Field aided lateral crystallization of amorphous silicon thin film

We propose a noble crystallization method of amorphous silicon thin film in this study. Directional crystallization of amorphous silicon thin film was successfully achieved by applying a DC field during heat treatment. The crystallization temperature was lowered to 500 degrees C by employing a trace amount of Ni. The lateral crystallization velocity was 21 mu m/h when 53.5 V/cm electric field was applied at 500 degrees C, It also showed the dependence on the applied field intensity. The directionality of the resulting crystallization depended on the polarity of the electric field. This noble technology can be applied to the fabrication of low temperature poly-Si thin film transistors on glass substrates.