Rapid-Thermal Annealing Of Amorphous Silicon On Oxide Semiconductors

Crystallization of amorphous silicon on oxide semiconductors using rapid-thermal annealing in vacuum is investigated. A 30 nm n-type amorphous silicon (a-Si) is deposited on zinc-oxide (ZnO) and aluminum doped zinc-oxide (ZnO:Al) by PECVD on glass substrate. Rapid-thermal annealing for 30 min to 180 min of a-Si on ZnO and ZnO:Al were performed at 600 degrees C. It is found that crystallization of a-Si on oxide semiconductors can be done in shorter time than that of standard solid-phase crystallization (SPC) of amorphous silicon on glass substrate at 600 degrees C. It has been verified using Raman spectroscopy that a-Si on ZnO:Al changes into polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) in 30 min at 600 degrees C.