Electric field-dependent Ni-mediated lateral crystallization of a-Si on SiO₂

Ni-mediated lateral crystallization of amorphous Si has been investigated under a wide range of electric fields (0-4000 V/cm). In the low field region (< 100 V/cm), lateral growth velocity at the cathode side was enhanced by applying an electric field. This achieved formation of poly-Si with a large area (∼ 50 μm) during low-temperature annealing (525 °C, 25 h). When the electric field exceeded 100 V/cm, the lateral growth velocity decreased with increasing the electric field strength. Under the extremely high electric field (> 2000 V/cm), directional growth aligned to the electric field was observed. These new findings will be a powerful tool to achieve new poly-Si with highly controlled structures.