Dependence of Threshold Voltage of a-Si:H TFT on a-SiNx:H Film^①

The relation between threshold voltage for hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin film transistors(a-Si:HTFTs)and deposition conditions for hydrogenated amorphous silicon nitride(a-SiNx:H)films is investigated.It is observed that the threshold voltage,Vth,of a-Si:HTFT increases with the increase of the thickness of a-SiNx:H film,and the threshold voltage is reduced apparently with the increase of NH3/SiH4 gas flow rate ratio.     

Dependence of thin film transistor characteristics on thedeposition conditions of silicon nitride and amorphous silicon

The systematic relation between thin film transistors' (TFT's) characteristics and the deposition conditions of amorphous silicon nitride (a-SiN) films and hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films is investigated. It is observed that field effect mobility μ_FE and threshold voltage V_th of the TFT's strongly depend on the deposition conditions of these films. The maximum μ_FE of 0.88 cm²/V·s is obtained for the TFT of which a-SiN film is deposited at a pressure of 85 Pa. This phenomenon is due to the variation of the interface states density between a-Si:H film and a-SiN film     

A novel a-Si:H AMOLED pixel circuit based on short-term stress stability of a-Si:H TFTs

This letter presents a novel pixel circuit for hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) active matrix organic light-emitting diode displays employing the short-term stress stability characteristics of a-Si:H thin film transistors (TFTs). The pixel circuit uses a programming TFT that is under stress during the programming cycle and unstressed during the drive cycle. The threshold voltage shift (V/sub T/-shift) of the TFT under these conditions is negligible. The programming TFT in turn regulates the current of the drive TFT, and the pixel current therefore becomes independent of the threshold voltage of the drive TFT.     

a—SiNx：H薄膜对a—Si：H TFT阈值电压的影响

介绍了测定a－Si：HTFT闽值电压的实验方法。重点研究了改变a－SiNx：H薄膜淀积时反应气体NH3／SiH4流速比以及a－SiNx:H膜厚对a－Si：HTFT阈值电压的影响。对实验结果进行了分析。实验结果表明：a－Si:HTFT的阈值电压随a－SiNx：H的膜厚增加而增大；增大X－SiNx：H薄膜淀积时NH3／SiH4气体流速比，可明显减小a-Si:HTFT的阈值电压。     

A new a-Si:H thin-film transistor pixel circuit for active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes

We propose a new pixel circuit using hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin-film transistors (TFTs), composed of three switching and one driving TFT, for active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes (AMOLEDs) with a voltage source method. The circuit simulation results based on the measured threshold voltage shift of a-Si:H TFTs by gate-bias stress indicate that this circuit compensates for the threshold voltage shifts over 10000 h of operation.     

Low-Temperature Materials and Thin Film Transistors for Flexible Electronics

This paper addresses the low-temperature deposition processes and electronic properties of silicon based thin film semiconductors and dielectrics to enable the fabrication of mechanically flexible electronic devices on plastic substrates. Device quality amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si:H), nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si), and amorphous silicon nitride (a-SiN/sub x/) films and thin film transistors (TFTs) were made using existing industrial plasma deposition equipment at the process temperatures as low as 75/spl deg/C and 120/spl deg/C. The a-Si:H TFTs fabricated at 120/spl deg/C demonstrate performance similar to their high-temperature counterparts, including the field effect mobility (/spl mu//sub FE/) of 0.8 cm/sup 2/V/sup -1/s/sup -1/, the threshold voltage (V/sub T/) of 4.5 V, and the subthreshold slope of 0.5 V/dec, and can be used in active matrix (AM) displays including organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays. The a-Si:H TFTs fabricated at 75/spl deg/C exhibit /spl mu//sub FE/ of 0.6 cm/sup 2/V/sup -1/s/sup -1/, and V/sub T/ of 4 V. It is shown that further improvement in TFT performance can be achieved by using n/sup +/ nc-Si contact layers and plasma treatments of the interface between the gate dielectric and the channel layer. The results demonstrate that with appropriate process optimization, the large area thin film Si technology suits well the fabrication of electronic devices on low-cost plastic substrates.     

