Laser thermal annealing of lightly doped silicon substrates

1. An apparatus for performing laser thermal annealing of a substrate having a surface, comprising:

a laser capable of generating continuous annealing radiation having a wavelength that is not substantially absorbed by the substrate at room temperature;

an annealing optical system adapted to receive the annealing radiation and form an annealing radiation beam that forms a first image at the substrate surface, and wherein the first image is scanned across the substrate surface; and

a heating device for heating at least a portion of the substrate to a critical temperature such that the annealing radiation beam incident upon said portion is substantially absorbed near the surface of the substrate at said portion during scanning;

wherein the heating device includes:

a preheating radiation source adapted to emit preheating radiation of a wavelength that is substantially absorbed by the substrate at room temperature; and

a relay system adapted to receive the preheating radiation from the preheating radiation source and form a preheating radiation beam that forms and scans a second image over the substrate surface to preheat a portion of the substrate that is in front of or that partially overlaps the scanned first image.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the annealing radiation beam wavelength is greater than 1 μm.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is supported by a movable stage adapted to achieve said scanning by moving the substrate relative to the annealing radiation beam.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the annealing radiation has a wavelength of 10.6 μm.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the substrate is undoped or lightly doped silicon.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first image formed by the annealing radiation is a line image.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the heating device includes a heated chuck adapted to support and heat the substrate to the critical temperature.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the heating device further includes a heat shield that reflects heat emitted from the substrate back to the substrate.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , where the heating device includes a heated enclosure adapted to surround the substrate and to heat the substrate to the critical temperature.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the relay system includes:

a relay lens.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the second image is a line image.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the preheating radiation beam has a wavelength of 780 nm or 800 nm.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 :

wherein the relay lens is arranged such that the preheating radiation beam is incident on the substrate at normal incidence; and

further includes:

a polarizer; and

a quarter-wave plate;

wherein the polarizer and quarter-wave plate are arranged in the preheating radiation beam to reduce an amount of preheating radiation reflected from the substrate from reaching the preheating radiation source.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein a polarizer and a Faraday rotator are arranged in the preheating radiation beam to substantially prevent preheating radiation from returning to the preheating radiation source.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein:

the preheating radiation source is an array of laser diodes; and

the relay lens is anamorphic and forms the second image as a line image of the array of laser diodes at the substrate.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the relay lens includes elements that are adjustable to maintain the second image in focus.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 , further including:

a chuck that supports the substrate;

a movable stage that supports the chuck; and

a stage driver operatively connected to the movable stage to selectively move the stage to selectively move the substrate to effectuate said scanning.