Altering the Nucleation of Thermally Annealed Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon with Laser Processing

We demonstrate the use of laser processing to affect the nucleation of crystallites in thermally annealed hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films. The influence of film H content and subcrystallization threshold laser fluence are investigated by x-ray diffraction measurements during in situ thermal annealing at 600 °C. All laser-treated films show a reduced incubation time for crystallization compared to as-grown films, with the largest differences exhibited for samples with higher film H and higher laser fluences. These results are consistent with multivacancy annihilation by laser processing, based upon a recently developed model for a nucleation center in a-Si:H.