Electrical Stability of Hexagonal a-Si:H TFTs

In this letter, we study the current-temperature-stress-induced electrical instability of single and multiple hexagonal (HEX) hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin-film transistors (TFTs) connected in parallel. The influence of the threshold voltage shift of a single HEX TFT on the overall electrical performance of multiple HEX TFTs is discussed. The results indicate that a-Si:H HEX TFTs have an improved electrical stability and a threshold voltage shift linear dependence on a number of connected HEX-TFT units.     

Gated-four-probe a-Si:H TFT structure: a new technique to measurethe intrinsic performance of a-Si:H TFT

In this letter, a new technique based on gated-four-probe hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin-film transistor (TFT) structure is proposed. This new technique allows the determination of the intrinsic performance of a-Si:H TFT without any influence from source/drain series resistances. In this method, two probes within a conventional a-Si:H TFT are used to measure the voltage difference within a channel. By correlating this voltage difference with the drain-source current induced by applied gate bias, the a-Si:H TFT intrinsic performance, such as mobility, threshold voltage, and field-effect conductance activation energy, can be accurately determined without any influence from source/drain series resistances     

High field-effect-mobility a-Si:H TFT based on high deposition-ratePECVD materials

The hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin-film transistors (TFT's) having a field-effect mobility of 1.45 ±0.05 cm² /V·s and threshold voltage of 2.0±0.2 V have been fabricated from the high deposition-rate plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposited (PECVD) materials. For this TFT, the deposition rates of a-Si:H and N-rich hydrogenated amorphous silicon nitride (a-SiN_1.5 :H) are about 50 and 190 nm/min, respectively. The TFT has a very high ON/OFF-current ratio (of more than 10⁷), sharp subthreshold slope (0.3±0.03 V/decade), and very low source-drain current activation energy (50±5 meV). All these parameters are consistent with a high mobility value obtained for our a-Si:H TFT structures. To our best knowledge, this is the highest field-effect mobility ever reported for an a-Si:H TFT fabricated from high deposition-rate PECVD materials     

A new a-Si:H TFT pixel circuit compensating the threshold voltage shift of a-Si:H TFT and OLED for active matrix OLED

We propose a new hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin-film transistor (a-Si:H TFT) pixel circuit for an active matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) employing a voltage programming. The proposed a-Si:H TFT pixel circuit, which consists of five switching TFTs, one driving TFT, and one capacitor, successfully minimizes a decrease of OLED current caused by threshold voltage degradation of a-Si:H TFT and OLED. Our experimental results, based on the bias-temperature stress, exhibit that the output current for OLED is decreased by 7% in the proposed pixel, while it is decreased by 28% in the conventional 2-TFT pixel.     

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin-film transistor with a thingate insulator

Thinning the gate insulator in an hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin-film transistor (a-Si:H TFT) has been studied in a coplanar structure. The threshold voltage decreases with decreasing gate insulator thickness without changing the field effect mobility significantly. The reduction in the threshold voltage is due to the decrease in the charge traps in the SiN_x and in its film thickness. The coplanar a-Si:H TFT with a gate insulator thickness of 35 nm exhibited a field effect mobility of 0.45 cm²/Vs and a threshold voltage of 1.5 V. The thickness of the gate insulator can be decreased in the coplanar a-Si:H TFTs because of the planarized gate insulator     

Estimate Threshold Voltage Shift in a-Si:H TFTs Under Increasing Bias Stress

A method of estimating threshold voltage shift in hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) transistors under increasing bias stress is proposed. Although the threshold voltage shift in a-Si:H thin-film transistor (TFT) has been modeled well under constant bias stress, its property with increasing bias stress, which occurs in many a-Si:H-based compensating circuits, still cannot be quantified without any restriction, such as constant overdrive bias or short stressing time. In this paper, we propose a model which is effective under an arbitrary increasing stress for a prolonged time. The proposed model reduces to the constant bias model if the stress bias remains unchanged. With this method, the lifetime of most compensating circuits based on a-Si devices can be estimated completely.      

