Gettering of nickel within the Ni-metal induced lateral crystallization polycrystalline silicon film through the contact holes

Abstract

Ni-metal-induced lateral crystallization (NILC) of amorphous Si (alpha-Si) has been used to fabricate high-performance low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin-film transistors (TFTs). The current crystallization technology, however, often leads to trap Ni and NiSi2 precipitates, which degrade the device performance. In this study, alpha-Si film was coated on the top of contact holes as Ni-gettering layer. It was found the Ni-metal impurity within the NILC poly-Si film was reduced without addition mask.