It is well known that Pd-metal induced lateral crystallization (MILC) forms needle-shaped crystalline silicon behind Pd2Si and has a well/island effect. However, its mechanism has not been established yet. In this paper, we observed the Pd-MILC behaviors in various conditions, such as the boron and phosphorous-doped silicon and the adjacent Ni and amorphous silicon (a-Si) active edge. The Pd-MILC rates were 4 mu m/h for the Pd-Pd MILC, 3 mu m/h for the adjacent Ni Pd-MILC, and 0.5 mu m/h for the Pd-island type. It was also observed that the B2H6-doped amorphous silicon (a-Si) showed a faster Pd-MILC rate than the PH3-doped a-Si and intrinsic a-Si. We proved that the "tensile stress model" can explain these phenomena in detail. (c) 2005 The Electrochemical Society.