Controlled super-lateral growth of Si films for microstructural manipulation and optimization

This paper reviews a particular form of pulsed-laser-based thin-film crystallization method referred to as controlled super-lateral growth (C-SLG). By systematically manipulating and controlling the locations, shapes, and extent of melting induced by the incident laser pulses, the C-SLG approach - notably in a version referred to as sequential lateral solidification (SLS) - can lead to realization of a variety of microstructurally designed crystalline Si films with low structural defect densities, including 1. large-grained and grain-boundary-location controlled polycrystalline films, 2. directionally solidified microstructures, or 3. location-controlled single-crystal regions.