GROWTH OF SILICON MICROCRYSTALS IN THIN SURFACE-LAYERS OF QUARTZ GLASS WITH VACUUM-ULTRAVIOLET LASER PROCESSING

Silicon precipitates in surface layers as thin as 50 nm of quartz glas s plates where 9.8 eV photons from an argon excimer laser are irradiat ed, The surfaces have many protrusions having a spherical shape with s ubmicrometer diameter. Raman spectra indicates that they are made of c rystalline silicon. Such a phenomenon has not been observed by 8.5 eV photons from a krypton excimer laser. VUV laser material processing of fers a novel way to produce directly polycrystalline silicon circuits in thin surface layers of quartz glass plates.