Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
We have found that an oxygen plasma exposure of a-Si:H films can cause thesefilms to crystallize with a much lower thermal-budget than that required forthe same a-Si:H films without this plasma exposure. Based on this uniquefinding, a selective area crystallization process has been developed tosuccessfully form patterned polycrystalline Si films. In this study, 1500 ÅPECVD a-Si:H films were first covered by 500 Å sputtered SiO2which was then patterned by lithography to form various islands covered bythe SiO2. These patterned films were exposed to an oxygen plasmaand were then thermally annealed in a furnace at 600 °C for 6 hours. Afterthis annealing it was found that the islands covered by SiO2during the oxygen plasma treatment remained a-Si while the oxygen plasmaexposed regions were crystallized completely. Both XRD and TEM were used toestablish the existance of these controlled regions of a-Si and poly-Si inthese films.