Ni behaviors in polycrystalline silicon with disk-shaped grains

We investigated the Ni behaviors in silicide-mediated crystallization (SMC) of amorphous silicon (a-Si) with disk-shaped grains. After crystallization, Ni was located at the grain boundaries and center regions. The additional Ni particles uniformly scattered onto the polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) diffused through needlelike crystallites and then aggregated at the grain boundaries during secondary annealing. During secondary annealing, the Ni at grain boundaries diffused and then secondary lateral growth occurred at the crystallization front in partially crystallized a-Si. The secondary lateral growth length increased and saturated with increase in annealing time. The activation energy of secondary lateral growth rate decreased with increase in time.