Enlargement of grain in poly-Si by adding Au in Ni-mediated crystallization of amorphous Si using a SiNx cap layer

We have studied the effect of Au addition on Ni-mediated crystallization of amorphous silicon (a-Si) using a silicon-nitride (SiNx) cap layer. The Ni and Au particles were sputtered on the SiNx a-Si and then the samples were heated for crystallization at a temperature of 550 °C. We achieved disk-shaped grains and found that the grain size increased with increasing Au density when the Ni density was fixed at 2.45× 1014 cm2. We achieved a grain size of ∼45 μm, however the a-Si could not be crystallized when Au density is higher than Ni density.