Patent ID: 7292320

Claim:
A laser crystallization apparatus comprising a crystallization optical system to irradiate a laser light to a thin film provided on a substrate and to melt and crystallize the thin film, wherein the laser light is a pulse laser light with an inverse peak light intensity distribution, the laser crystallization apparatus comprising: an illumination light source disposed out of an optical path of the laser light and emitting an illumination light for observation to illuminate the thin film; an illumination optical system comprising an annular optical element which has the optical path of the laser light in the center and which leads the illumination light from the illumination light source to the thin film along the optical path; and an observation optical system which displays in a magnified image at an area of the substrate including the thin film where the laser light is irradiated, at least one image of the thin film in a melting state and in a lateral crystallization process caused by a temperature distribution corresponding to the inverse peak light intensity distribution after stopping the laser light irradiation.