Interactive handheld electronic displays use hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin film transistor (TFT) as a backplane and a Touch Screen Panel (TSP) on top as an input device. The low mobility and instability of a-Si:H TFT threshold voltage are major two issues for driving constant current as required for Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Ddiode (AMOLED) displays. Low mobility is compensated by increasing transistor width or resorting to more expensive material TFTs. On the other hand, the ever increasing threshold voltage shift degrades the drain current under electrical operation causing OLED display to dim. Mutual capacitive TSP, the current cell phone standard, requires two layers of metals and a dielectric to be put in front of the display, further dimming the device and adding to visual noise due to sun reflection, not to mention increased integration cost and decreased yield. This thesis focuses on the aforementioned technological hurdles of a handheld electronic display by proposing a dual-gate TFT used as an OLED current driving TFT and a novel phase response readout scheme that can be applied to a one metal track TSP. Our dual-gate TFT has shown on average 20% increase in drive current over a single gate TFT fabricated in the same batch, attributed to the aid of a top channel to the convention bottom channel TFT. Furthermore the dual gate TFT shows three times the Poole-Frenkel current than the single gate TFT attributed to the increase in gate to drain overlap. The dual-gate TFT shows a 50% improvement in threshold voltage shift over a single gate TFT at room temperature, but only ~8% improvement under 75ºC. This is an important observation as it shows an accelerated threshold voltage shift in the dual-gate. This difference in the rate of threshold voltage change under varying temperature is attributed to the difference in interface states, supporting Libsch and Kanicki’s multi-level temperature dependant dielectric trapping model. The phase response TSP readout scheme requires IC only on one side of the display. Cadence Spectre simulation results showed that both touch occurrence and touch position can be obtained using only one metal layer.

Interactive handheld electronic displays use hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin film transistor (TFT) as a backplane and a Touch Screen Panel (TSP) on top as an input device. The low mobility and instability of a-Si:H TFT threshold voltage are major two issues for driving constant current as required for Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Ddiode (AMOLED) displays. Low mobility is compensated by increasing transistor width or resorting to more expensive material TFTs. On the other hand, the ever increasing threshold voltage shift degrades the drain current under electrical operation causing OLED display to dim. Mutual capacitive TSP, the current cell phone standard, requires two layers of metals and a dielectric to be put in front of the display, further dimming the device and adding to visual noise due to sun reflection, not to mention increased integration cost and decreased yield. This thesis focuses on the aforementioned technological hurdles of a handheld electronic display by proposing a dual-gate TFT used as an OLED current driving TFT and a novel phase response readout scheme that can be applied to a one metal track TSP. Our dual-gate TFT has shown on average 20% increase in drive current over a single gate TFT fabricated in the same batch, attributed to the aid of a top channel to the convention bottom channel TFT. Furthermore the dual gate TFT shows three times the Poole-Frenkel current than the single gate TFT attributed to the increase in gate to drain overlap. The dual-gate TFT shows a 50% improvement in threshold voltage shift over a single gate TFT at room temperature, but only ~8% improvement under 75ºC. This is an important observation as it shows an accelerated threshold voltage shift in the dual-gate. This difference in the rate of threshold voltage change under varying temperature is attributed to the difference in interface states, supporting Libsch and Kanicki’s multi-level temperature dependant dielectric trapping model. The phase response TSP readout scheme requires IC only on one side of the display. Cadence Spectre simulation results showed that both touch occurrence and touch position can be obtained using only one metal layer.

