ZONE MELT RECRYSTALLIZATION FOR INORGANIC FILMS

摘要

ZMR apparatuses provide for controlled temperature flow through the system to reduce energy consumption while providing for desired crystal growth properties. The apparatus can include a cooling system to specifically remove a desired amount of heat from a melted film to facilitate crystallization. Furthermore, the apparatus can have heated walls to create a background temperature within the chamber that reduces energy use through the reduction or elimination of cooling for the chamber walls. The apparatuses and corresponding methods can be used with inorganic films directly or indirectly associated with a porous release layer that provides thermal insulation with respect to an underlying substrate. If the recrystallized film is removed from the substrate, the substrates can be reused. The methods can be used for large area silicon films with thicknesses from 2 microns to 100 microns, which are suitable for photovoltaic applications as well as electronics applications.