Indium-induced crystallization of thin films of amorphous silicon suboxide

A new method of obtaining polycrystalline silicon is proposed which is based on indium-induced crystallization of thin films of amorphous silicon suboxide with stoichiometric coefficient 0.5 ($\alpha$-SiO$_{0.5}$). It is established that the use of indium in the course of $\alpha$-SiO$_{0.5}$ annealing allows the crystallization temperature to be reduced to 600$^\circ$C, which is significantly below the temperature of solid-phase crystallization of this material (850$^\circ$C). The process of indium-induced crystallization of $\alpha$-SiO$_{0.5}$ in high vacuum leads to the formation of free-standing micron sized particles of crystalline silicon.