Performance improvement with a combined scheme of rapid thermal annealing and multi-channel structure for poly-Si TFTs with various device dimensions

Abstract

This study presents a combined scheme of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) and multi-channel structure for improving the performance of polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin film transistors (TFTs). Results show that RTA treatment can improve device performance by decreasing the number of in-grain defects and improving the quality of the gate oxide. The multi-channel structure improves the electrical characteristics of the poly-Si TFTs by decreasing the number of grainboundary defects. Thus, the combined scheme can effectively reduce defect states and improve the gate-oxide’s quality simultaneously, resulting in a significant improvement in the performance of poly-Si TFTs. In addition, the performance improvement is particularly apparent for the TFTs with a thinner gate oxide and smaller channel length. Therefore, the proposed scheme is a good candidate for improving the electrical characteristics of TFTs for use in small-to-medium size displays.