Excimer laser crystallization and doping of silicon films on plastic substrates

We report the pulsed laser recrystallization and doping of thin film amorphous silicon deposited on oxide-coated polyester substrates. Although our heat-flow simulation of the laser recrystallization process indicates that the plastic is briefly subjected to temperatures above its softening point, we see no evidence of damage to the plastic or film delamination from the substrate. Film grain size is found to vary up to ∼0.1 μm. Electrical characteristics obtained from simple strip line resistors and thin film transistors indicate that device-quality silicon films have been produced on an inexpensive flexible plastic substrate.