(Edward G. Acheson Award) Exploration of Amorphous Thin Film Electronics
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Thin films are critical elements in modern semiconductor devices. They are often prepared in the amorphous phase due to practical reasons, such as the reliability and manufacturability concerns. For example, the amorphous high-k gate dielectric is less prone to current leakage than the polycrystalline dielectric in the MOS device (1). The utilization of amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) or metal oxide semiconductor layer enables the commercial production of thin film transistor (TFT) arrays for flat panel displays (2). Requirements for amorphous thin films are related to the products. For advanced MOSFETs, the nanometer EOT gate dielectric is necessary (3). For LCD or OLED TVs or monitors, the fabrication process has to be low temperature, large area capability, and high throughput (4). In addition, the fabricated device has to be highly reliable, i.e., resistant to damages from subsequent process steps and environmental exposure.In this talk, examples on amorphous thin films conducted in my group will be given and discussed. The doped metal oxide high-k thin film, which has a crystallization temperature higher than that of the undoped film (5), will be examined with respect to fundamental material and electrical properties. Novel devices made from this kind of film, e.g., nanocrystals embedded nonvolatile memories (6) and nano-resistor solid state incandescent LEDs (SSI-LEDs) (7), will be shown and the principles will be deliberated. Separately, PECVD process condition affects the a-Si:H TFT performance as well as the uniformity of the large-area material properties (8), which can be explained with the generalized deposition-etching mechanism (9). Applications of a-Si:H TFTs in nonvolatile memories, e.g., using the floating-gate structure (10), and protein/DNA analysis, e.g., attached with the microchannel device (11), will also be examined.In order to achieve the best device performance with high reliability, both the bulk film and the interface properties of the amorphous thin film have to be tightly controlled, which requires the multidisciplinary approach. This is the early stage of the field. Many new and unique applications of the amorphous thin films can be expected in the near future. Y. Kuo, ECS Trans., 54(1), 273-281 (2013).Y. Kuo, Amorphous Silicon Thin Film Transistors, Kluwer, Norwell, MA, 2004.J. Yan, Y. Kuo, and J. Lu, Electrochem. Solid-State Lett., 10(7), H199-H202 (2007).Y. Kuo, ECS Interface, 22(1), 55-60 (2013).J.-Y. Tewg, Y. Kuo, and J. Lu, Electrochem. Solid-State Lett., 8(1), G27-G29 (2005).Y. Kuo, ECS Trans., 3(3), 253-263 (2006).Y. Kuo and C.-C. Lin, Appl. Phys. Letts., 102(3), 031117 (2013).Y. Kuo, J. Electrochem. Soc., 142, 186-190 (1995).Y. Kuo, Appl. Phys. Lett., 63(2), 144-146 (1993).Y. Kuo and H. Nominanda, Appl. Phys. Letts.,89, 173503 (2006).H. Lee and Y. Kuo, Electrochem. Solid-State Letts., 9, J21-J23 (2006).
