scholarly journals Large-Scale and Localized Laser Crystallization of Optically Thick Amorphous Silicon Films by Near-IR Femtosecond Pulses

Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 5296
Author(s):  
Kirill Bronnikov ◽  
Alexander Dostovalov ◽  
Artem Cherepakhin ◽  
Eugeny Mitsai ◽  
Alexander Nepomniaschiy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Femtosecond Laser ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
High Surface ◽  
Femtosecond Laser Pulses ◽  
Visible Spectral Range ◽  
Ir Radiation ◽  
Near Ir ◽  
Si Films ◽  
Induced Crystallization

Amorphous silicon (α-Si) film present an inexpensive and promising material for optoelectronic and nanophotonic applications. Its basic optical and optoelectronic properties are known to be improved via phase transition from amorphous to polycrystalline phase. Infrared femtosecond laser radiation can be considered to be a promising nondestructive and facile way to drive uniform in-depth and lateral crystallization of α-Si films that are typically opaque in UV-visible spectral range. However, so far only a few studies reported on use of near-IR radiation for laser-induced crystallization of α-Si providing less information regarding optical properties of the resultant polycrystalline Si films demonstrating rather high surface roughness. The present work demonstrates efficient and gentle single-pass crystallization of α-Si films induced by their direct irradiation with near-IR femtosecond laser pulses coming at sub-MHz repetition rate. Comprehensive analysis of morphology and composition of laser-annealed films by atomic-force microscopy, optical, micro-Raman and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, as well as numerical modeling of optical spectra, confirmed efficient crystallization of α-Si and high-quality of the obtained films. Moreover, we highlight localized laser-induced crystallization of α-Si as a promising way for optical information encryption, anti-counterfeiting and fabrication of micro-optical elements.

scholarly journals Crystallization of optically thick amorphous silicon films by near-IR femtosecond laser processing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirill Bronnikov ◽  
Alexander Dostovalov ◽  
Artem Cherepakhin ◽  
Eugeny Mitsai ◽  
Alexander Nepomniaschiy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Femtosecond Laser ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Laser Pulses ◽  
Femtosecond Laser Pulses ◽  
Visible Spectral Range ◽  
Ir Radiation ◽  
Optical Elements ◽  
Near Ir ◽  
Lateral Crystallization ◽  
Si Films

Amorphous silicon (α-Si) film present an inexpensive and promising material for optoelectronic and nanophotonic applications. Its basic optical and optoelectronic properties are known to be improved via phase transition from amorphous to polycrystalline phase. Infrared femtosecond laser radiation can be considered as a promising nondestructive and facile way to drive uniform in-depth and lateral crystallization of α-Si films that are typically opaque in UV-visible spectral range. However, so far only a few studies reported on utilization of near-IR radiation for laser-induced crystallization of α-Si providing no information regarding optical properties of the resultant polycrystalline Si films. The present work demonstrates efficient and gentle single-pass crystallization of α-Si films induced by their direct irradiation with near-IR femtosecond laser pulses coming at sub-MHz repetition rate. Comprehensive analysis of morphology and composition of laser-annealed films by atomic-force microscopy, optical, micro-Raman and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, as well as numerical modeling of optical spectra, confirmed efficient crystallization of α-Si and high-quality of the obtained films. Moreover, we highlight localized laser-driven crystallization of α-Si as a promising way for optical information encryption, anti-counterfeiting and fabrication of micro-optical elements.

Crystallization of Optically Thick Amorphous Silicon Films by Near-IR Femtosecond Laser Processing

2020 ◽  
Vol 312 ◽  
pp. 134-139
Author(s):  
Eugeny Mitsai ◽  
Alexander V. Dostovalov ◽  
Kirill A. Bronnikov ◽  
Aleksandr Vladimirovich Nepomniaschiy ◽  
Aleksey Y. Zhizhchenko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Femtosecond Laser ◽  
Annealed Film ◽  
Laser Pulses ◽  
Femtosecond Laser Pulses ◽  
Force Microscopy ◽  
Near Ir ◽  
Atomic Force ◽  
Femtosecond Laser Processing ◽  
Amorphous Si ◽  
Si Films

We demonstrated efficient crystallization of amorphous Si films induced by their direct irradiation with near-IR femtosecond laser pulses coming at sub-MHz repetition rate. Comprehensive analysis of morphology and composition of the laser-annealed film by atomic-force microscopy, Fourier-transform IR, Raman and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy as well as numerical modeling of optical spectra confirmed efficient crystallization of amorphous Si and high-quality of the obtained films opening pathway for applications in thin-film solar cells, transistors and displays.