The development of functional flexible electronics is essential to enable applications such as conformal medical imagers, wearable health monitoring systems, and flexible light-weight displays. Intensive research on thin-film transistors (TFTs) is being conducted with the goal of producing high-performance devices for improved backplane electronics. However, there are many challenges regarding the performance of devices fabricated at low temperatures that are compatible with flexible plastic substrates. Prior work has reported on the change in TFT characteristics due to mechanical strain, with especially extensive data on the effect of strain on field-effect mobility. This thesis investigates the effect of gate-bias stress and elastic strain on the long-term stability of flexible low-temperature hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) TFTs, as the topic has yet to be explored systematically. An emphasis was placed on bias-stress measurements over time in order to obtain information on the physical mechanisms of instability. Drain current was measured over various intervals of time to track the degradation of devices due to metastability, and results were then compared across devices of various sizes under tensile, compressive, and zero strain. Transfer characteristics of the TFTs were also measured under the different conditions, to allow for extraction of parameters that would provide insight into the instability mechanisms. In addition to parameter extraction, the degradation and recovery of TFT output current was quantitatively compared for various bias-stress times across the different levels of strain. Finally, the instability mechanisms are modelled with a Markov system to further examine the effect of strain on long-term TFT operation. From the analysis of results, it was found that shallow charge trapping in the dielectric is the main mechanism of instability for short bias stress times, and did not seem to be greatly affected by strain. For longer bias stress times of over 10000 seconds, defect creation in the a-Si:H becomes a more significant contributor to instability. Both tension and compression increased defect creation compared to TFTs with zero applied strain. Compression appeared to cause the greatest increase in the rate of defect formation, likely by weakening Si-Si bonds in the a-Si:H. Tension appeared to cause a less significant increase, possibly due to a strengthening of some proportion of the Si-Si bonds caused by the slight elongation of bond length or because the applied tension relieves intrinsic compressive stress in a-Si:H film. A longer conduction path and greater dielectric area appears to increase the bias-stress and strain-related effects. Therefore reducing device size should increase the reliability of flexible TFTs.

This thesis investigates the possibility of enhancing the efficiency of thin film solar cells by including periodic material nonhomogeneities in combination with periodically corrugated back reflectors. Two different types of solar cell are investigated; p-i-n junctions solar cells made from alloys of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) (containing either carbon or germanium), and Schottky barrier junction solar cells made from alloys of indium gallium nitride (InξGa1-ξN). Material nonhomogeneities are produced by varying the fractions of the constituent elements of the alloys. For example, by varying the content of carbon or germanium in the a-Si:H alloys, semiconductors with bandgaps ranging from 1:3 eV to 1:95 eV can be produced. Changing the bandgap alters both the optical and electrical properties of the material so this necessitates the use of coupled optical and electrical models. To date, the majority of solar cell simulations either prioritise the electrical portion of the simulation or they prioritise the optical portion of the simulation. In this thesis, a coupled optoelectronic model, developed using COMSOL Multiphysics®, was used to simulate solar cells: a two-dimensional finite-element optical model, which solved Maxwell's equations throughout the solar cells, was used to calculate the absorption of incident sunlight; and a finite-element electrical drift-diffusion transport model, either one- or two-dimensional depending on the symmetries of the problem, was used to calculate the steady state current densities throughout the solar cells under external voltage biases. It is shown that a periodically corrugated back reflector made from silver can increase efficiency of an a-Si:H alloy single p-i-n junction solar cell by 9:9% compared to a baseline design, while for a triple junction the improvement is a relatively meagre 1:8%. It is subsequently shown that the efficiency of these single p-i-n junction solar cells with a back reflector can be further increased by the inclusion of material nonhomogeneities, and that increasing the nonhomogeneity progressively increases efficiency, especially in thicker solar cells. In the case of InξGa1-ξN Schottky barrier junction solar cells, the gains are shown to be even greater. An overall increase in efficiency of up to 26:8% over a baseline design is reported.

