Crystal Growth Study of the grain-Boundary Free (100) Textured Si Thin-Films by Using the CW-Laser Lateral Crystallization

The crystal growth at the beginning of the laser scan is investigated for the (100) oriented grain-boundary free Si stripe at the low laser power near threshold for lateral growth. The (100) surface normal texture is maintained all over the scan at the low laser power, and a grain having (100) in-plane texture in the scan direction occludes grain growths of other in-plane textures resulting that this (100) in-plane textured grain in the scan direction grows to a grain-boundary free (100)-oriented giant crystal. The power window to obtain a (100) surface normal texture increases with decreasing a-Si film thickness; this suggests strongly that the (100) surface texture is determined by the SiO
₂
-Si interface energy.