Field Enhanced Rapid Thermal Process for Low Temperature Poly-Si TFTs Fabrications

VIATRON TECHNOLOGIES has developed FE-RTP system that enables LTPS LCD and AMOLED manufacturers to produce poly-Si films at low cost, high throughput, and high yield. The system employs sequential heat treatment methods using temperature control and rapid thermal processor modules. The temperature control modules provide exceptionally uniform heating and cooling of the glass substrates to within ${\pm}2^a\;C$. The rapid thermal process that combines heating with field induction accelerates the treatment rates. The new FE-RTP system can process $730{\times}920mm$ glass substrates as thin as 0.4 mm. The uniform nature of poly-Si films produced by FE-RTP resulted in AMOLED panels with no laser-Muras. Furthermore, FE-RTP system also showed superior performances in other heat treatment processes involved in poly-Si TFT fabrications, such as dopant activation, gate oxide densification, hydrogenation, and pre-compaction.