Design of process diagnostics for excimer laser irradiation of oxide thin films

Abstract

The authors have developed an in situ excimer laser irradiation system that can monitor the temperature field of oxide thin films through thermal radiation produced upon a pulsed ultraviolet laser irradiation. Thermal emission signals from a Si single crystal obtained using with this system agreed well with a numerical simulation result, validating the time constant of the measurement system. The time-dependent transient temperature profile of tin-doped indium oxide thin films, which was converted from thermal emission signals, clearly showed a recalescence behavior in its cooling curve. The transmittance data of the laser-irradiated indium oxide thin films suggested that the transmittance monitoring at near-infrared and ultraviolet–visible regions could be useful in monitoring the dopant levels and laser processing conditions, respectively.