Ge surface-energy-driven secondary grain growth via two-step annealing

A two-step annealing method with a low thermal budget is proposed for advanced surface-energy-driven secondary grain growth of Ge films without any agglomeration. In the first-step annealing, the normal grain growth from as-deposited poly-crystalline Ge films was induced to make the grain size equivalent to the film thickness at 800 °C. After the subsequent second-step annealing at 900 °C, the much larger secondary grains were obtained than those by single-step annealing at 900 °C. The possible explanation regarding the final microstructure of the two-step annealed film is proposed. The two-step annealing was able to form the microstructure of Ge thin film with very large-grained matrix without any agglomeration, resulting in higher carrier mobility. Therefore, the proposed two-step annealing is believed to be a promising process applicable for channel formation processes in the next-generation Ge thin film transistors for 3D integrated circuits and vertical NAND flash memories.