Patent ID: 7622370

Claim:
A method for processing a thin film sample, comprising the steps of: (a) controlling a beam generator to emit at least one beam pulse; (b) masking the at least one beam pulse to produce at least one masked beam pulse, wherein the at least one masked beam pulse is used to irradiate at least one portion of the thin film sample; (c) with the at least one masked beam pulse, irradiating the at least one portion of the film sample with sufficient intensity to completely melt the at least one portion of the thin film sample throughout its thickness and across its entire area; and (d) allowing the at least one portion of the film sample to crystallize, the crystallized at least one portion being composed of a first area, having a predetermined distance, and a second area, having a width, wherein, upon the crystallization thereof, the first area includes a first set of grains, and the second area includes a second set of grains whose at least one characteristic is different from at least one characteristic of the first set of grains, wherein the first area surrounds the second area, and is configured to allow an active region of an electronic device to be provided at a distance therefrom and sized such that a the predetermined distance of the first area is at least ten times smaller than a the width of the second area.