Grain Growth Mechanism of Heavily Phosphorus‐Implanted Polycrystalline Silicon

Grain growth phenomena of heavily phosphorus‐implanted polycrystalline silicon films owing to high temperature annealing are investigated by transmission electron microscope. Phosphorus doping in excess of is found to enhance grain growth. This growth is broken down into primary and secondary recrystallization. Isochronal annealing reveals the activation energies for these as 2.4 and 1.0 eV, respectively. The driving force of the primary recrystallization is found to be the interface energy. Therefore, the elementary process behind the primary recrystallization is attributed to silicon diffusion across the grain boundary region.