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Silicon-Nitride for Amorphous Silicon Thin-Film Transistors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2011

N. H. Nickel ,
W. Fuhs ,
H. Mell  and
W. Beyer
N. H. Nickel
Affiliation:
Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, 3333 Coyote Hill Rd, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA
W. Fuhs
Affiliation:
Fachbereich Physik und Wiss, Zentrum ür Materialwissenschaften, Universität Marburg, Renthof 5, 3550 Marburg, F.R. Germany.
H. Mell
Affiliation:
Fachbereich Physik und Wiss, Zentrum ür Materialwissenschaften, Universität Marburg, Renthof 5, 3550 Marburg, F.R. Germany.
W. Beyer
Affiliation:
KFA-ISI Forschungszentrum Jülich, 5170 Julich, F.R. Germany.
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Abstract

Nitrogen-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.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 284: Symposium G – Amorphous Insulating Thin Films , 1992 , 395
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1993

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References

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