Fabrication of polycrystalline Si films by rapid thermal annealing of amorphous Si film using a poly-Si seed layer grown by vapor-induced crystallization

We have developed a novel crystallization process, where the crystallization temperature is lowered compared to the conventional RTA process and the metal contamination is lowered compared to the conventional VIC process. A very-thin a-Si film was deposited and crystallized at $550^{\circ}C$ for 3 h by the VIC process and then a thick a-Si film was deposited and crystallized by the RTA process at $680^{\circ}C$ for 5 min using the VIC poly-Si layer as a crystallization seed layer. The RTA crystallized temperature could be lowered up to $50^{\circ}C$, compared to RTA process alone. The poly-Si film appeared a needle-like growth front and relatively well-arranged (111) orientation. In addition, the Ni concentration in the poly-Si film was lowered to $3{\times}10^{17}\;cm^{-3}$ and that at the poly-Si/$SiO_2$ interface was lowered to $5{\times}10^{19}\;cm^{-3}$. The reduction in metal contamination could be greatly helpful to achieve a low leakage current in poly-Si TFT, which is the critical parameter for commercialization of AMOLED.