A compounded polymer material that can be laser marked is provided. The compounded polymer material includes an enhancer of nitrides, carbides, silicides, or combinations thereof. Upon forming the compounded polymer material into an article and exposing it to laser radiation, the irradiated portion of the compounded polymer material absorbs the laser radiation, increases in temperature, and forms a mark in the article. A lightness value difference (L) between the mark and the non-irradiated portion of the article has an absolute value of at least 5, and the lightness value difference between the mark and the non-irradiated portion is greater than if the polymer material did not include the enhancer.

A method for converting a dielectric material including a type IV transition metal into a crystalline material that includes forming a predominantly non-crystalline dielectric material including the type IV transition metal on a supporting substrate as a component of an electrical device having a scale of microscale or less; and converting the predominantly non-crystalline dielectric material including the type IV transition metal to a crystalline crystal structure by exposure to energy for durations of less than 100 milliseconds and, in some instances, less than 10 microseconds. The resultant material is fully or partially crystallized and contains a metastable ferroelectric phase such as the polar orthorhombic phase of space group Pca2.sub.1 or Pmn2.sub.1. During the conversion to the crystalline crystal structure, adjacently positioned components of the electrical devices are not damaged.

A package structure includes a first semiconductor package and a second semiconductor package over the first semiconductor package. The first semiconductor package includes a dielectric structure, a semiconductor device on the dielectric structure, under bump metallization (UBM) structures in the dielectric structure. The USB structures each include a first region and a second region surrounded by the first region. The first region has more metal layers than the second region. The bumps are respectively on the second regions of the UBM structures.

There is provided a substrate processing apparatus including: a processing container having a vacuum atmosphere formed therein; a stage provided within the processing container and configured to place a substrate on the stage; a film-forming gas supply part configured to supply a film-forming gas for forming an organic film on the substrate placed on the stage; and a heating part configured to heat the substrate placed on the stage in a non-contact manner so as to remove a surface portion of the organic film.

A method for fabricating an electronic fuse includes forming a recess within a film material to define opposed contact segments and a central fuse segment interconnecting the contact segments and altering the material of the central fuse segment of the film material to increase electrical resistance characteristics of the central fuse segment. The central fuse segment may include defects such as voids created by directing a laser at the central fuse segment as a component of a laser annealing process. Alternatively, and or additionally, the central fuse segment may include dopants implementing via an ion implantation process to increase resistance characteristics of the central fuse segment.

To provide a wafer processing method which can simplify the wafer processing process and efficiently obtain chips of stable quality. A wafer processing method includes: a tape attaching step of attaching a back grinding tape to the front surface of a wafer; a modified region forming step of applying a laser beam from the back surface of the wafer along a cut line to form modified regions inside the wafer; a back surface processing step of processing the back surface of the wafer having the modified regions to reduce a thickness of the wafer; and a dividing step of, in a state in which the back grinding tape is attached to the front surface of the wafer, applying a load to the cut line from the back surface of the wafer to divide the wafer along the cut line and obtain individual chips.

A chip-on-film which includes an insulating film including a bonding region for bonding to an external device, a plurality of interconnections disposed on the insulating film and partially extending into the bonding region, and an integrated circuit (IC) chip disposed on the insulating film so as to be electrically connected to the plurality of interconnections. The chip-on-film further includes a solder resist disposed so as to cover the insulating film excluding the bonding region and so as to cover the plurality of interconnections excluding portions extending into the bonding region, and a stepped portion located between the bonding region and the solder resist. The stepped portion forms a boundary against a flow of the solder resist into the bonding region.

A base substrate includes a supporting substrate comprising aluminum oxide, and a base crystal layer provided on a main face of the supporting substrate, comprising a crystal of a nitride of a group 13 element and having a crystal growth surface. At lease one of a metal of a group 13 element and a reaction product of a material of the supporting substrate and the crystal of the nitride of the group 13 element is present between the raised part and the supporting substrate. The reaction product contains at least aluminum and a group 13 element.

A method of semiconductor device fabrication includes providing a substrate having a hardmask layer thereover. The hardmask layer is patterned to expose the substrate. The substrate is etched through the patterned hardmask layer to form a first fin element and a second fin element extending from the substrate. An isolation feature between the first and second fin elements is formed, where the isolation feature has a first etch rate in a first solution. A laser anneal process is performed to irradiate the isolation feature with a pulsed laser beam. A pulse duration of the pulsed laser beam is adjusted based on a height of the isolation feature. The isolation feature after performing the laser anneal process has a second etch rate less than the first etch rate in the first solution.

A semiconductor device production system using a laser crystallization method is provided which can avoid forming grain boundaries in a channel formation region of a TFT, thereby preventing grain boundaries from lowering the mobility of the TFT greatly, from lowering ON current, and from increasing OFF current. Rectangular or stripe pattern depression and projection portions are formed on an insulating film. A semiconductor film is formed on the insulating film. The semiconductor film is irradiated with continuous wave laser light by running the laser light along the stripe pattern depression and projection portions of the insulating film or along the major or minor axis direction of the rectangle. Although continuous wave laser light is most preferred among laser light, it is also possible to use pulse oscillation laser light in irradiating the semiconductor film.