APPARATUS FOR ANNEALING A LAYER OF SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIAL, A METHOD OF ANNEALING A LAYER OF SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIAL, AND A FLAT PANEL DISPLAY

摘要

Methods and apparatus for annealing a layer of semiconductor material, particularly amorphous silicon or IGZO, are provided. In one arrangement, an apparatus comprises a laser source that generates a laser beam. A beam scanning arrangement scans the laser beam, or a plurality of sub-beams generated by the laser beam, relative to the layer of semiconductor material in such a way as to selectively irradiate a plurality of regions of the layer of semiconductor material and thereby generate a corresponding plurality of regions of annealed semiconductor material, particularly polysilicon or annealed IGZO. Each of the regions of annealed semiconductor material is separated from all of the other regions of annealed semiconductor material.