Polycrystalline Silicon Films and Thin-Film Transistors Using Solution-Based Metal-Induced Crystallization

Polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) films consisting of dish-like and wadding-like domains were obtained with solution-based metal-induced crystallization (SMIC) of amorphous silicon. The Hall mobility of poly-Si was much higher in dish-like domains than in wadding-like domains. Thin-film transistors (TFTs) have been prepared using those two kinds of poly-Si films as the active layer, followed by the phosphosilicate glass (PSG) nickel gettering. The field effect mobility of dish-like domain poly-Si TFTs and wadding-like poly-Si TFTs were 70 similar to 80 cm(2)/V . s and 40 similar to 50 cm(2)/V . s, respectively. With a multi-gate structure, the leakage current of poly-Si TFTs was reduced by 1 to 2 orders of magnitude. In addition, the gate-induced drain leakage current (GIDL) and uniformity of the drain current distribution were also improved. P-type TFTs fabricated using SMIC exhibited excellent reliability.