Laser spike annealing using fiber lasers

1. A method of performing laser spike annealing of a surface of a wafer, comprising:

generating with a plurality of fiber laser systems respective continuous-wave (CW) output radiation beams that partially overlap at the wafer surface to form an elongate annealing image having a long axis and a length L A along the long axis, the annealing image having an amount of optical power PA in the range 100 W≦P A ≦10,000 W;

heating at least a region of the wafer to a pre-anneal temperature T PA to define a pre-heat region; and

scanning the elongate annealing image over the wafer surface and at least partially within the pre-heat region in a direction substantially perpendicular to the long axis so that the annealing image has a dwell time t D in the range 30 ns≦t D ≦10 ms and raises the wafer surface temperature to an annealing temperature T A .

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the length L A is in the range 3 mm≦L A ≦450 mm.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the annealing image has width W A measured perpendicular to the long axis, and wherein 25 microns≦W A≦ ≦500 microns.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the annealing image has an amount of optical power PA in the range 100 W≦P A ≦1,000 W.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the pre-anneal temperature T PA is in the range 200° C.≦T PA ≦600° C.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the anneal temperature T A is either in the range 1100° C.≦T A ≦1350° C. or in the range T A ≧1410° C.

7. The method of performing laser spike annealing according to claim 1 , further comprising:

measuring a temperature distribution at the wafer surface; and

adjusting an amount of power in at least one of the CW output radiation beams to improve an amount of uniformity in the temperature distribution.

8. The method of performing laser spike annealing according to claim 1 , wherein the wafer has an edge, the annealing image has an end, and further comprising either reducing an amount of power in or turning off the CW output radiation beam that forms the end of the annealing image prior to the annealing image passing over the wafer edge.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the annealing image is formed by between three and fifty CW output radiation beams.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the CW output radiation beams define elongate images of length L that partially overlap along the long axis by an amount A, and wherein the amount of overlap Δ≧0.79·(L/2).

11. A method of optimizing an amount of uniformity of an annealing image using a measurement wafer having a surface, comprising:

generating with a plurality of fiber laser systems respective continuous-wave (CW) output radiation beams that partially overlap at the surface of the measurement wafer to form an elongate annealing image having a long axis and a length L A along the long axis, the annealing image having an amount of optical power PA in the range 100 W≦P A ≦10,000 W;

detecting an amount of optical power reflected from the measurement wafer for each of the elongate radiation beams; and

adjusting an amount of optical power in one or more of the elongate radiation beams to optimize an amount of uniformity of the annealing image.

12. A method of performing laser spike annealing of a surface of a wafer, comprising:

generating with a plurality of fiber laser systems respective continuous-wave (CW) output radiation beams that partially overlap at the wafer surface to form an elongate pre-annealing image having a long axis and a length L A along the long axis, the annealing image having an amount of optical power PA in the range 100 W≦P A ≦10,000 W;

heating at least a region of the wafer with the elongate pre-annealing image to a pre-anneal temperature T PA to define a pre-heat region; and

scanning a second laser beam that resides at least partially within the pre-heat region to raise the wafer surface temperature to an annealing temperature T A .

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the annealing temperature T A is in the range 1100° C.≦T A ≦1350° C.

14. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the annealing temperature T A is greater than the melt temperature of doped silicon.