It was with great anticipation that I opened the second edition of Ted Kamins’s Polycrystalline silicon for integrated circuits and displays. My copy of the first edition [1], published more than a decade ago, is well worn because of my continual use of this definitive text on polysilicon. My expectations were met indeed; the revisions and updates in this edition help ensure that the book will continue to be the authoritative source of information on polysilicon for the next decade. The latest version, at nearly 400 pages, has 30 percent more text and almost twice as many references as the first one. It preserves the first edition’s strong coverage of the fundamentals of polysilicon, while adding new material describing advances in the field and new applications. This book continues to be a must-read for students and working professionals who want to know more about this material. Some of the key applications include CMOS gates, DRAM storage applications, floating-gate nonvolatile memory elements, self-aligned base and emitters in advanced bipolar structures, and thin-film transistors for displays.

The fundamentals of the chemical vapor deposition process are described in chapter 1. This chapter discusses the kinetics and thermodynamics of deposition along with different reactor geometries. Chapter 2 reviews the microstructure of polycrystalline silicon films, relating that structure to the film deposition and doping conditions. The effect of deposition and annealing conditions on optical, mechanical, and thermal properties is also shown. Diffusion of dopants in poly-Si is discussed in chapter 3, where the role and importance of grain boundaries are elucidated. This chapter also describes the interaction of polysilicon with aluminum and the formation of silicides on polysilicon. The influence of grain boundaries and dopants on the oxidation of polysilicon is shown in chapter 4, along with the conduction in dielectrics that are grown or deposited in polysilicon. Chapter 5 describes the electrical properties of polysilicon and amorphous silicon in undoped, moderately doped, and heavily doped forms. Finally, an extensive list of applications of polycrystalline and amorphous silicon films is reviewed in chapter 6. This chapter covers both the major applications of polysilicon, listed above, and the specialized and emerging ones, such as for resistors, gettering, fusible links, contacts, sensors, and microelectromechanical systems.

This new edition includes discussions of materials and processes that have taken on increased importance in VLSI technology during the last decade: rapid thermal processors, the use of disilane to deposit amorphous material at lower temperatures, the effect of oxygen contamination, depletion of dopants at the polysilicon/oxide interface, and techniques to control and lower stress. Special attention is also paid to newer and emerging applications, such as hemispherical-grain material for DRAMs, amorphous and polycrystalline films for thin-film transistors, sensors, and MEMS devices.

In short, this book comprehensively covers the wide range of topics that are relevant to polysilicon deposition and use. It is a valuable reference for working engineers and a good text for those who want to learn the field.