Al-induced crystallization (AIC) without an Al oxide at the Al/a-Si interface (glass/Al/a-Si) was investigated in comparison with the case of an Al oxide (glass/Al/Al oxide/a-Si). The Si crystallization of Al/a-Si during AIC was much faster than that of Al/Al oxide/a-Si. The annealing of glass/Al/a-Si led to poly-Si films with small Si grains compared to that of glass/Al/Al oxide/a-Si. It is difficult to observe the influence of the crystallization temperatures (400-500degreesC) on the crystallization of glass/Al/a-Si. With annealing of glass/Al/a-Si at 300 C, the crystallization of a-Si occurred not only in the original Al layer but also in the original a-Si layer. With lowering crystallization temperature of glass/Al/Al oxide/a-Si, it is observed that poly-Si films become oriented preferentially in the (100) direction normal to the surface and had larger grains. These preferentially (100) oriented Si thin films can act as good seed layers for the growth of the active layers by liquid phase epitaxy. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.