Effects of irradiation conditions on the lateral grain growth during laser crystallization of amorphous silicon films on borosilicate glass substrates

The effects of preheating laser power and pulse laser energy on the size and crystallinity of laterally grown grains by dual-laser crystallization of amorphous silicon (a-Si) films on borosilicate glass substrates were investigated. Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition was adopted for the deposition of the a-Si films in order to reduce the process temperature and thus the diffusion of metal impurities from the glass substrate to the deposited a-Si films. It was found that the preheating laser power is critical in enhancing grain size, whereas the pulse laser energy is closely related to crystal quality. It is demonstrated that by properly adjusting the process conditions, laterally grown grains of 50-μm size could be obtained.