Polycrystalline silicon with large disk-shaped grains by Ni-mediated crystallization of doped amorphous silicon

Silicide mediated crystallization (SMC) of p-doped amorphous silicon (a-Si) has been studied. There are the different grain-shapes of crystallization of doped and non-doped a-Si. Non-doped a-Si is crystallized with needle-shaped grains, while it is observed the disk-shaped grains are formed in crystallized doped a-Si. The crystallization of slightly doped a-Si exhibits larger grain size compared with non-doped and heavily doped films. The p-dopant in a-Si suppresses the formation of the NiSi2 precipitate which act as a crystallization nucleus, causing continuous grain growth and the formation of disk-shaped grains.