Crystallization of amorphous silicon films

Kinetics and morphology in crystallization of unsupported amorphous silicon films are investigated by hot stage transmission electron microscopy. Crystallization occurs by thermally activated nucleation and growth processes; activation energies of 470 kJ/mol for nucleation and 280 kJ/mol for growth are obtained. Nucleation rates are observed to increase with annealing time, whereas the growth rate depends on the annealing temperature and the crystallographic growth direction. Copyright © 1978 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA