Solid-phase crystallization of Si films in contact with Al layers

Abstract

Low-temperature (400–540 °C) crystallization of amorphous and polycrystalline Si films deposited on SiO2 and covered with an evaporated Al layer has been studied using SEM, TEM, electron diffraction, electron channeling, and MeV 4He + backscattering. Silicon deposited by evaporation and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at 640 °C (both amorphous) was found to crystallize into islands of polycrystalline aggregates. Silicon deposited by CVD at 900 °C (polycrystalline with ~2000-Å grains) produced relatively large (~10 µm) single-crystal islands. In both cases island size increased with annealing time, and the rate of crystallization increased with temperature. Crystallization rates were observed to be the same for both sources of amorphous Si, while 900 °C CVD Si was noticeably slower, consistent with the postulate that the driving force for the reaction is the free-energy difference between initial and final states. The crystallization rate for 900 °C CVD Si decreased when the Al layer thickness was reduced to a value less than the initial Si grain size. The inclusion of a native oxide layer between the deposited Si and Al layers greatly retarded the crystallization process.