Seeding Solid Phase Crystallization of Amorphous Silicon Films with Embedded Nanocrystals

2008 ◽  
Vol 1066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Curtis Anderson ◽  
Uwe Kortshagen
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Silicon Nanocrystals ◽  
Solid Phase ◽  
Silicon Films ◽  
Amorphous Films ◽  
Solid Phase Crystallization ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Quartz Tube Furnace ◽  
Heated Stage

ABSTRACTSilicon nanocrystals with diameters up to 30 nm are used as nucleation seeds for fast solid phase crystallization of amorphous silicon films. Purely amorphous films required an incubation time of up to 12 hours at 600°C prior to the onset of nucleation, while films with nanocrystals embedded between layers of amorphous silicon grew immediately upon annealing in a quartz tube furnace. Structural characterization was performed by heated-stage transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy.

Bubbly Silicon: A New Mechanism for Solid Phase Crystallization of Amorphous Silicon

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Curtis Anderson ◽  
Lin Cui ◽  
Uwe Kortshagen
Keyword(s):  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Polycrystalline Silicon ◽  
Silicon Nanocrystals ◽  
Solid Phase ◽  
Amorphous Film ◽  
Silicon Films ◽  
Amorphous Films ◽  
Solid Phase Crystallization ◽  
Rapid Formation ◽  
Polycrystalline Silicon Films

This paper describes the rapid formation of polycrystalline silicon films through seeding with silicon nanocrystals. The incorporation of seed crystals into amorphous silicon films helps to eliminate the crystallization incubation time observed in non-seeded amorphous silicon films. Furthermore, the formation of several tens of nanometer in diameter voids is observed when cubic silicon nanocrystals with around 30 nm in size are embedded in the amorphous films. These voids move through the amorphous film with high velocity, pulling behind them a crystallized “tail.” This mechanism leads to rapid formation of polycrystalline films.

Solid-phase crystallization and dopant activation of amorphous silicon films by pulsed rapid thermal annealing

1998 ◽  
Vol 135 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 205-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongqian Wang ◽  
Xianbo Liao ◽  
Zhixun Ma ◽  
Guozhen Yue ◽  
Hongwei Diao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Thermal Annealing ◽  
Rapid Thermal Annealing ◽  
Solid Phase ◽  
Silicon Films ◽  
Solid Phase Crystallization ◽  
Dopant Activation

CRYSTALLIZATION IN AMORPHOUS SILICON

2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (01n02) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. J. CHEN ◽  
S. L. CHENG ◽  
H. H. LIN ◽  
K. S. CHI
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Annealing Temperature ◽  
Amorphous Films ◽  
Silicon Thin Films ◽  
Auto Correlation ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Auto Correlation Function ◽  
Deposited Films ◽  
Si Nanocrystallites

High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) in conjunction with auto-correlation function (ACF) analysis has been applied to investigate the crystallization processes in amorphous silicon. For both electron beam evaporated and ion implanted amorphous silicon thin films, a high density of Si nanocrystallites was detected in as-deposited films. The density was found to diminish in amorphous films with annealing temperature first then increase. The conclusions are discussed in the context of free energy change with annealing temperature.

Transmission Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Diffraction Analysis of Aluminum-Induced Crystallization of Amorphous Silicon in α-Si:H/Al and Al/α-Si:H Structures

2005 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ram Kishore ◽  
C. Hotz ◽  
H.A. Naseem ◽  
W.D. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Solid Phase ◽  
High Vacuum ◽  
Radiative Heating ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Xrd Studies

Solid phase crystallization of plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor-deposited (PECVD) amorphous silicon (α-Si:H) in α-Si:H/Al and Al/α-Si:H structures has been investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Radiative heating has been used to anneal films deposited on carbon-coated nickel (Ni) grids at temperatures between 200 and 400°C for TEM studies. α-Si:H films were deposited on c-Si substrates using high vacuum (HV) PECVD for the XRD studies. TEM studies show that crystallization of α-Si:H occurs at 200°C when Al film is deposited on top of the α-Si:H film. Similar behavior was observed in the XRD studies. In the case of α-Si:H deposited on top of Al films, the crystallization could not be observed at 400°C by TEM and even up to 500°C as seen by XRD.

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