Patent ID: 7470603

Claim:
A method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the method comprising: providing a semiconductor substrate having a single crystalline structure within at least a defined region thereof; forming a thin layer on the semiconductor substrate; patterning the thin layer to form a plurality of spaced apart field structures and to expose therebetween portions of the semiconductor substrate having the single crystalline structure; forming a non-crystalline layer on the exposed portions of the semiconductor substrate having the single crystalline structure; planarizing the non-crystalline layer to expose upper surfaces of the field structures and define non-crystalline active structures from the non-crystalline layer between the field structures; generating a first laser beam that heats the non-crystalline active structures to a liquid phase to change them into single crystalline active structures having substantially the same single crystalline structure as the defined region of the semiconductor substrate; planarizing the single crystalline active structures and the field structures to align upper major surfaces of the single crystalline active structures and the field structures; and generating a second laser beam that heats the single crystalline active structures and the field structures to a temperature that is sufficiently high to substantially reduce impurity ions in upper surfaces of the single crystalline active structures and the field structures which were introduced therein by the planarization, and that is sufficiently low to not melt the active structures.