Application of a binary diffractive optic for beam shaping in semiconductor processing by lasers.

Laser repair of dynamic random-access memories is commercially significant at the 1-Mbit density and larger. The window of acceptable laser parameters required to repair these parts typically decreases with each successive device generation because of increased variations in oxide thickness. A simple single-zone binary optic was developed to modify the beam profile from Gaussian to flattop. Experiments performed on actual dynamic random-access memory parts verified a large increase in the laser energy process window because of the shaped beam profile.