Nanosecond Monitoring of Lateral Crystallization Dynamics Induced by ELA

In this paper we report the direct observations of the lateral crystallizing process induced by single-pulse excimer laser annealing (ELA) for the first time. In order to modulate a beam profile on amorphous-silicon thin films intentionally, a mask projection type ELA system was used. Incorporating an optical microscope, a high speed gated image intensifier and a streak camera imaging system, a novel measuring system successfully revealed the dynamic lateral motion of liquid-solid Si interface with micrometer spatial resolution and nanosecond time domain. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the obtained streak images were well consistent with the simulated beam profiles to induce lateral growth crystallization, and the lateral solidifying velocity of 13m/sec was directly measured when 4μm-long grain had grown by phase-modulated excimer laser annealing (PMELA) method.