Aluminum-induced crystallization of amorphous germanium on glass synthesized by combination of PIII&D and HiPIMS process

A new plasma process, i.e., combination of PIII&D(Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation and Deposition) and HiPIMS(HIgh Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering), was developed to implant non-gaseous ions into materials surface. The new process has great advantage that thin film deposition and non-gaseous ion implantation can be achieved in a single plasma chamber. In this process, Al ions were successfully implanted into glass, and Ge thin films of ∼100 nm thickness were deposited on to Al-implanted glass by HiPIMS process. After annealing at ∼400 °C, crystallized Ge thin film could be attained with very low residual Al content.