Indium-Induced Crystallization of Thin Films of Amorphous Silicon Suboxide

A new method of obtaining polycrystalline silicon is proposed which is based on indium-induced crystallization of thin films of amorphous silicon suboxide with stoichiometric coefficient 0.5 (a-SiO0.5). It is established that the use of indium in the course of a-SiO0.5 annealing allows the crystallization temperature to be reduced to 600°C, which is significantly below the temperature of solid-phase crystallization of this material (850°C). The process of indium-induced crystallization of a-SiO0.5 in high vacuum leads to the formation of free-standing micron sized particles of crystalline silicon.