Finite element method modeling applied to laser crystallization of amorphous silicon

Abstract

The crystallization by laser of amorphous or microcrystalline silicon films allows to obtain thin, high-quality, polycrystalline Si films, being a very promising method for diminishing costs in the microelectronic and solar cells sectors. During a laser crystallization process, light is partially absorbed in the amorphous silicon film, heating the sample and, if the temperature rises high enough, causing the reorganization of the film structure into a crys- talline one. In this work we show both experimental results on the crystallization of non-hydrogenated silicon thin-films performed by a continuous wave infrared laser are included, as well as a study of the process with a simple finite elements (FEM) numerical model based in the dimensional non-linear heat transfer equation with a steady heat source.