Growth of Si thin film on SiO₂ substrate with Ge islands

Abstract

High-quality polycrystalline Si films on insulating substrates have been expected to realize high-performance thin-film transistors(TFTs) and solar cells. In this study, we proposed a new process to control size and density of Ge islands for formation of polycrystalline Si thin films on glass or SiO₂ substrates. We investigated crystallization of a-Si on Ge islands and found that crystalline Ge enhanced crystallization of a-Si on SiO₂. We have demonstrated that this process has a great advantage in crystallization tenmperature and time for obtaining large-grained poly-Si films.