LASER ANNEALING FURNACE AND LASER ANNEALING METHOD

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a laser annealing which is designed to improve the quality of laser annealing and to reduce the manufacturing cost and a laser annealing method. SOLUTION: In the annealing chamber 37 of a laser annealing furnace, a stage 37b on which a substrate 1 is placed and an atmosphere separating cover 39 which encircles the laser-irradiated area of the substrate 1 are provided. An oxygen concentration sensor 41 is provided in the cover 39 and a gas supply section 40 controls the oxygen concentration in the atmosphere on the substrate 1 near the laser-irradiated area to a prescribed value by supplying a gas into the cover 39 based on the data obtained by means of the sensor 41 through measurement. Under such a condition, the laser-irradiated area of the substrate 1 is irradiated with the laser beam emitted from a laser oscillator through the inside of the cover 39.