scholarly journals Characterization of Defects and Stress in Polycrystalline Silicon Thin Films on Glass Substrates by Raman Microscopy

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuninori Kitahara ◽  
Toshitomo Ishii ◽  
Junki Suzuki ◽  
Takuro Bessyo ◽  
Naoki Watanabe

Raman microscopy was applied to characterize polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) on glass substrates for application as thin-film transistors (TFTs) integrated on electronic display panels. This study examines the crystallographic defects and stress in poly-Si films grown by industrial techniques: solid phase crystallization and excimer laser crystallization (ELC). To distinguish the effects of defects and stress on the optical-phonon mode of the Si–Si bond, a semiempirical analysis was performed. The analysis was compared with defect images obtained through electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. It was found that the Raman intensity for the ELC film is remarkably enhanced by the hillocks and ridges located around grain boundaries, which indicates that Raman spectra mainly reflect the situation around grain boundaries. A combination of the hydrogenation of films and the observation of the Si-hydrogen local-vibration mode is useful to support the analysis on the defects. Raman microscopy is also effective for detecting the plasma-induced damage suffered during device processing and characterizing the performance of Si layer in TFTs.

2004 ◽  
Vol 808 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Saleh ◽  
N. H. Nickel

ABSTRACTHydrogen bonding in laser crystallized boron and phosphorous doped polycrystalline silicon is investigated using Raman spectroscopy and hydrogen effusion measurements. During laser crystallization the intensity of the local vibration modes near 2000 and 2100 cm−1 decreases. The intensity of vibration mode at 2000 cm−1 decreases faster than the one at 2100 cm−1. From H effusion measurements, the hydrogen density-of-states (H DOS) distribution is derived. For undoped amorphous silicon the H DOS exhibits two prominent peaks at hydrogen binding energies of E– μH = –1.1 and –1.5 eV. In B doped a-Si:H the peak at –1.1 eV is less pronounced while in P doped a-Si:H the H binding energy increases by about 0.1 eV. In all samples laser crystallization causes an increase of the H binding energy by about 0.2 – 0.3 eV. However, the peaks in the H DOS observed in B-doped samples are preserved during laser crystallization.


2009 ◽  
Vol 517 (14) ◽  
pp. 3971-3974 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinh Ai Dao ◽  
Kuymin Han ◽  
Jongkyu Heo ◽  
Dohyeon Kyeong ◽  
Jaehong Kim ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 210 (12) ◽  
pp. 2729-2735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingmar Höger ◽  
Thomas Schmidt ◽  
Anja Landgraf ◽  
Martin Schade ◽  
Annett Gawlik ◽  
...  

1999 ◽  
Vol 107 (1251) ◽  
pp. 1099-1104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshio KAMIYA ◽  
Yoshiteru MAEDA ◽  
Kouichi NAKAHATA ◽  
Takashi KOMARU ◽  
Charles M. FORTMANN ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Hsiao-Yeh Chu ◽  
Min-Hang Weng ◽  
Chen Lin

The fabrication of large-grain 1.25 μm thick polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) films via two-stage aluminum-induced crystallization (AIC) for application in thin-film solar cells is reported. The induced 250 nm thick poly-Si film in the first stage is used as the seed layer for the crystallization of a 1 μm thick amorphous silicon (a-Si) film in the second stage. The annealing temperatures in the two stages are both 500°C. The effect of annealing time (15, 30, 60, and 120 minutes) in the second stage on the crystallization of a-Si film is investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. XRD and Raman results confirm that the induced poly-Si films are induced by the proposed process.


1997 ◽  
Vol 472 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.-S. Choi ◽  
C.-M. Park ◽  
J.-H. Jeon ◽  
B.-H. Min ◽  
M.-K. Han

ABSTRACTThe effects of nitrogen-radical treated amorphous silicon (a-Si) films on laser-crystallization behavior have been studied for the improvement of the grain-growth and the surface roughness. The radical treatments were performed by the rf (13.56 MHz) plasma-enhanced-chemical-vapor-deposition (PECVD) system with N2 gas before the laser-crystallization. The grain-size of the laser-crystallized polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) film with 600 seconds of radical-treatment time was remarkably increased by the relaxation of solidification process caused by the possible evolution of solid phase SiNx compounds which shows the low thermal conductivity. The electrical conductivity at 30 °C was rather lager value of 3×10-5 Ω-1cm-1 than 1×10-5 Ω-1cm-1 of poly-Si without radical treatment, while the highly resistive SiNx compounds were formed. From the SEM images, the surface roughness was also improved by the selective etching of the 5%-water-diluted hydrofluoric (HF) acid on the grain boundaries which the SiNx compounds were well segregated into during the laser-crystallization.


MRS Bulletin ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 461-465 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.C. van der Wilt ◽  
M.G. Kane ◽  
A.B. Limanov ◽  
A.H. Firester ◽  
L. Goodman ◽  
...  

AbstractLow-defect-density polycrystalline Si on flexible substrates can be instrumental in realizing the full potential of macroelectronics. Direct deposition or solid-phase crystallization techniques are often incompatible with polymers and produce materials with high defect densities. Excimer-laser annealing is capable of producing films of reasonable quality directly on polymer and metallic substrates. Sequential lateral solidification (SLS) is an advanced pulsed-laser-crystallization technique capable of producing Si films on polymers with lower defect density than can be obtained via excimer-laser annealing. Circuits built directly on polymers using these SLS films show the highest performance reported to date.


2012 ◽  
Vol 1426 ◽  
pp. 251-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonne Eggleston ◽  
Sergey Varlamov ◽  
Jialiang Huang ◽  
Rhett Evans ◽  
Jonathon Dore ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTA new method to form high quality crystalline silicon thin films on cheap glass substrates is developed using a single pass of a line-focus cw diode laser in air. The laser process results in the formation of large high-quality crystals as they grow laterally in the scan direction – seeded by the previously crystallised region. Grains 10 μm in thickness, up to millimetres in length and hundreds of microns in width have been grown with virtually zero detectable intragrain defects. Another mode is found which results in much smaller crystals grown by partial melting. The dominant grain boundaries identified are Σ3 <111> 60° twins. Hall mobilities as high as 470 cm2/Vs have been recorded. A diffused emitter is used to create a p-n junction at the rear of the films which produces open-circuit voltages as high as 539 mV.


1998 ◽  
Vol 508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Stewart ◽  
Howard Hovagimian ◽  
Jecko Arakkal ◽  
Sambit Saha ◽  
Miltiadis K. Hatalis

AbstractThis work investigates the solid phase crystallization of PECVD amorphous silicon films by rapid thermal processing (RTP) as an alternative to laser crystallization. It is shown that PECVD films can be crystallized by RTP at temperatures compatible with glass substrates. A statistical design approach was used to investigate the effect of the various deposition and annealing conditions on the crystallization temperature, material properties and TFT device performance. The investigated variables include deposition temperature, rf power, pressure, surface treatments, dehydrogenation treatment, source gas, dilutant gas, and RTP scan speed. Important deposition and crystallization parameters will be discussed regarding polysilicon film optimization.


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