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The effect of substrate temperature and interface oxide layer on aluminum induced crystallization of sputtered amorphous silicon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2011

Maruf Hossain ,
Husam Abu-Safe ,
Marwan Barghouti ,
Hameed Naseem  and
William D. Brown
Maruf Hossain
Affiliation:
Arkansas Advanced Photovoltaic Research Center, Department of Electrical Engineering 3217 Bell Engineering Center, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701
Husam Abu-Safe
Affiliation:
Arkansas Advanced Photovoltaic Research Center, Department of Electrical Engineering 3217 Bell Engineering Center, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701
Marwan Barghouti
Affiliation:
Arkansas Advanced Photovoltaic Research Center, Department of Electrical Engineering 3217 Bell Engineering Center, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701
Hameed Naseem
Affiliation:
Arkansas Advanced Photovoltaic Research Center, Department of Electrical Engineering 3217 Bell Engineering Center, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701
William D. Brown
Affiliation:
Arkansas Advanced Photovoltaic Research Center, Department of Electrical Engineering 3217 Bell Engineering Center, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701
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Abstract

The effect of substrate temperature and interface oxide layer on aluminum induced crystallization (AIC) of amorphous silicon (a-Si) is investigated. The effect of substrate temperature on the AIC process was studied by changing the deposition temperate of a-Si from 200 to 300°C in a Al/a-Si/glass configuration. To study the effect of interface oxide on AIC, samples with a-Si/Al/glass, a-Si/Al-oxide/Al/glass, and Al/Si-oxide/a-Si/glass configurations were prepared at a fixed substrate temperature. The samples were annealed in the temperature range from 300°C to 525°C for different periods of time. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirmed the crystallization of the a-Si films in the various configurations. From the analysis, we report that crystallization of a-Si happen at 350°C annealing temperature in the Al/a-Si/glass configuration. However, with or without the presence of Si-oxide at the interface, crystallization saturated after annealing for 20 minutes at 400°C. On the other hand, when Al-oxide is present at the interface, higher annealing temperatures and longer annealing times are required to saturate the crystallization of a-Si. Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray (EDX) mapping were used to study the surface morphology as well as the layer sequence after crystallization. This analysis revealed that Si-Al layer-exchange happens regardless of the deposited film configuration.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 808: Symposium A – Amorphous and Nanocrystaline Silicon Science and Technology-2004 , 2004 , A4.22
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2004

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References

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