Diode laser systems and laser-optic systems are playing a key role in the modern semiconductor manufacturing processes, for instance, in photolithography and wafer annealing.

Photolithography is a patterning process that uses well defined light in combination with selectively exposed photosensitive material to imprint a pattern into a substrate. Micro-optical solutions have become an indispensable part of complex illumination systems used for high performance semiconductor industry.

For many years now, leading semiconductor equipment manufacturers have benefited from numerous advantages of Focuslight's refractive micro-optics like deep lens profiles for large angles (hyper NA), low non-uniformity (in the order of 1%), and a broad range of applicable materials (glasses, crystals, semiconductors etc.). Working close with our customers, Focuslight's micro-optical solutions help the semiconductor industry to gain the best precision and resolution for their own production. With these solutions Focuslight has contributed to enable optical lithographic production of sub 30 nm structures.

Laser annealing (LA) is one of the key technologies in the fabrication of 28nm and below logic chips. The process uses a near-infrared band semiconductor laser source, a number of different functions of laser optical shaping system and optical homogenization system to achieve an extremely narrow (12 mm * 70 µm) line laser spot with > 95% uniformity in length direction. In less than one millisecond, the surface atoms of the wafer are heated to > 1000°C and then rapidly cooled down to form ultra-shallow junctions and highly activated junctions on the wafer surface – the yield of the wafer production is then improved.

With our core technologies combined, Focuslight's DLight S series semiconductor wafer annealing system is applicable in the front process of semiconductor to complete dynamic surface annealing (DSA) and laser peaking annealing (LSA).