Recovery Stage of Polycrystalline-Si Prepared by Excimer Laser Annealing

By irradiating the multi-pulse excimer laser with the energy density smaller than 200 mJ/cm 2 on the amorphous silicon (a-Si), the crystallinity of the Si increases, as increasing the number of the pulse. During the first laser irradiation some part of the melted a-Si becomes the polycrystalline (poly)-Si which corresponds to the nucleus, and after the second irradiation the poly-Si does not melt and the remaining a-Si becomes the poly-Si. The crystal growth of the poly-Si proceeds by the solid phase crystallization (SPC). Crystal growth of poly-Si by excimer laser annealing (ELA) is discussed by considering the recovery stage. This stage is examined from the relationship between the amorphous Si area and the total irradiation time. The fact that the measured data coincides with the theoretical data indicates that the recovery proceeds during the ELA at the low energy density.