Dans le but de développer un modèle compact spécifique aux transistors en couches minces (TFT) à base de silicium amorphe ou microcristallin, nous présentons dans ce manuscrit nos études sur l'optimisation des modèles compacts et des méthodes d'extraction des paramètres et, surtout, différents phénomènes présents dans la physique de ces TFTs. Nous proposons une méthode plus robuste d'extraction des paramètres, qui, différemment des méthodes conventionnelles, ne néglige pas la résistance d'accès, diminuant ainsi la subjectivité du procédé de l'extraction. La résistance d'accès dans les différentes structures a été analysée. Pour la structure top-gate coplanar, nous nous sommes focalisés sur des raisons géométriques pour montrer la dépendance de la résistance d'accès en tension de grille. Pour la structure bottom-gate staggered, nous avons introduit l'approche de transport-diffusion au modèle de current crowding, en prouvant la dépendance en tension de grille et en courant en raison de la diffusion des électrons. Le comportement dynamique a été étudié en couplant mesures expérimentales et simulations par éléments finis, en associant les capacités intrinsèques des TFTs avec le temps de retard d'allumage. Nous avons observé l'évolution temporelle du canal lors de sa création ou de sa disparition et nous avons ainsi proposé un modèle qui décrit sa propagation dans un TFT. Nous avons enfin étudié le phénomène de vieillissement des TFTs et nous avons mis en évidence la localisation de la dégradation et de la relaxation dans un TFT sous un stress électrique avec la tension de drain non-nulle.

In this dissertation, the electrical characteristics of generally used hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) TFTs in LCD and newly risen amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide (a-IGZO) TFTs were studied. For modern mobile display and large-size flat panel display application, the traditional thin-film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) technology confronts with a lot of challenges and problems. In general, flexible displays must exhibit some bending ability; however, bending applies mechanical strain to electronic circuits and affects device characteristics. Therefore, the electrical characteristics of a-Si:H TFTs fabricated on stainless steel foil substrates with uniaxial bending were investigated at different temperatures. Experimental results showed that the on-state current and threshold voltage degraded under outward bending. This is because outward bending will induce the increase of band tail states, affecting the transport mechanism at different temperatures. In addition, for practical operation, the electrical characteristics of a-Si:H TFTs under flat and bending situations after AC/DC stress at different temperatures were studied. It was found that high temperature and mechanical bending played important roles under AC stress. The dependence between the accumulated sum of bias rising and falling time and the threshold voltage shifts under AC stress was also observed. Because a-Si:H is a photosensitive material, the high intensity backlight illumination will degrade the performance of a-Si:H TFTs. Thus, the photo-leakage current of a-Si:H TFTs under illumination was investigated at different temperatures. Experimental results showed that a-Si:H TFTs exhibited a pool performance at lower temperatures. The indirect recombination rate and the parasitic resistance (Rp) are responsible for the different photo-leakage-current trends of a-Si:H TFTs under varied temperature operations. To investigate the photo-leakage current, the a-Si:H TFTs were exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation. It was found that the photo current of a-Si:H TFTs was reduced after UV light irradiation. The detail mechanisms on reducing/increasing photo-leakage current by UV light irradiation were discussed. Recently, the oxide-based semiconductor TFT, especially a-IGZO TFT, is considered as one of promising candidates for active matrix flat-panel display. However, the a-IGZO TFT exists significant electrical instability issue and manufacturing problems. As a consequence, we investigated the effect of hydrogen incorporation on a-IGZO TFTs to reduce interface states between active layer and insulator. Experimental results showed that the electrical characteristics of hydrogen-incorporated a-IGZO TFTs were improved. The threshold voltage shift (£GVth) in hysteresis loop is suppressed from 4 V to 2 V due to the hydrogen-induced passivation of the interface trap states. Finally, we reported the effect of ambient environment on a-IGZO TFT instability. As a-IGZO TFTs were stored in atmosphere environment for 40 days, the transfer characteristics accompanying strange hump were observed during bias-stress. The hump phenomenon is attributed to the absorption of H2O molecule. Additionally, the sufficient electric field is also necessary to cause this anomalous transfer characteristic.

