Abstract
Thermal crystallization experiments carried out using calorimetry on several a-Si:H materials with different microstructures are reported. The samples were crystallized during heating ramps at constant heating rates up to 100 K/min. Under these conditions, crystallization takes place above 700 °C and progressively deviates from the standard kinetics. In particular, two crystallization processes were detected in conventional a-Si:H, which reveal an enhancement of the crystallization rate. At 100 K/min, such enhancement is consistent with a diminution of the crystallization time by a factor of 7. In contrast, no systematic variation of the resulting grain size was observed. Similar behavior was also detected in polymorphous silicon and silicon nanoparticles, thus showing that it is characteristic of a variety of hydrogenated amorphous silicon materials.
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The purpose of this Rapid Communications section is to provide accelerated publication of important new results in the fields regularly covered by Journal of Materials Research. Rapid Communications cannot exceed four printed pages in length, including space allowed for title, figures, tables, references, and an abstract limited to about 100 words.
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Farjas, J., Serra-Miralles, J., Bertran, E. et al. Anomalous crystallization of hydrogenated amorphous silicon during fast heating ramps. Journal of Materials Research 20, 277–281 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2005.0037
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2005.0037