Laser Induced Solid-State Grain Growth in Polysilicon Films

ABSTRACTWe report studies done on the heating of polysillcon thin films below the melting temperature with long-time (on the order of minutes) continuous-wave laser irradiations. It is shown that a well controlled steady-state temperature is locally established within the film. A thermal model is developed to correlate film temperature to beam intensity and a direct relationship is found. A correlation coefficient of 2.5 K/W/cm2 is empirically determined between film temperature and incident beam power density.