Uniform, High Performance Poly-Si TFTs Fabricated by Laser- Crystallization of PECVD-Grown a-SI:H

Polycrystalline silicon thin film transistors (TFTs) were fabricated using laser crystallization of thin amorphous Si films grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The films were exposed to a scanned XeCl excimer laser beam at 350 mJ/cm 2 . At this fluence the Si film com- pletely melted and crystallized in the form of uniformly distributed grains with an average size of 39 nm. One of the films was then subjected to a low fluence laser scan (250 mJ/cm 2 ), which re- sulted in the melting of the top part of the film and lead to an increase in grain size. The TFTs fabricated without the partial melt method had good electrical properties and uniformities. The partial melt method lead to substantial improvements in most device characteristics, while the uniformity remained good.