The Investigation of Crystallization of a-Si Films Deposited on Different Orientations by Solid Phase Epitaxy Process

Abstract In the experiment of this study, amorphous silicon (a-Si) films deposited by electronbeam evaporation method on (100) p+, (110) p+ and (111) p+ Si wafer substrates were crystallized at 600 °C by the solid phase epitaxy method. The times for generating the nuclei were different from one another depending on crystallized directions of the substrates, because the number of dangling bonds existing on the surface of the substrates and also the intervals of lattices are different from one another depending on the direction of crystallization. The crystallized Si film showed lots of defects. With increasing annealing time, the number of defects decreased. Also, it included more cracks. However, crystallization of the a-Si film on the (111) Si substrate was not epitaxial growth. The crystallized Si film was composed of crystal grains smaller than 1 μm.