Measuring the Temperature of a Quartz Substrate during and after the Pulsed Laser-Induced Crystallization of a-Si:H

Transient thermometry measurements were used to study the heat diffusion in the near-surface region of a quartz substrate when hydrogenated amorphous silicon deposited on the substrate was melted and crystallized by irradiation with a pulsed XeCl excimer laser. The use of a thin platinum layer as a temperature sensing layer made it possible to measure the rapid heat diffusion from the silicon film on the top to the underlying substrate. The substrate was heated to no more than 170°C at 800 nm below the silicon film during and after the crystallization process.