Near-infrared femtosecond laser-induced crystallization of amorphous silicon

2004 ◽  
Vol 85 (7) ◽  
pp. 1232-1234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia-Min Shieh ◽  
Zun-Hao Chen ◽  
Bau-Tong Dai ◽  
Yi-Chao Wang ◽  
Alexei Zaitsev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Femtosecond Laser ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Induced Crystallization

The effect of substrate temperature and interface oxide layer on aluminum induced crystallization of sputtered amorphous silicon

2004 ◽  
Vol 808 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maruf Hossain ◽  
Husam Abu-Safe ◽  
Marwan Barghouti ◽  
Hameed Naseem ◽  
William D. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Substrate Temperature ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Oxide Layer ◽  
Environmental Scanning ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Layer Sequence ◽  
Si Films ◽  
Induced Crystallization ◽  
Al Oxide ◽  
Aluminum Induced Crystallization

ABSTRACTThe effect of substrate temperature and interface oxide layer on aluminum induced crystallization (AIC) of amorphous silicon (a-Si) is investigated. The effect of substrate temperature on the AIC process was studied by changing the deposition temperate of a-Si from 200 to 300°C in a Al/a-Si/glass configuration. To study the effect of interface oxide on AIC, samples with a-Si/Al/glass, a-Si/Al-oxide/Al/glass, and Al/Si-oxide/a-Si/glass configurations were prepared at a fixed substrate temperature. The samples were annealed in the temperature range from 300°C to 525°C for different periods of time. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirmed the crystallization of the a-Si films in the various configurations. From the analysis, we report that crystallization of a-Si happen at 350°C annealing temperature in the Al/a-Si/glass configuration. However, with or without the presence of Si-oxide at the interface, crystallization saturated after annealing for 20 minutes at 400°C. On the other hand, when Al-oxide is present at the interface, higher annealing temperatures and longer annealing times are required to saturate the crystallization of a-Si. Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray (EDX) mapping were used to study the surface morphology as well as the layer sequence after crystallization. This analysis revealed that Si-Al layer-exchange happens regardless of the deposited film configuration.

Polysilicon Films Formed On Alumina By Aluminium Induced Crystallization Of Amorphous Silicon

2006 ◽  
Vol 910 ◽  
Author(s):  
Etienne Pihan ◽  
Abdelilah Slaoui ◽  
Claude Maurice
Keyword(s):  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Grain Orientation ◽  
Coincident Site Lattice ◽  
Grain Structure ◽  
Structural Quality ◽  
Orientation Imaging ◽  
Polysilicon Films ◽  
Si Films ◽  
Induced Crystallization

AbstractWe investigated the structural quality of polysilicon films fabricated by the aluminium induced crystallization (AIC) of amorphous silicon on alumina substrates. We analyzed the overall crystallographic quality of the poly-Si films in terms of grain size distribution and grain orientation versus crystallization temperature. For these studies, we used extensively the orientation imaging micrograph (OIM) technique, a very powerful tool that allows elucidating the inner-grain structure, the grain boundaries, the grain orientation. From our analysis, we may conclude that the polysilicon films formed by AIC on alumina substrates have the following features: (i) for all investigated temperatures, most of the silicon grains have a deviation angle from (100) crystallographic orientation between 5 and 25°; (ii) increasing the annealing temperature tends to decrease the (100) preferred orientation; (iii) the angular boundary distribution revealed that the main defects are those that have been observed inside isolated dentrites, namely low angle boundaries (<2°) and coincident site lattice boundaries such as Σ3, Σ9 and Σ27.

Polycrystalline Silicon Films Formed by Solid-Phase Crystallization of Amorphous Silicon: the Substrate Effects on Crystallization Kinetics and Mechanism

1996 ◽  
Vol 424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y.-H. Song ◽  
S.-Y. Kang ◽  
K. I. Cho ◽  
H. J. Yoo ◽  
J. H. Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Solid Phase ◽  
Chemical Vapor ◽  
Solid Phase Crystallization ◽  
Substrate Effects ◽  
Random Nucleation ◽  
Pressure Chemical ◽  
Si Films ◽  
Polycrystalline Silicon Films ◽  
Induced Crystallization

AbstractThe substrate effects on the solid-phase crystallization of amorphous silicon (a-Si) have been extensively investigated. The a-Si films were prepared on two kinds of substrates, a thermally oxidized Si wafer (SiO2/Si) and a quartz, by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) using Si2H6 gas at 470 °C and annealed at 600 °C in an N2 ambient for crystallization. The analysis using XRD and Raman scattering shows that crystalline nuclei are faster formed on the SiO2/Si than on the quartz, and the time needed for the complete crystallization of a-Si films on the SiO2/Si is greatly reduced to 8 h from ˜15 h on the quartz. In this study, it was first observed that crystallization in the a-Si deposited on the SiO2/Si starts from the interface between the a-Si film and the thermal oxide of the substrate, called interface-induced crystallization, while random nucleation process dominates on the quartz. The very smooth surface of the SiO2/Si substrate is responsible for the observed interface-induced crystallization of a-Si films.

Structural Anisotropy of Amorphous Silicon Films Modified by Femtosecond Laser Pulses

2018 ◽  
Vol 124 (6) ◽  
pp. 801-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. V. Shuleiko ◽  
F. V. Kashaev ◽  
F. V. Potemkin ◽  
S. V. Zabotnov ◽  
A. V. Zoteev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Femtosecond Laser ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Laser Pulses ◽  
Femtosecond Laser Pulses ◽  
Silicon Films ◽  
Structural Anisotropy
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