We live in a highly dependent energy consumption world. This situation is expected to be unsustainable in the upcoming decades unless we change the energy model on which our society has been built. Recently and thanks to the great progress that technologies based on renewable energies (RE) are achieving, we have this possibility within our reach. Photovoltaic solar energy has proved to be one of the most mature and future-oriented natural resources, is clean, unlimited and has a great potential for use and possible applications. There are several types of photovoltaic technologies in the market today, including amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), less efficient than conventional polycrystalline silicon cells, but with very interesting characteristics, such as the low amount of silicon needed for their manufacturing and less energy expenditure for its elaboration, which results in a lower price and lower environmental impact, also its optical properties make it very interesting for certain types of applications such as building integrations. Due to the low implementation of amorphous silicon solar panels in the market, there are some deficiencies in knowing their behavior in facilities exposed to real outdoors conditions. The present thesis performs a study of the cycle of operation of two photovoltaic arrays of a-Si:H. The study is developed in two stages, in the first; we study the phenomenon of light-induced stabilization (LID) due to the Staebler-Wronski effect (SWE) and it is compared with existing literature, proposing a new model to describe this effect. In the second stage, the study of the photovoltaic plants is continued from the point of its stabilization, with the interest of characterizing the seasonal cyclic effect in the efficiency, produced by thermal variations of annealing, the SWE and the aging of the photovoltaic cells. This study has a particular interest as a tool for researchers, engineers and photovoltaic system designers, to better understand and quantify the effects of this technology under real operating conditions. / Vivimos en un mundo cada día más dependiente del consumo de energía. Esta situación se prevé insostenible en las próximas décadas a no ser que cambiemos el modelo energético sobre el que nuestra sociedad está construida. Recientemente y gracias a los grandes progresos que las tecnologías basadas en energías renovables (EERR) están demostrando, tenemos a nuestro alcance esta posibilidad. La energía solar fotovoltaica ha resultado ser uno de los recursos naturales más maduros y con mayor proyección de futuro, es limpia, inagotable y con gran potencial de uso y aplicaciones posibles. Existen en el mercado actual varios tipos de tecnologías fotovoltaicas, entre ellas, la de silicio amorfo (a-Si:H), menos eficiente que las células convencionales de silicio policristalino pero con características muy interesantes, como la baja cantidad de silicio necesario para su fabricación y menor gasto energético para su elaboración, lo cual redunda en un menor precio y menor impacto ambiental, también sus propiedades ópticas la hacen muy interesante para cierto tipo de aplicaciones como la integración en edificios. Debido a la baja implementación de paneles solares de silicio amorfo en el mercado, existen ciertas carencias a la hora de conocer su comportamiento en instalaciones expuestas a condiciones ambientales de trabajo. La presente Tesis, realiza un estudio del ciclo de funcionamiento de dos plantas fotovoltaicas de a-Si:H. El estudio se desarrolla en dos etapas, en la primera, se estudia el fenómeno de la estabilización inducida por la luz (LID) debido al efecto Staebler-Wronski (SWE) y se compara con la bibliografía existente, proponiendo un nuevo modelo para describir este efecto. En la segunda etapa, el estudio de las plantas fotovoltaicas es continuado a partir del punto de su estabilización, con el interés de caracterizar el efecto cíclico estacional en la eficiencia, producido por las variaciones térmicas de templado, el SWE y el envejecimiento de la célula fotovoltaica. Este estudio es de particular interés como herramienta para investigadores, ingenieros y diseñadores de sistemas fotovoltaicos, para poder conocer mejor y cuantificar los efectos de esta tecnología bajo condiciones reales de funcionamiento. / Vivim en un món cada dia més depenent del consum d'energia. Aquesta situació es preveu insostenible en les pròximes dècades llevat que canviem el model energètic sobre el qual la nostra societat està construïda. Recentment