ABSTRACTMetal induced lateral crystallization (MILC) of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) was studied and a model was developed based on the resistance measurement of the films. Hydrogenated amorphous silicon films of 300 nm thickness were deposited using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) on oxidized p-type (100) silicon wafers. Thermally evaporated 200 nm thick aluminum layer was deposited over amorphous silicon and patterned using photolithography. The samples were annealed at different temperatures for different time periods. After annealing the resistance of amorphous silicon between aluminum pads was measured. Based on these measurements, a model was developed to predict the lateral crystallization velocity. In this model, the resistance change due to loss of hydrogen from the film was also taken into account. For this purpose, another set of experiments was conducted. In this set, hydrogenated amorphous silicon films of 300 nm thickness were deposited on Corning 7059 glass. The samples were annealed for different period of time at different temperatures. After annealing, parallel bars of silver paint were formed on the samples and the resistance of each sample was measured. The theoretically determined lateral crystallization velocity was verified using optical microscope observations and X-ray diffraction analysis and was found to be in close agreement.
