Predicting the crystallization temperature variation with composition for amorphous silicon-based binary alloy thin films

A semi-empirical model for predicting the crystallization temperature variation with composition for amorphous Si-based binary alloys is presented. Based on the calculated heat of formation, Delta H-for, Si-based amorphous alloys are proposed to crystallize according to one of three classes: Si-nonmetal, Si-nonreactive metal (Delta H-for greater than or equal to 0) or Si-reactive metal (Delta H-for<0) alloy systems. For all three classes, the variation in Delta H-for with composition is also used to qualitatively predict the concentration dependence of the crystallization temperature, T-c. The validity of the model was investigated by comparing the predicted concentration dependence of T-c with our own experimental results as well as with available literature data. It was found that the model explains the qualitative crystallization temperature variation with composition well for the hitherto studied amorphous Si-based binary alloy systems. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.