Low temperature processing of a large grain polycrystalline silicon thin film on soda-lime glass

Abstract

We have demonstrated that a polycrystalline silicon thin film can be fabricated in situ on soda-lime glass at 450 • C by an Al-induced crystallization method using electron beam evaporation. The catalytic Al is found to diffuse to the top of the crystallized Si layer and can be easily etched away by a mixture of acids. This low temperature Si crystallization process is well explained by thermodynamic consideration. Subsequent annealing at the same temperature (450 • C) for 6 h improves the crystallinity of the film and enlarges the average grain size to over 5 μm. There are no observable impurity phases. The poly-Si thin films are (1 1 1) oriented and all the grains are well aligned. A defect-free and excellent crystalline structure has been revealed by transmission electron microscopy. The measured resistivity, carrier concentration and charge mobility of these as-prepared poly-Si thin films indicate that our present low temperature processing technique has great advantage and prospect for the photonics industry.

Laser Based Fabrication of Graphene

“…Metal induced crystallization method, also known as metal mediated or metal catalyzed crystallization method, is a crystalline growth technique to fabricate mono-or poly-crystalline materials via the interdiffusion, precipitation, segregation and recrystallization of two materials upon thermal annealing. One of them performs as the catalyst; it is usually a metal, such as aluminum (Al), gold (Au), platinum (Pt), nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co); [11,12,18,19] while the other is always chosen as a semiconductor material, such as germanium (Ge), and silicon (Si). This technique has been widely explored in the past, in particular for the polycrystalline Si thin film based solar cell investigation.…”

Heat treatment effect on the resistivity of polycrystalline silicon films

“…2,3 The circuit complexity and the increasing degree of component integration require continuous improvement and mastering of the properties of this type of material. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] In many of its applications, this material is subjected to different heat treatments in order to reduce the defects and allow the implanted ions to take positions where they are electrically active. This has led us in the framework of this study to investigate the heat treatment effect on the resistivity of polycrystalline silicon films.…”

“…Polycrystalline silicon material has numerous applications in the technologies of microelectronic component fabrication,1 integrated circuits and photovoltaic generator 2,3 The circuit complexity and the increasing degree of component integration require continuous improvement and mastering of the properties of this type of material 412 In many of its applications, this material is subjected to different heat treatments in order to reduce the defects and allow the implanted ions to take positions where they are electrically active.…”