Conductivity enhancement in laser-recrystallized polycrystalline silicon-on-insulator using molecular hydrogen annealing

It is found experimentally that a thermal anneal in molecular hydrogen at 450 °C reduces the sheet resistance of a laser-recrystallized polycrystalline silicon layer supported by a silicon dioxide layer. This effect can be reversed by annealing the polycrystalline silicon in nitrogen. The observed electrical characteristics of the polycrystalline silicon are similar to those treated with an atomic hydrogen plasma where grain-boundary potential barrier lowering is believed to be responsible for the reduction in the resistivity.