Perspectives on metal induced crystallization of a-Si and a-Ge thin films G. Maity,*ab S. Dubey,c T. Meher,b S. Dhar,a D. Kanjilal,d T. Somef and Shiv P. Patel *b Abstract In recent times, the metal induced crystallization (MIC) process in amorphous semiconductors (a-Si and a-Ge) has been extensively investigated by many researchers due to potential applications of crystalline semiconductors in high-density data storage devices, flat panel displays, and high performance solar cells.