Electroless plating Ni induced crystallization of amorphous silicon thin films

There is a great demand to fabricate polycrystalline silicon films at low t emperatures. A metal-induced crystallization method can significantly decre ase the crystallization temperature of amorphous silicon (a-Si). Metal thin films are generally deposited on a-Si by the physical vapor deposition met hod followed by crystallization at a temperature lower than 600 degreesC. I n this study, a faster and more inexpensive electroless Ni plating method w as introduced. It was found that Si crystallinity increased with Ni plating time, but dropped when the time reached 10 min. When the plating time was less than 5 min, all of the poly-Si became needlelike with preferred orient ation parallel to the substrate.