Amorphous silicon film deposition by low temperature catalytic chemical vapor deposition (<150°C) and laser crystallization for polycrystalline silicon thin-film transistor application

We deposited amorphous silicon (a-Si) films below 150°C with a custom-designed catalytic chemical vapor deposition (Cat-CVD) system. The hydrogen content of the films was controlled at less than 1.5 at. %. Excimer laser crystallization was performed without the preliminary dehydrogenation process. Crystallization occurred at a laser energy density above 70 ml/cm ². Thin-film transistors (TFTs) were fabricated while the entire process temperatures were maintained at below 200°C. We obtained a field-effect mobility of higher than 100 cm²/(V s) and a sub-threshold slope of 116 mV/dec. The a-Si film prepared by a low temperature Cat-CVD is a promising candidate for polycrystalline silicon TFTs of the active matrix display.