Kinetics of nickel-induced lateral crystallization of amorphous silicon thin-film transistors by rapid thermal and furnace anneals

Abstract

Dopant and thickness dependence of metal-induced lateral crystallization of amorphous silicon films

Spatially localized current-induced crystallization of amorphous silicon films

“…Crystallization is typically induced by laser annealing [3] or high temperature furnace annealing [4]. Presence of silicide forming metals such as nickel [5] or application of electric field [6,7] was found to reduce the crystallization temperature.…”

“…In this contribution, we induce field-enhanced [6,7] metal-induced [5] solid phase crystallization (FE-MISPC) at room temperature by a sharp tip in atomic force microscope (AFM). Hereby we create localized microscopic crystalline regions at predefined positions in a matrix of a-Si:H films.…”

Enhanced crystallization of amorphous Si using viscous Ni solution and microwave annealing

“…The precrystallized region acts as the seed of grain growth. Lee and Joo fabricated high-performance thin film transistors by the lateral crystallization of the channel area from the source/drain area on which 5 Å thick Ni metal was deposited by sputtering [8], and several researchers investigated lateral crystallization [15][16][17]. Figure 5 shows the lateral crystallization behavior with microwave annealing and furnace annealing at various annealing temperatures.…”

Generating ordered Si nanocrystals via atomic force microscopy

“…Field-enhanced [9,10] metal-induced [11] solid phase crystallization (FE-MISPC) at room temperature can be used to achieve spatially localized current-induced crystallization of amorphous silicon films using a sharp tip such as those employed in atomic force microscopy (AFM) [12]. This process results in the formation of microscopic crystalline rings and dots as well as resistive nano-pits at controlled positions in the amorphous silicon thin films.…”