Polycrystalline silicon thin films produced by interference laser crystallization of amorphous silicon

Pulsed interference laser crystallization of amorphous silicon has been app lied to produce polycrystalline silicon thin films with grain sizes exceedi ng 5 mu m. It has been achieved by shifting the samples through the interfe rence pattern, with steps of typical 100 nm width. Grain sizes have been in vestigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The grains show quadratic shap es with a typical length of the applied interference period (5 Irm) and wid th around 1.5-2.5 mu m.