Low-Temperature Polycrystalline-Silicon Tunneling Thin-Film Transistors With MILC

It is known that metal-induced lateral crystallization (MILC) thin-film transistors (TFTs) exhibit higher on-state current, steeper subthreshold slope, and lower minimum leakage than solid-phase-crystallization TFTs. In this letter, we propose a tunneling TFT (T-TFT) fabricated by MILC method for the first time. The MILC T-TFTs demonstrate a lower subthreshold swing, ~ 232 mV/decade, than the other T-TFTs and a high ON/OFF ratio at V_DS=1 V without any hydrogen-related plasma treatment. These improvements can be due to the reduction of defects at grain boundaries and the channel direction parallel to grains. The polycrystalline silicon T-TFTs fabricated in this letter show a great promise for low standby power circuits, drivers of active-matrix liquid crystal displays, and 3-D integrated circuits applications in the future.