Crystallized Si layer properties of novel aluminum-induced crystallization

Aluminum-induced crystallization (AIC) is usually used for making silicon seed layer. In this paper, we investigated the AIC process varied with different diffusion barrier materials. The barrier materials were native Al oxide, directly deposited Al2O3, and SiO2 in AIC process. The effects of these diffusion barrier materials were analyzed by using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), Raman spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM). The results showed that the case of native Al oxide showed diffusion-limited aggregation which usually resulted in polycrystalline structure. On the other hand, the case of SiO2 layer showed kinetic-limited aggregation, which generally resulted in the mono-crystalline structure. Therefore, we introduced the novel AIC process with SiO2 layers.