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin-film transistor on plastic with an organic gate insulator

We developed a high-performance, hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin-film transistor (a-Si:H TFT) on plastic substrate using an organic gate insulator. The TFT with a silicon-nitride (SiN/sub x/) gate insulator exhibited a field-effect mobility of 0.3 cm/sup 2//Vs and a threshold voltage of 5 V. On the other hand, an a-Si:H TFT with an organic gate insulator of BCB (benzocyclobutene) has a field-effect mobility of 0.4 cm/sup 2//Vs and a threshold voltage of 0.7 V. The leakage currents through the gate insulator of an a-Si:H TFT with an organic gate insulator is about two orders of magnitude lower than that of an a-Si:H TFT with a SiN/sub x/ gate insulator.     

微量硼掺杂氢化非晶硅薄膜光电导性能研究

采用射频磁控溅射的方法制备了微量硼掺杂氢化非晶硅薄膜,对样品的光电导性能进行了研究.结果表明,不同的硼掺杂量下,氢化非晶硅薄膜透过率随掺杂量的增加而变大,透过率曲线截止边红移;吸收系数随着硼掺杂量的增加而增大;薄膜的折射率随着波长的增加而下降,同一波长下随着掺杂量的增加而增大,在500 nm波长处折射率达到4.2以上,最大到4.6;薄膜的交流电阻率在微量硼掺杂下随着硼掺杂量的增加先减小后增大.     

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin film transistor fabricated onplasma treated silicon nitride

We have demonstrated that the performance of the inverted staggered, hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin film transistor (a-Si:H TFT) is improved by a He, H₂, NH₃ or N₂ plasma treatment for a short time on the surface of silicon nitride (SiN _x) before a-Si:H deposition. With increasing plasma exposure time, the field-effect mobility increase at first and then decrease, but the threshold voltage changes little. The a-Si:H TFT with a 6-min N₂ plasma treatment on SiN_x exhibited a field effect mobility of 1.37 cm²/Vs, a threshold voltage of 4.2 V and a subthreshold slope of 0.34 V/dec. It is found that surface roughness of SiN_x is decreased and N concentration in the SiN _x at the surface region decreases using the plasma treatment     

Static characteristics of a-Si:H dual-gate TFTs

This paper examines the effect of the top gate on the static characteristics of dual-gate hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin-film transistors (TFTs). Both forward and reverse regimes of operation are considered. The top gate has a distinct effect on the threshold voltage, subthreshold slope, drive-current capability, and the leakage current of the TFT. In particular, the threshold voltage is found to linearly decrease with increasing top-gate bias. Specific bias configurations of the dual gate TFT critical to vertical integration of on-pixel electronics for imaging and display applications are also presented.     

Amorphous-SiC thin-film p-i-n light-emitting diode usingamorphous-SiN hot-carrier tunneling injection layers

An approach to improve the luminosity of hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H)-based thin-film visible light-emitting diodes is discussed. High bandgap near-stoichiometric hydrogenated amorphous silicon nitride (a-SiN:H) is utilized as a hot-carrier tunneling injection layer. An improvement of both carrier injection efficiency and luminosity is observed. Technical data on the new approach for carrier injection and on the recombination mechanism are presented. Preliminary results are also presented on the photoluminescence and electroluminescence properties of a-SiC:H/a-SiN:H multilayers     

α-Si-H TFT及有源矩阵选址平板液晶显示

本文报道了用于平板液晶显示(LCD)的氢化非晶硅薄膜晶体管(α-Si:H TFT)的研制结果,此晶体管开态电流约10~(-6)A,关态电流<10~(-11)A,开启电压～15V.用此α-Si:H TFT矩阵已封装出具有20×20个有效象素单元的液晶显示平板,并成功地实现了有源选址与动态显示功能.同时,对如何进一步提高TFT性能作了一些分析与讨论.