An oxygen plasma exposure has been used successfully to develop a new unique low thermal-budget crystallization process for a-Si:H films on glass. In this study, 1500 angstrom a-Si:H films deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition were first exposed to an electron cyclotron resonance Oxygen plasma. These exposed films were then crystallized by either furnace thermal annealing or rapid thermal annealing. Compared to control samples without the plasma treatment, the crystallization time was found to be reduced from 14 to 5 h in 600-degrees-C furnace annealing, and the crystallization temperature was reduced from 680 to 650-degrees-C for 5 min rapid thermal annealing. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy demonstrates that a thin layer Of SiO2 Was grown on the a-Si films during the oxygen plasma exposure. Our model proposes that oxygen plasma exposure produces a supersaturation of silicon atoms below the Si/SiO2 interface and these serve to enhance poly-Si grain growth during crystallization.