Polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) films formed by flash lamp annealing (FLA) of precursor a-Si films are found to hardly lose hydrogen (H) atoms during crystallization and keep the initial H concentration on the order of 10(21)/cm(3). Short annealing duration and sufficient Si film thickness would lead to the suppression of H desorption. A characteristic lateral crystallization mechanism, referred to as explosive crystallization (EC), may also contribute to the prevention of H desorption due to rapid lateral heat diffusion into neighboring a-Si. Poly-Si films after annealing under N(2) or forming gas ambient shows remarkably long minority carrier lifetime compared to untreated films, indicating effective defect termination by H atoms remaining in the poly-Si films. (C) 2010 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.