Flash lamp crystallization of amorphous silicon films on glass substrates

Abstract We investigated the crystallization of amorphous thin films on glass substrates using a 200 μs flash light pulse. The optical and structural features of the various coloured regions observed after the annealing were investigated using optical microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction. We proved that the annealing process results in three regimes of crystallization: a furnace-like regime and two explosive regimes. One of the explosive regimes is a solid phase regime, yielding a non-textured polycrystalline silicon with a grain size of about 100 nm. The other is a liquid phase regime, yielding long crystallites with dimensions of up to 15 μm. The morphology and texture of these crystallites were studied. The location of the various coloured areas with respect to the flash axis is explained as a competition between the three crystallization modes.