We have fabricated poly-Si thin films on fused silica substrates by the Al-induced crystallization (AIC) method with SiO2 insertion layers of various thicknesses (0-20 nm). The growth morphologies of poly-Si layers were dramatically changed by the SiO2 thickness, i.e., thin layers (2 nm) provided high growth rates and (100) orientations, and thick layers (10 nm) provided low growth rates and (111) orientations. These results showed that the crystal orientation of AIC-Si significantly depends on the diffusion rate of Si atoms into the Al layer. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.