The production of polycrystalline semiconductor thin films with large grains is essential to the fabrication of high performance photovoltaic cells and integrated circuits. Current crystallization techniques typically employ lasers, which can be costly because they require expensive equipments such as high-end excimer lasers. This technology is a flash lamp annealing (FLA) technique for crystallization that can obviate the need for such lasers and also employ low temperature substrates such as glass. To overcome the low temperature substrate problem typically associated with FLA, this technology proposes using protective measures so that the substrates can withstand the higher pulse energies required to melt the semiconductor films.
The technology is an FLA method for improving the crystallography of semiconductor films on low-temperature substrates such as glass. To protect the substrate from the higher pulse energies required by FLA, the technology employs photolithography to cover certain regions of the film prior to irradiation and direct heat propagation in a manner that results in directed crystal growth.
Patent Issued (US 8,569,155)
Tech Ventures Reference: IR M08-065