High mobility crystalline silicon film growth below 600 °C from an Au-Si eutectic melt for TFTs

Abstract

We report the growth of a crystalline silicon thin film on buffered soda-lime glass below 600 °C from a gold (Au) – silicon (Si) eutectic melt with electron mobility of 188 cm2 V−1 s−1 as measured by the Hall effect measurement. The film was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, cross-section Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) all confirming a thin continuous film of highly crystalline silicon grown on buffered soda-lime glass. This is a breakthrough process that can replace low temperature polysilicon (LTPS) in thin-film transistor (TFT) fabrication for driving pixels in large displays.