Excimer Laser Crystallized HWCVD Thin Silicon Films: Electron Field Emission

Abstract

Thin silicon films deposited using the Hot-Wire Chemical Vapor Deposition (HWCVD) technique are studied here for the effect of XeCl excimer laser crystallization on their structural, optoelectronic, and electron field emission properties. Excimer Laser Annealing (ELA) of the silicon thin films indicated increased dark conductivity and reduced optical gap. Encouraging Field Emission (FE) results were obtained from XeCl excimer laser processed HWCVD films on Cr, V, Mo, and Ti backplanes. Geometric field enhancement factors from surface measurements and Fowler-Nordheim Theory (FNT) were compared. FE thresholds were also found to be particularly influenced by the backplane material.

Micro-Nano Fabrication of Self-Aligned Silicon Electron Field Emitter Arrays Using Pulsed KrF Laser Irradiation

“…Hence the use of silicon as cold cathode field emitters leads towards the possibility of making commercially viable FED's [9]. Preliminary research in using pulsed excimer laser annealed planar silicon cold cathode emitters has shown that silicon has the potential to become the desired material for FED's [11][12][13][14][15][16]. Pulsed excimer laser crystallization (ELC) is also well known in the manufacturing world to produce crystalline silicon for use in electronics and active-matrix flat panel displays and other sensor technologies in the industry [17][18][19].…”