Direct observation of grain growth from molten silicon formed by micro-thermal-plasma-jet irradiation

Hayashi, Shohei; Fujita, Yuji; Kamikura, Takahiro; Sakaike, Kohei; Akazawa, Muneki; Ikeda, Mitsuhisa; Hanafusa, Hiroaki; Higashi, Seiichiro

doi:10.1063/1.4764522

Cited by 18 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The final grain morphology (Figure 8b-v) complies with other general observation where silicon grains grow normal to the phase interface plane. 25 The final large grain obtained in the simulation indeed bears great resemblance to the real morphology. The dark field TEM images of the tip crystals are shown in Figure 8c.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Laser processing and in-situ diagnostics for crystallization: from thin films to nanostructures

Yoo

Zheng

et al. 2014

SPIE Proceedings

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Recent work on laser-induced crystallization of thin films and nanostructures is presented. Characterization of the morphology of the crystallized area reveals the optimum conditions for sequential lateral growth in a-Si thin films under high-pulsed laser irradiation. Silicon crystal grains of several micrometers in lateral dimensions can be obtained reproducibly.Laser-induced grain morphology change is observed in silicon nanopillars under a transmission electron microscopy (TEM) environment. The TEM is coupled with a near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) pulsed laser processing system. This combination enables immediate scrutiny on the grain morphologies that the pulsed laser irradiation produces. The tip of the amorphous or polycrystalline silicon pillar is transformed into a single crystalline domain via melt-mediated crystallization. The microscopic observation provides a fundamental basis for laser-induced conversion of amorphous nanostructures into coarse-grained crystals.A laser beam shaping strategy is introduced to control the stochastic dewetting of ultrathin silicon film on a foreign substrate under thermal stimulation. Upon a single pulse irradiation of the shaped laser beam, the thermodynamically unstable ultrathin silicon film is dewetted from the glass substrate and transformed to a nanodome. The results suggest that the laser beam shaping strategy for the thermocapillary-induced de-wetting combined with the isotropic etching is a simple alternative for scalable manufacturing of array of nanostructures.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Laser processing and in-situ diagnostics for crystallization: from thin films to nanostructures

Yoo

Zheng

et al. 2014

SPIE Proceedings

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“…We have clarified that explosive crystalline growth to lateral direction occurs intermittently in this region. The details of this crystallization mechanism have been discussed in our previous paper [8]. Following the movement of oval shape MR, grains grow perpendicular to the liquid-solid interface; therefore, the growth direction changes by position, results in random GB formation.…”

Section: Meniscus Force-mediated Layer Transfermentioning

confidence: 97%

Atmospheric pressure plasma processing and layer transfer technique for thin-film device fabrication on glass and plastic substrates

Higashi

2014

2014 International Workshop on Junction Technology (IWJT)

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Crystalline growth from melt during microthermal-plasma-jet (µ-TPJ) irradiation to amorphous silicon (a-Si) film has been directly observed by highspeed camera. Long lateral growth perpendicular to the oval-shaped liquid-solid interface results in formation of random grain boundaries (GBs). Introduction of strip pattern markedly reduces random GBs and enables singlecrystalline growth at predetermined channel regions. Nand p-channel thin-film transistors (TFTs) showed high performance and small characteristic variability, and operation of 8-bit shift register at a supply voltage of 5V with the clock frequency of 50 MHz has been achieved. In addition, we propose a local layer transfer technique utilizing meniscus force of water, which enables formation of single-crystalline silicon (100) layer on glass and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates. High mobility TFTs of 1226 and 609 cm 2 V -1 s -1 , respectively, have been successfully fabricated on each substrate.

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“…Low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) TFT has attracted much attention because of their high field effect mobility (FE), high reliability, and ability to integrate CMOS circuits. We have proposed the application of atmospheric pressure discharge micro-thermal-plasma-jet (-TPJ) to high speed lateral crystallization (HSLC) of a-Si films [1][2][3]. HSLC is induced by moving the molten region at very high speed of 4000 mm/s to form a lateral temperature gradient, which results in the long growth of ~100 m [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grain Growth Control by Micro-Thermal-Plasma-Jet Irradiation to Very Narrow Amorphous Silicon Strips and Its Application to Thin Film Transistors

Yamamoto¹,

Morisaki²,

Hayashi³

et al. 2014

Extended Abstracts of the 2014 International Conference on Solid State Devices and Materials

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Grain growth by micro-thermal-plasma-jet crystallization was controlled using very narrow amorphous silicon (a-Si) strips. With the decrease in strip width (W), grain boundaries were remarkably suppressed and no grain boundaries were formed at W= 0.3 m. By applying high-pressure water vapor annealing (HWA) after crystallization, defect concentration was reduced to less than 5.0 x 10 16 cm-3 , and as the result, significant improvements in mobility, threshold voltage (V th) controllability, and off-current were achieved.

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Direct observation of grain growth from molten silicon formed by micro-thermal-plasma-jet irradiation

Cited by 18 publications

References 21 publications

Laser processing and in-situ diagnostics for crystallization: from thin films to nanostructures

Laser processing and in-situ diagnostics for crystallization: from thin films to nanostructures

Atmospheric pressure plasma processing and layer transfer technique for thin-film device fabrication on glass and plastic substrates

Grain Growth Control by Micro-Thermal-Plasma-Jet Irradiation to Very Narrow Amorphous Silicon Strips and Its Application to Thin Film Transistors

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