Effect of front hole channel on leakage characteristics of a-Si:H TFTs

Author

Servati, Peyman ; Nathan, Arokia ; Sazonov, Andrei

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Waterloo Univ., Ont., Canada

fYear

2000

fDate

2000

Firstpage

247

Lastpage

250

Abstract

This paper explores, from a theoretical standpoint, the effect of a front hole channel formed by virtue of a negative voltage applied at the gate contact, on leakage characteristics of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) inverted staggered thin-film transistors (TFTs). Holes are accumulated at the front a-Si:H/a-SiN_x:H interface forming a channel, which establishes a conduction path between drain and source when the transistor is in its off-state (V_GS<0). The accumulation of holes screens the vertical electric field induced by the gate contact. This screening effect explains the voltage and geometry dependence of the leakage characteristics of the TFT

Keywords

amorphous semiconductors; electrical contacts; elemental semiconductors; hole density; hole mobility; hydrogen; leakage currents; semiconductor device models; silicon; thin film transistors; Si:H-SiN:H; a-Si:H TFTs; a-Si:H inverted staggered TFTs; channel formation; drain-source conduction path; front a-Si:H/a-SiN_x:H interface; front hole channel; front hole channel effect; gate contact; gate contact negative voltage; geometry dependence; hole accumulation; hydrogenated amorphous silicon inverted staggered thin-film transistors; inverted staggered thin-film transistors; leakage characteristics; screening effect; transistor off-state; vertical electric field; voltage dependence; Active matrix liquid crystal displays; Amorphous silicon; Conductivity; Contacts; Fabrication; Leakage current; Switches; Switching circuits; Thin film transistors; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microelectronics, 2000. ICM 2000. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on

Conference_Location

Tehran

Print_ISBN

964-360-057-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICM.2000.916454

Filename

916454