Comparison of device degradation of n-type metal-induced laterally crystallized poly-Si TFTs with or without hydrogenation

Hydrogenation effect on reliability of n-type metal-induced laterally crystallized poly-Si TFTs is systematically evaluated by comparing device transfer and output characteristic degradation under both hot carrier (HC) and self-heating (SH) stresses. Under HC stress, hydrogenated device exhibits better stability in transfer characteristics, but worse stability in output characteristics. Under SH stress, hydrogenation leads to instability in both transfer and output characteristics. Under both stresses, very different degradation behaviors associated with hydrogenation are found, reflecting different degradation mechanism involved for hydrogenated devices.