Passivation Effects of Aluminum on Polycrystalline Silicon Thin-Film Transistor With Metal-Replaced Junctions

Aluminum was detected in the channel of a thin-film transistor after its replacement of the polycrystalline silicon source and drain junctions. The resulting transistor exhibits enhanced field-effect mobility, steeper slope of the pseudosubthreshold region, reduced turn-on voltage extrapolated from the linear regime of operation, higher on-state current, and improved immunity against short-channel effects. These improvements are consistent with a measured reduction in the density of trap states. The reduction can be attributed to the presence of aluminum in the channel