Room temperature crystallization by RF plasma

摘要

The crystallization of amorphous thin films was achieved by radiofrequency (RF) plasma treatment. Although various amorphous films are crystallized after 2 min or so, the sample temperature is lower than 150 ℃ without compulsory cooling even when the films are treated for 1 h. This treatment works on amorphous films of various materials, independently of the film preparation method and substrate materials. Sol-gel-derived TiO_2 films were densified and simultaneously crystallized to anatase structure by the plasma treatment and the obtained films indicate almost the same photocatalytic activities as that of thermally crystallized TiO_2 films. Plasma-crystallized sputtered indium tin oxide (ITO) films have a bixbite structure and the resistivity reached to 1.6 × 10~4 ft cm while the crystallization condition was not optimized. Amorphous silicon films with a small mount of crystallites were deposited by sputtering method and were crystallized by the plasma treatment.