Heat treatment with high-pressure H2O vapor of pulsed laser crystallized silicon films

Improvement of electrical properties for 7.4 x 10(17) cm(-3) phosphorus-doped pulsed laser crystallized silicon films of 50 nm thickness formed on quartz glass substrates was achieved by heat treatment with high-pressure H2O vapor. The electrical conductivity was increased from 1.3 x 10(-5) S/cm (as-crystallized) to 2 S/cm by annealing at 270 degrees C for 3h with 1.3 x 10(6) Pa H2O vapor. The spin density of undoped laser crystallized silicon films was reduced from 1.6 x 10(18) cm(-3) las-crystallized) to 1.2 x 10(17) cm(-3) by annealing at 310 degrees C for 3 h with 1.3 x 10(6) Pa H2O vapor. Theoretical analysis revealed that the potential barrier height at grain boundaries decreased from 0.3 eV las-crystallized) to 0.002 eV. High-pressure H2O vapor annealing offer the possibility of reducing the density of defects states through oxidation of the defects at low temperature.