, operating in a train mode and switching optically-pumped pulse amplifiers. For example, optically-pumped pulse amplifier system may rotate the operation of ten (10) optically-pumped pulse amplifiers such that only five (5) were operating at any one time (e.g., each on for {fraction (1/10)}th of a second and off for {fraction (1/10)}th of a second). In another embodiment, ten optically-pumped pulse amplifiers may be used with time spaced inputs,, e.g., by one (1) ns, to give a train of one to ten pulses. One example includes a five (5) W amplifiers operating at one hundred (100) kHz and fifty (50) microjoules this could step between one hundred (100) kHz and one (1) MHz. With 50% post-amplifier optical efficiency and fifty (50) microjoules, to get six (6) Joule per square centimeter on the target, the spot size would be about twenty (20) microns. [0030] Another example includes a five (5) W amplifiers operating at 20 kHz and 250 microjoules and with ten (10) optically-pumped pulse amplifiers this could step between 20 kHz and 200 kHz. With about 50% post-amplifier optical efficiency and 250 microjoules, to get six (6) J/sq. cm on the target, the spot size would be about fifty (50) microns. The amplified pulse might be 100 to 250 picoseconds long. One embodiment of the present invention provides thirty (30) optically-pumped pulse amplifiers that could step between 20 kHz and 600 kHz. [0031] In one embodiment, the pulse generator is used to control the input repetition rate of the optically-pumped pulse amplifiers to tune energy per pulse to about three times threshold per pulse. Alternatively, a sub-picosecond pulse may be generated and time-stretched within semiconductor pulse generator to give the wavelength-swept-with-time initial pulse for the optically-pumped pulse amplifier. Another alternate is to measure light leakage from the delivery fiber to get a feedback proportional to pulse power and/or energy for control purposes. [0032] The optically-pumped optical pulse amplifiers can be controlled as in co-pending provisional applications and may including those used to pump optical devices and in general may include such shapes as slabs, discs, and rods. Additionally, the lamp-pumping can be controlled by controlling the pumping lamps in a manner similar to that of controlling pump diode current. In one embodiment, the active-diode diode pump-current is used to control the amplification of an active mirror. Generally optical pump device (e.g., diodes or lamps) current is controlled either directly or indirectly by controlling voltage, power, energy or combinations thereof. As used herein, controlling current can include shutting off one or more optical pump devices, when multiple pump devices are used. [0033] These optical amplifiers can be in systems described, operated, controlled, and/or used in systems in generally the same manner as the fiber amplifier of the four co-pending and co-owned applications noted below by docket number, title and provisional number, were filed May 20, 2003 and are hereby incorporated by reference herein: Docket number ABI-1 Laser Machining provisional application No. 60/471,922; ABI-4 “Camera Containing Medical Tool,” provisional application No. 60/472,071; ABI-6 “Scanned Small Spot Ablation With A High-Rep-Rate” provisional application No. 60/471,972; ABI-7 “Stretched Optical Pulse Amplification and Compression,” provisional application No. 60/471,971. These amplifiers can be controlled and/or used in systems in generally the same manner as the fiber amplifier of the eleven co-pending applications noted below by docket number, title and provisional number, were filed Aug. 11, 2003 and are hereby incorporated by reference herein: ABI-8 “Controlling Repetition Rate Of Fiber Amplifier”—provisional application No. 60/494,102; ABI-9 “Controlling Pulse Energy Of A Fiber Amplifier By Controlling Pump Diode Current” provisional application No. 60/494,275; ABI-10 “Pulse Energy Adjustment For Changes In Ablation Spot Size” provisional application No. 60/494,274; ABI-11 “Ablative Material Removal With A Preset Removal Rate or Volume or Depth” provisional application No. 60/494,273; ABI-12 “Fiber Amplifier With A Time Between Pulses Of A Fraction Of The Storage Lifetime”; ABI-13 “Man-Portable Optical Ablation System” provisional application No. 60/494321; ABI-14 “Controlling Temperature Of A Fiber Amplifier By Controlling Pump Diode Current” provisional application No. 60/494,322; ABI-15 “Altering The Emission Of An Ablation Beam for Safety or Control” provisional application No. 60/494,267; ABI-16 “Enabling Or Blocking The Emission Of An Ablation Beam Based On Color Of Target Area” provisional application No. 60/494,172; ABI-17 “Remotely-Controlled Ablation of Surfaces” provisional application No. 60/494,276 and ABI-18 “Ablation Of A Custom Shaped Area” provisional application No. 60/494,180. These amplifiers can be controlled and/or used in systems in generally the same manner as the fiber amplifier of the two co-pending applications noted below by docket number and, title that were filed on Sep. 12, 2003: co-owned ABI-20 “Spiral-Laser On-A-Disc” inventor—Richard Stoltz; and partially co-owned ABI-21 “Laser Beam Propagation in Air” inventors Jeff Bullington and Craig Siders. [0034] Although the present invention and its advantages have been described above, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations may be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification, but only by the claims. 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2006Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.Method for manufacturing semiconductor device and laser irradiation apparatus* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification438/690, 438/940International ClassificationB23K26/06, B23K26/40Cooperative ClassificationB23K26/0624, B23K2203/50, B23K26/40, Y10S438/94, B23K2201/40European ClassificationB23K26/40B11B, B23K26/40B11, B23K26/06B4BLegal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionMay 12, 2005ASAssignmentOwner name: RAYDIANCE, INC., FLORIDAFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:STOLTZ, RICHARD;REEL/FRAME:016553/0121Effective date: 20050429Apr 12, 2010SULPSurcharge for late paymentApr 12, 2010FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 4Sep 18, 2013ASAssignmentOwner name: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., KOREA, REPUBLIC OFFree format text: SECURITY AGREEMENT;ASSIGNOR:RAYDIANCE, INC.;REEL/FRAME:031240/0141Effective date: 20130917Feb 25, 2014FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 8Jan 21, 2015ASAssignmentOwner name: HORIZON TECHNOLOGY 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