Thermal-induced normal grain growth mechanism in LPCVD polysilicon film

Normal grain growth mechanism due to high-temperature annealing of the polysilicon film has been shown experimentally while observing the limiting grain size to the order of the polysilicon film thickness. Polycrystalline silicon film shows grain size variation under the influence of thermal annealing. Low-voltage contact mode atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been employed to analyze the morphology of the annealed polysilicon film at four relevant different temperatures. A systematic grain growth leads to a stabilized grain size, due to clustering of grains under the influence of associated surface energy.