Hydrogenation of nanocrystalline Si thin film transistors employing inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition for flexible electronics

• Published in: Thin solid films Vol. 515; no. 19; pp. 7442 - 7445
• Main Authors: Han, Sang-Myeon, Park, Joong-Hyun, Park, Sang-Geun, Kim, Sun-Jae, Han, Min-Koo
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier B.V 16.07.2007; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Chemical vapor deposition (including plasma-enhanced cvd, mocvd, etc.); Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Electrical properties of specific thin films; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Hydrogen; ICP-CVD; Materials science; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Nanocrystalline Si TFT; Physics; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Transistors; Hydrogen; ICP-CVD; Nanocrystalline Si TFT; Voltage threshold; Thin film device; Electronic properties; Voltage current curve; Nanostructure; Hydrogenation; Thin film; Experimental result; Silicon; Thin film transistor; PECVD; Dangling bond; Gates; Nanocrystal
• ISSN: 0040-6090; 1879-2731
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tsf.2006.11.147

We have investigated the plasma hydrogenation effect on a nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) thin film transistor (TFT) fabricated by inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition (ICP-CVD) at 150 °C. The top-gate nc-Si TFT showed a mobility of ∼ 6 cm 2/Vs and V th of 8 V. The hydrogenation employing ICP-CVD was performed at 100 °C for 4 min in order to improve the characteristics of nc-Si TFT. The mobility was increased from ∼ 6 cm 2/Vs to 11 cm 2/Vs. The V th of the nc-Si TFTs was decreased to about 6.8 V from 8.1 V. The on-current at the saturation regime also increased by 66% while the off current was increased slightly. The improvement of mobility, threshold voltage and on-current can be attributed to the hydrogen passivation of the Si dangling bonds in the nc-Si film. The experimental results showed that the 100 °C ICP-CVD hydrogenation is effective to improve the 150 °C nc-Si TFT.