Epitaxial growth of polycrystalline films formed by microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition at low temperatures

We report epitaxial growth of polycrystalline silicon films using microwave-induced PECVD from initial laser crystallized silicon formed on glass substrates. Undoped silicon was first crystallized by a method of pulsed laser-induced rapid melt-regrowth. Crystalline volume ratio of 100 nm thick microcrystalline silicon layer subsequently deposited on the bottom laser crystallized layer increased from 0.2 to 0.37 as the ratio of the bottom layer increased from 0.69 to 0.8. Epitaxial growth ratio was determined as 0.45 for the present CVD method. The electrical conductivity of doped microcrystalline silicon top layer also increased because of increase crystalline volume ratio.