Growth of Si crystalline in SiOx films induced by millisecond rapid thermal annealing using thermal plasma jet

Si crystalline growth in SiOx films is observed by annealing the films with thermal plasma jet (TPJ) at a temperature higher than 1440 K with annealing duration ranging from 0.9 to 1.7 ms. The size of surface granular structure abruptly increases from ∼30 to ∼800 nm by annealing the films at temperatures higher than 1680 K. From the Raman scattering spectra of such large grains, it is confirmed that they have very high crystallinity with the TO phonon band width of 6.9 cm−1 and peak position of 520.3 cm−1. Large grains of ∼10 μm are formed by agglomeration with high temperature annealing. From SiOx films annealed at ∼1200 K, visible red photoluminescence (PL) was observed at room temperature. The peak PL wavelength of 920 nm suggests the formation of nanocrystalline Si with the size of ∼5 nm.