Silicon-Nitride for Amorphous Silicon Thin-Film Transistors

Abstract

ABSTRACTNitrogen-rich amorphous silicon-nitride films a-Si1−xNx:H were prepared by glow-discharge decomposition of gas mixtures of ammonia and silane. With increasing nitrogen content the spin density, Ns, decreases from 4×1018cm−3 (x = 0.55) to 3×1017cm−3 (x = 0.67). These films were used as a gate dielectric in amorphous silicon TFTs. The TFTs are characterized by measurements of the transfer characteristics and by a transient current spectroscopy (TCS). Nitrogen-rich dielectrics with Ns<1018cm−3 have little influence on the transfer characteristic, however, they tend to have a lower sensitivity to bias stress. Using a device-quality nitride (x = 0.64) the properties of the TFTs were varied in two ways: 1) doping of the a-Si:H film with phosphine or diborane and 2) exposure of the nitride film to an oxygen plasma. The variation of the areal density of defect states, Nd, with Ec-EF suggests that the effective density of interface states, Ni, and the characteristic of undoped TFTs are determined by interface defects of the a-Si:H film. The plasma treatment introduces oxygen into a thin superficial layer of the nitride. By varying the exposure time te it is possible to change the properties of the TFTs continuously from nitride like to oxide like.