The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 30, 1999
Filed:
Mar. 18, 1998
Stephen J Fonash, State College, PA (US);
A Kaan Kalkan, State College, PA (US);
The Penn State Research Foundation, University Park, PA (US);
Abstract
The present invention is generally related to controllably modifying or tailoring the structure of crystalline films to adjust and enhance the material properties of the film, such as optical, mechanical and electrical properties. Crystalline films generally refer to microcrystalline (.mu.c) film, nanocrystalline (nc) film, polycrystalline (poly-c) film, and other crystallized films. The present invention provides a method for controllably obtaining desired grain sizes (or crystal sizes) in crystalline films and for controllably providing a predominance of grains sizes in a predetermined range to adjust and enhance the optical absorption properties of the crystalline film. The present invention also provide a method for controlling the mechanical properties, e.g., stress formation levels, during crystallization of at least a portion of the precursor film. Through control of the stress formation levels, it is possible to controllably adjust and enhance the electrical properties (e.g., doping efficiencies, carrier mobility, Fermi level and minority carrier lifetimes) of the crystallized portion.