Laser‐induced self organization of silicon–germanium hillocks for field emission displays

Abstract

We report here on the formation of a self‐organized hillock structure in polycrystalline silicon–germanium (SiGe) thin films with a Ge content of 30 to 70%, due to the irradiation of the films with a sequence of laser pulses. By varying the crystallization parameters it is possible to control the periodicity length of the structure from 0.4 to 2 µm. The self organization phenomenon can be switched on and off by using substrates with different thermal conductivities. In addition, we show that the self‐organized hillock structure exhibits a low field emission threshold of 20 V/µm and therefore has an immense potential for field emission displays. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)