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Real Time Spectroscopic Ellipsometry Studies of the Solid Phase Crystallization of Amorphous Silicon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

H. Fujiwara ,
Joohyun Koh ,
Yeeheng Lee ,
C. R. Wronski  and
R. W. Collins
H. Fujiwara
Affiliation:
Center for Thin Film Devices, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802.
Joohyun Koh
Affiliation:
Center for Thin Film Devices, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802.
Yeeheng Lee
Affiliation:
Center for Thin Film Devices, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802.
C. R. Wronski
Affiliation:
Center for Thin Film Devices, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802.
R. W. Collins
Affiliation:
Center for Thin Film Devices, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802.
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Abstract

We have introduced real time spectroscopic ellipsometry (RTSE) for characterization of the solid phase crystallization (SPC) of intrinsic and n-type amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films. RTSE has several advantages in the study and design of SPC processes for thin film transistor and solar cell fabrication. These include the capability of obtaining (i) calibration data that yield the near surface temperature of the film during processing, (ii) the volume fraction of the crystalline Si component of the film continuously versus time during SPC, and (iii) a measurement of the grain size and quality of the final polycrystalline Si film. For the thin layers studied here (∼150-1000 Å), we demonstrate excellent fitting of the SPC dynamics to the Avrami-Johnson-Mehl theory for random nucleation and two-dimensional crystallite growth. For a-Si:H n-layers, the crystallization time over the range from 565 to 645°C appears to be weakly activated with an energy of 0.6 eV.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 507: Symposium A – Amorphous & Microcrystalline Silicon Technology 1998 , 1998 , 939
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1998

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References

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