i gràcies als grans progressos que les tecnologies basades en energies renovables (EERR) estan demostrant, tenim al nostre abast aquesta possibilitat. L'energia solar fotovoltaica ha resultat ser un dels recursos naturals més madurs i amb major projecció de futur, és neta, inesgotable i amb gran potencial d'ús i aplicacions possibles. Existeixen al mercat actual diversos tipus de tecnologies fotovoltaiques, entre elles, la del silici amorf (a-Si:H), menys eficient que les cèl¿lules convencionals de silici policristal¿lí però amb característiques molt interessants, com la baixa quantitat de silici necessari per a la seua fabricació i menor despesa energètica per a la seua elaboració, la qual cosa redunda en un menor preu i menor impacte ambiental, també les seues propietats òptiques la fan molt interessant per a cert tipus d'aplicacions com la integració en edificis. A causa de la baixa implementació de panells solars de silici amorf al mercat, existeixen certes manques a l'hora de conèixer el seu comportament en instal¿lacions exposades a condicions ambientals de treball. La present Tesi, realitza un estudi del cicle de funcionament de dues plantes fotovoltaiques de a-Si:H. L'estudi es desenvolupa en dues etapes, en la primera, s'estudia el fenomen de l'estabilització induïda per la llum (LID) a causa de l'efecte Staebler-Wronski (SWE) i es compara amb la bibliografia existent, proposant un nou model per a descriure aquest efecte. En la segona etapa, l'estudi de les plantes fotovoltaiques és continuat a partir del punt de la seua estabilització, amb l'interès de caracteritzar l'efecte cíclic estacional en l'eficiència, produït per les variacions tèrmiques de temperat, el SWE i l'envelliment de la cèl¿lula fotovoltaica. Aquest estudi és de particular interès com a eina per a investigadors, enginyers i dissenyadors de sistemes fotovoltaics, per a poder conèixer millor i quantificar els efectes d'aquesta tecnologia sota condicions reals de funcionament. / Mateo Guerrero, C. (2017). Cinética de la saturación en células fotovoltaicas de silicio amorfo y posterior mejora en los procesos de estabilización inicial debido a la exposición a la radiación solar [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/86284 / TESIS

Dünne Schichten aus hydrogenisiertem amorphem Silizium a-Si:H spielen für die Photovoltaik eine wichtige Rolle. Einerseits kommt für die Dünnschicht-Photovoltaik unterschiedlich dotiertes a-Si:H in den Schichten einer p-i-n-Solarzelle zur Anwendung, andererseits stellen Heterokontakt-Solarzellen aus amorphem und kristallinem Silizium (a-Si:H/c-Si) wegen ihres hohen Wirkungsgrades derzeit ein sehr aktuelles Forschungsthema dar. Die Abscheidung der a-Si:H-Schichten im Rahmen dieser Arbeit erfolgt mit der Methode des Magnetronsputterns (Kathodenzerstäubung). Dieses für die in-line-Beschichtung etablierte Verfahren wird speziell für die Photovoltaik noch nicht in industriellem Maßstab eingesetzt (lediglich für transparente leitfähige Oxide TCO). Insbesondere existiert nur eine geringe Zahl von Veröffentlichungen zu Heterokontakten, welche mittels Magnetronsputtern hergestellt wurden. Ein Schwerpunkt der vorliegenden Arbeit ist daher die Herstellung sowie Charakterisierung solcher Heterokontakte unter dem Aspekt variierter Abscheide- und Prozessparameter (Substrattemperatur, Wasserstoffflussrate, Ionenbeschuss). Das für das Sputtern erforderliche Plasma wird mit einer im Mittelfrequenzbereich gepulsten Gleichspannung angeregt. Ein dadurch mehr oder weniger ausgeprägter Ionenbeschuss der wachsenden Schichten in Abhängigkeit der Pulsparameter wird hier analysiert. Die Charakterisierung der Heterokontakte erfolgt hauptsächlich anhand deren Strom-Spannung-Kennlinien, welche auch bei variierter Temperatur gemessen werden. Erzielte Gleichrichtungsverhältnisse um 10000:1 sowie Diodenidealitätsfaktoren η ≈ 1,3 kennzeichnen (p)a-Si:H/(n)c-Si-Heterokontakte mit den besten halbleiterphysikalischen Eigenschaften. Bei zu schwacher Schichthydrogenisierung wurde ein Ladungstransportmechanismus nachgewiesen, welcher in der Literatur als multi-tunneling capture-emission MTCE bekannt ist. Eine erhöhte Hydrogenisierung unterdrückt diesen Mechanismus nahezu vollständig. Durch Abscheidung unterschiedlich stark bordotierter a-Si:H-Schichten wird außerdem die Dotiereffizienz beurteilt. Hohe Werte sind bei amorphen Halbleitern im Allgemeinen schwer zu erreichen. Die mit stärkerer Dotierung erhöhte Gleichrichterwirkung lieferte hier ein Indiz für eine nachweisbare Dotiereffizienz.

