Plasma electron annealing method for recrystallization of a-Si thin films

We introduce a plasma electron annealing (PEA) method that takes advantage of the electrons inside the plasma by applying DC positive bias voltage in a pulsed form to the substrate. One favorable aspect of this method is that it develops polysilicon (poly-Si) films, within 60 s, from amorphous silicon (a-Si) films without damaging the surface. Analysis using Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) has been conducted to determine the crystalline properties of poly-Si films. Observations show that a-Si is almost completely crystallized into poly-Si at surface temperatures above 600 °C. These results show the PEA as a potential method for crystallization of a-Si.