Gettering of Ni from Nickel-Induced Lateral Crystallization Silicon Using Amorphous Silicon and Chemical Oxide

Abstract

Nickel contamination inside nickel-metal-induced lateral crystallization (NILC) polycrystalline silicon poses a problem in the fabrication of high-performance thin-film transistors. In this study, amorphous Si (alpha-Si) and chemical oxide (chem-SiO(2)) films were employed to reduce the impurity of Ni-metal within the NILC film. The top 100 nm thick alpha-Si layer served as a gettering layer, while the middle 5 nm thick chem-SiO(2) layer served as an etching stop layer. It was found that nickel contamination was greatly reduced after annealing at 550 degrees C for only 12 h.