Dünne Schichten aus hydrogenisiertem amorphem Silizium a-Si:H spielen für die Photovoltaik eine wichtige Rolle. Einerseits kommt für die Dünnschicht-Photovoltaik unterschiedlich dotiertes a-Si:H in den Schichten einer p-i-n-Solarzelle zur Anwendung, andererseits stellen Heterokontakt-Solarzellen aus amorphem und kristallinem Silizium (a-Si:H/c-Si) wegen ihres hohen Wirkungsgrades derzeit ein sehr aktuelles Forschungsthema dar. Die Abscheidung der a-Si:H-Schichten im Rahmen dieser Arbeit erfolgt mit der Methode des Magnetronsputterns (Kathodenzerstäubung). Dieses für die in-line-Beschichtung etablierte Verfahren wird speziell für die Photovoltaik noch nicht in industriellem Maßstab eingesetzt (lediglich für transparente leitfähige Oxide TCO). Insbesondere existiert nur eine geringe Zahl von Veröffentlichungen zu Heterokontakten, welche mittels Magnetronsputtern hergestellt wurden. Ein Schwerpunkt der vorliegenden Arbeit ist daher die Herstellung sowie Charakterisierung solcher Heterokontakte unter dem Aspekt variierter Abscheide- und Prozessparameter (Substrattemperatur, Wasserstoffflussrate, Ionenbeschuss). Das für das Sputtern erforderliche Plasma wird mit einer im Mittelfrequenzbereich gepulsten Gleichspannung angeregt. Ein dadurch mehr oder weniger ausgeprägter Ionenbeschuss der wachsenden Schichten in Abhängigkeit der Pulsparameter wird hier analysiert. Die Charakterisierung der Heterokontakte erfolgt hauptsächlich anhand deren Strom-Spannung-Kennlinien, welche auch bei variierter Temperatur gemessen werden. Erzielte Gleichrichtungsverhältnisse um 10000:1 sowie Diodenidealitätsfaktoren η ≈ 1,3 kennzeichnen (p)a-Si:H/(n)c-Si-Heterokontakte mit den besten halbleiterphysikalischen Eigenschaften. Bei zu schwacher Schichthydrogenisierung wurde ein Ladungstransportmechanismus nachgewiesen, welcher in der Literatur als multi-tunneling capture-emission MTCE bekannt ist. Eine erhöhte Hydrogenisierung unterdrückt diesen Mechanismus nahezu vollständig. Durch Abscheidung unterschiedlich stark bordotierter a-Si:H-Schichten wird außerdem die Dotiereffizienz beurteilt. Hohe Werte sind bei amorphen Halbleitern im Allgemeinen schwer zu erreichen. Die mit stärkerer Dotierung erhöhte Gleichrichterwirkung lieferte hier ein Indiz für eine nachweisbare Dotiereffizienz.

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