Study on the mechanism of rapid solid-phase recrystallization of hydrogenated amorphous silicon film by rapid thermal processing

High-quality hydrogenated amorphous silicon films (a-Si:H) were deposited on quartz glass substrates by radio-frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method. The films were then annealed at 800 °C for 3 min by rapid thermal processing (RTP). As confirmed by X-ray diffractometry and Raman spectrometry, hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon films were obtained after the annealing procedure. The mechanism of the rapid solid-phase recrystallization of a-Si:H film by RTP was theoretically mainly attributed to the interaction between short-wavelength photons and ground-state precursor radicals (silicon, SiH2 and SiH3).