The influence of RF power on the solid phase crystallization of a-Si thin films

A series of amorphous silicon thin films with different order degree had been obtained by PECVD through adjusting RF power firstly and then annealed in vacuum. The microstructure and electrical property of the films had been investigated by XRD, Raman, HRTEM and the minority carrier lifetime tester. With the increase of RF power, the order degree and the minority carrier lifetime increase first and then decrease. After annealing, all of the films were crystalline and both of the crystallinity and grain size increase first and then decrease with RF power. At the same time, the minority carrier lifetime had a significant improvement comparing with that before annealing. The results indicated that in the same condition of thermodynamics, the films with higher order degree are easier to crystallize.