Kinetics of electric-field-enhanced crystallization of amorphous silicon in contact with Ni catalyst Available to Purchase

Electric-field-enhanced crystallization of hydrogenated amorphous silicon in contact with nickel catalyst $(Ni/a-Si:H)$ has been investigated. In order to elucidate the crystallization kinetics quantitatively, in situ conductivity measurement was used. With the change of Ni dose $(4×1013∼1.3×1015 cm−2)$ and annealing temperature $(550∼500 °C),$ crystallization rate varied drastically at the electric field of $33 V cm−1.$ The activation energy for the crystallization was found to be strongly dependent on the Ni dose, $85 kJ mol−1$ for $1.3×1015 Ni cm−2,$ $243 kJ mol−1$ for $6×1014 Ni cm−2,$ and $276 kJ mol−1$ for $4×1013 Ni cm−2,$ respectively. The polycrystalline silicon films were composed of needle-like crystallites of $∼5 μm$ (long axis) and their thin-film transistors (TFTs) showed field effect mobility of $43 cm2 V−1 s−1.$