Modeling the Crystallization of Amorphous Silicon Thin Films Using a High Repetition Rate Scanning Laser

Abstract

An optimum design of experimental setup for the preparation of polycrystalline silicon (pc-Si) films from amorphous layers applicable in the solar cell production is analyzed in the paper. In the computational simulations, the influence of basic characteristic parameters of the experimental procedure on the mechanisms of pc-Si lateral growth is studied. Among these parameters, the energy density of the applied laser and the thickness of the amorphous silicon (a-Si) layer are identified as the most significant. As an optimum solution, the mechanism of pc-Si growth consisting in repeated melting of a part of already crystallized pc-Si layer by the scanning laser is proposed.