Suppression of low angle grain boundaries in seeded thick Si films recrystallized between SiO2 layers

Abstract
We observe a marked suppression in the formation of low angle grain boundaries (sub‐boundaries) during the graphite strip heater recrystallization of thick Si films over buried islands of SiO2. For 27‐μm‐thick Si films, areas exceeding 1×1 mm2 have been recrystallized on SiO2 which are completely free of grain boundaries and sub‐boundaries, but which contain dislocations in other configurations. Moreover, we find the density of these remaining dislocations to be much reduced near the upper and lower SiO2 interfaces.