LASER-INTERFERENCE CRYSTALLIZATION OF AMORPHOUS-SILICON - APPLICATIONS AND PROPERTIES

The generation of two-dimensional seed arrays with periods in the rang e 0.5 to 10 mu m in a-Si layers of 100 to 400 nm thickness on glass, u sing three interfering beams from a pulsed Nd:YAG laser is described. The size of the seeds depends on the applied laser intensity and varie s between 100 and 1000 nm. The seeds consist of small nc-Si grains of 30 to 50 nm diameter which govern the subsequent thermal or laser-stim ulated growth of large crystallites. The seeded growth phenomena and t he related structural properties of the mu c-Si layers measured by tra nsmission electron, scanning electron, and atomic force microscopy are discussed.