This contribution investigates the crystallization behavior of amorphous silicon films on glass by using pulsed lasers with very high repetition rates up to 100 kHz. We determine the influence of the laser repetition rate f and of the film thickness d on the grain width g of the resulting polycrystalline silicon films. Our experimental results indicate a strong dependence of the grain width g on film thickness d as well as on the repetition rate f of the laser. The grain width rises from g = 0.27 µm to g = 3.59 µm if the film thickness increases from d = 50 nm to d= 300 nm and the repetition rate f from f = 20 kHz to 100 kHz. We use a purpose developed two- dimensional finite difference numerical model to calculate the evolution of the temperature in the silicon film and in the glass substrate. An increase of both, the film thickness d, and the repetition rate f decrease the solidification velocity v of the film. A comparison of the solidification velocity vs and the measured grain width g shows a linear correlation.

Currently, due to simultaneous large area coating thermal evaporation (TE) allows the highest YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) volume deposition rates among various coating techniques. The simultaneous large area deposition translates into long length when the deposition area is closely filled up with metal tape. On short RABiTS samples thermal evaporation has already established critical current densities in excess of 1 MA/cm2 at 77K. Recently, the deposition technique has been scaled up using a multi-turn tape winder for a simultaneously coatable length of 4 meters of 1 cm wide tape. The reel to reel tape deposition system is designed for long term operation based on a vapor composition control by atomic absorption spectroscopy and in situ refillable evaporation sources. In the initial setup phase the system has been able to reproduce the above results on small samples. The first results on continuously moving tape substrate coating up to a length of several meters will be reported.

The transfer of thin monocrystalline silicon films to foreign substrates is of great interest for a number of applications such as silicon on insulator devices, active matrix displays and thin film solar cells. We present a transfer approach for the fabrication of monocrystalline Si films on foreign substrates based on the formation of quasi-monocrystalline Si-films. Our transfer approach is compatible with high temperature processing such as epitaxial growth at 1100°C, thermal oxidation and phosphorous diffusion. Reuse of Si host wafers is demonstrated by the subsequent epitaxial growth of three monocrystalline Si films on a single host wafer. Monocrystalline Si films with a thickness of 15 µm and a diameter of 3” are transferred to glass and flexible plastic substrates. The typical light point defect density in films transferred from virgin wafers ranges between 10 to 100 cm−2, while stacking fault and dislocation densities are ≤ 100 cm−2. The minority carrier diffusion length in the epitaxial Si films is around 50 µm.

We crystallize amorphous silicon films with a frequency doubled Nd:YVO4 laser operating at a repetition frequency of up to 50 kHz. A sequential lateral solidification process yields polycrystalline silicon with grains longer than 100 μm and a width between 0.27 and 1.7 μm depending on film thickness and laser repetition frequency. The average grain size is constant over the whole crystallized area of 25 cm2. Thin film transistors with n- type and p-type channels fabricated from the polycrystalline films have average field effect mobilities of μn = 467 cm2/Vs and μp = 217 cm2/Vs respectively. As a result of the homogeneous grain size distribution, the standard deviation of the mobility is only 5%.

This contribution describes the preparation of a single crystalline Si thin-film separable from a reusable Si wafer. The method relies on: i) etching of a porous silicon layer ii) high-temperature annealing and iii) transfer of the recrystallized film to a foreign substrate. As a result of the process we obtain 1 to 30 μm thick monocrystalline Si films that contain voids with a size of several 100 nm. Due to its “swiss-cheese-like” structure the material is termed as “quasi-monocrystalline Si”. Sub micrometer thin layers are almost compact, while in several micron thick films voids cause scattering of incident light. This effect increases the effective absorption coefficient by light trapping and seems promising for the application of our quasi-monocrystalline films in thin film solar cells. Quasi-monocrystalline p-type silicon reaches a hole mobility of 78 cm2/ Vs measured by room-temperature Hall-effect. High carrier mobility and adjustable optical characteristics make these films suitable for display and photovoltaic applications. Quasi-monocrystalline films are processed using conventional high-temperature Si processing; finished devices can be transferred to a foreign substrate such as glass, while the starting wafer can be reused several times.