Issue 3, 2023

Solid phase crystallization of amorphous silicon at the two-dimensional limit

Abstract

The epitaxy of silicene-on-Ag(111) renewed considerable interest in silicon (Si) when scaled down to the two-dimensional (2D) limit. This remains one of the most explored growth cases in the emerging 2D material fashion beyond graphene. However, out of a strict silicene framework, other allotropic forms of Si still deserve attention owing to technological purposes. Here, we present 2D Solid Phase Crystallization (SPC) of Si starting from an amorphous-Si on Ag(111) in atomic coverage to gain a crystalline-Si layer by post-growth annealing below 450 °C, namely Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) Back-End-of-Line (BEOL) thermal budget limit. Moreover, considering the benefit of the 2D-SPC scheme, we managed to write crystalline-Si pixels on the amorphous-Si matrix. Our in situ and ex situ analyses show that an in-plane interface or a lateral heterojunction between amorphous and crystalline-Si is formed. This amorphous-to-crystalline phase transformation suggests that 2D silicon may stem from an epitaxially grown layer and thermal self-organization/assembling.

Graphical abstract: Solid phase crystallization of amorphous silicon at the two-dimensional limit

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 Aug 2022
Accepted
06 Dec 2022
First published
06 Dec 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Nanoscale Adv., 2023,5, 668-674

Solid phase crystallization of amorphous silicon at the two-dimensional limit

D. S. Dhungana, E. Bonaventura, C. Martella, C. Grazianetti and A. Molle, Nanoscale Adv., 2023, 5, 668 DOI: 10.1039/D2NA00546H

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