Effects of solid phase crystallization by rapid thermal annealing on the optical constants of sputtered amorphous silicon films

Polycrystalline Si thin film transistors (TFTs) have been fabricated through solid phase crystallization using field-enhanced rapid thermal annealing (FE-RTA) system. The system consists of inline furnace modules for preheating and cooling of the glass substrates and a process module for rapid radiative heating combined with alternating magnetic field induction. The FE-RTA system enables crystallization of amorphous Si at high throughputs without any glass damages. While the typical grain structures of poly-Si by FE-RTA are similar to those of solid phase crystallization, the residual amorphous Si and intragranular defects are reduced.

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Comparison Between Rapid Thermal and Furnace Annealing for A-Si Solid Phase Crystallization

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-424-237 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 424 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Reece Kingi ◽

Yaozu Wang ◽

Stephen J. Fonash ◽

Osama Awadelkarim ◽

John Mehlhaff

Keyword(s):

Thermal Annealing ◽

Rapid Thermal Annealing ◽

Annealing Temperature ◽

Solid Phase ◽

Growth Time ◽

Crystallization Time ◽

Solid Phase Crystallization ◽

Furnace Annealing ◽

Lower Growth ◽

Transient Time

AbstractRapid thermal annealing and furnace annealing for the solid phase crystallization of amorphous silicon thin films deposited using PECVD from argon diluted silane have been compared. Results reveal that the crystallization time, the growth time, and the transient time are temperature activated, and that the resulting polycrystalline silicon grain size is inversely proportional to the annealing temperature, for both furnace annealing and rapid thermal annealing. In addition, rapid thermal annealing was found to result in a lower transient time, a lower growth time, a lower crystallization time, and smaller grain sizes than furnace annealing, for a given annealing temperature. Interestingly, the transient time, growth time, and crystallization time activation energies are much lower for rapid thermal annealing, compared to furnace annealing.We propose two models to explain the observed differences between rapid thermal annealing and furnace annealing.

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Microstructure of Poly-Si Obtained by Rapid Thermal Annealing of Amorphous Silicon Films

Solid State Phenomena ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/ssp.37-38.287 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 37-38 ◽

pp. 287-292 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

J. Stoemenos ◽

N.A. Economou ◽

L. Haji ◽

M. Bonnel ◽

N. Duhamel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Amorphous Silicon ◽

Thermal Annealing ◽

Rapid Thermal Annealing ◽

Silicon Films

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Approaches to modifying solid phase crystallization kinetics for a-Si films

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-424-249 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 424 ◽

Author(s):

Reece Kingi ◽

Yaozu Wang ◽

Stephen Fonash ◽

Osama Awadelkarim ◽

Yuan-Mn Li

Keyword(s):

Thermal Annealing ◽

Rapid Thermal Annealing ◽

Crystallization Kinetics ◽

Solid Phase ◽

Surface Treatments ◽

Film Deposition ◽

Crystallization Time ◽

Solid Phase Crystallization ◽

Furnace Annealing ◽

Thermal Budget

AbstractThree approaches to modifying the solid phase crystallization kinetics of amorphous silicon thin films are examined with the goal of reducing the thermal budget and improving the poly-Si quality for thin film transistor applications. The three approaches consist of (1) variations in the PECVD a-Si deposition parameters; (2) the application of pre-fumace-anneal surface treatments; and (3) using both rapid thermal annealing and furnace annealing at different temperatures. We also examine the synergism among these approaches.Results reveal that (1) film deposition dilution and dilution/temperature changes do not strongly affect crystallization time, but do affect grain size; (2) pre-anneal surface treatments can dramatically reduce the solid phase crystallization thermal budget for diluted films and act synergistically with deposition dilution or dilution/temperature effects; and (3) rapid thermal annealing leads to different crystallization kinetics from that seen for furnace annealing.

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