Effect of compressive stress on nickel-induced lateral crystallization of amorphous silicon thin films

Huang, Sih-Wei; Lin, Horng-Chih; Chao, Chuen−Guang; Liu, T.F.

doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2011.11.041

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…For SiN y :Ge/Si 3 N 4 samples that experience tensile strain the crystallization threshold is 950 °C. This is in agreement with several reports [30,31] for the observed role of stress in crystallization of Si and SiGe. It has been reported that the annealed PECVD SiN y films exhibit considerable tensile strain.…”

Section: Stress Evolution Of Ge Ncs In Superlattices With Buffer Layerssupporting

confidence: 94%

“…A compressive stress-assisted, Cu induced lateralcrystallization technique for the preparation of polycrystalline Ge at temperatures as low as 150°C has also been [29] reported. Huang et al [31] also reported the positive effect of compressive stress on crystallization of a-Si. However, some reports have shown that tensile strain assists the crystallization.…”

Section: Summarizes Thementioning

confidence: 93%

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Stress evolution of Ge nanocrystals in dielectric matrices

Bahariqushchi¹,

Raciti²,

Kasapoğlu³

et al. 2018

Nanotechnology

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Germanium nanocrystals (Ge NCs) embedded in single and multilayer silicon oxide and silicon nitride matrices have been synthesized using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition followed by conventional furnace annealing or rapid thermal processing in N ambient. Compositions of the films were determined by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The formation of NCs under suitable process conditions was observed with high resolution transmission electron microscope micrographs and Raman spectroscopy. Stress measurements were done using Raman shifts of the Ge optical phonon line at 300.7 cm. The effect of the embedding matrix and annealing methods on Ge NC formation were investigated. In addition to Ge NCs in single layer samples, the stress on Ge NCs in multilayer samples was also analyzed. Multilayers of Ge NCs in a silicon nitride matrix separated by dielectric buffer layers to control the size and density of NCs were fabricated. Multilayers consisted of SiN :Ge ultrathin films sandwiched between either SiO or SiN by the proper choice of buffer material. We demonstrated that it is possible to tune the stress state of Ge NCs from compressive to tensile, a desirable property for optoelectronic applications. We also observed that there is a correlation between the stress and the crystallization threshold in which the compressive stress enhances the crystallization, while the tensile stress suppresses the process.

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Section: Stress Evolution Of Ge Ncs In Superlattices With Buffer Layerssupporting

confidence: 94%

Section: Summarizes Thementioning

confidence: 93%

Stress evolution of Ge nanocrystals in dielectric matrices

Bahariqushchi¹,

Raciti²,

Kasapoğlu³

et al. 2018

Nanotechnology

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“…For these metals, the small lattice constant mismatch between NiSi 2 (a = 5.406 Å) and Si (a = 5.430 Å) makes Ni an excellent candidate to act as a catalyst for MIC of a-Si. In spite of low crystallization temperature of MIC, there are several disadvantages [6].The metal layer prepared by evaporating or sputtering can not be controlled over the amount of metal deposited. Furthermore, the residual metal in the poly-Si film will affect long term stability of the device further fabricated upon it.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two-Step Annealing for Solution-Based Metal Induced Crystallization of Amorphous Silicon Films

Jin

Shi

2014

AMR

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Solution-based nickel (Ni)-induced crystallization (S-MIC) of amorphous silicon (a-Si) films has been studied with a two-step annealing process. We especially introduced Ethyl cellulose (EC) into the Ni-salt solution, so the viscous Ni-salt solution can be uniformly spin-coated on the a-Si film prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The annealing temperature can be first set from room temperature (RT) to 400°C and kept at 400°C for 2 h in nitrogen ambience. And then, it is increased from 500°C to 550°C and kept for several hours in the following annealing. The correlations among crystallization, the concentrations of Ni-salt solution and annealing conditions can be discussed. The experimental results show that with the help of the two-step annealing, the a-Si films can be crystallized at a low temperature of 500°C. The crystalline fraction gets up to 81.2% after annealing at 520°C for 2 h and the grain size of the polycrystalline Si film is approximately 0.2 μm. Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis shows that very little Ni metal atoms reside in the crystallized Si film for S-MIC.

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