Application of Plasma Jet Crystallization Technique to Fabrication of Thin-Film Transistor

Abstract

The crystallization of a-Si films on glass substrates using the plasma jet crystallization (PJC) technique and its application to thin-film transistor fabrication were studied. Amorphous Si (a-Si) films deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of 50% SiH 4 diluted with H 2 were crystallized by thermal plasma jet under the power of 1.6 to 2.6 kW input to the plasma source and the substrate scan speed of 170 to 1000 mm/s. The crystallinity of the films was improved by treating the films at a higher input power for a longer duration. Thin-film transistors (TFTs) fabricated using the crystallized films showed good electrical characteristics. By increasing the input power from 1.86 to 2.29 kW in the crystallization, the average field-effect mobility was increased from 42 to 61 cm 2 ·V -1 ·s -1 , and the threshold voltage was decreased from 4.0 to 3.4 V. These results indicate that the PJC technique is a very promising low-temperature process technology.