In this thesis, novel technology for manufacturing high-performance hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) TFT is developed . In the bottom gate light-shied a-Si:H TFT structure, the side edge of a-Si:H island is capped with extra deposition of heavily phosphorous-doped a-Si layer. The new structure a-Si:H TFT process steps is almost unchanged. The masksteops of fabrication new structure TFT are the same as the inverter-staggered TFT. Such an ingenuity can effectively eliminate the leakage path between the parasitic contacts between source/drain metal and a-Si:H at the edge of a-Si:H island. a-Si:H is a well-known photosensitivity material. For driving LCD the TFT must be operated with illuminated environment. It will cause the leakage current. The new TFT structure is similar to the light-shield TFT proposed by Akiyama in 1989. So the new structure TFT can not only reduce the schoktty emission leakage current but also the photo-leakage current. In addition, electrical performance of the novel a-Si:H TFT device exhibits superior effective carrier mobility, as high as 1.05 cm2/Vsec due to the enormous improvement in parasitic resistance. The impressively high performance provides the potential of our proposed a-Si:H TFT to apply for AMLCD and AMOLED technology.

Abstract Recently, a-Si:H TFT based liquid-crystal display has encroached on the territory of the cathode ray tubes. There is a tendency to fabricate the active matrix LCD on the plastic or flexible substrates. Instead of glass, flexible substrates will make the application of TFT-LCD extensive due to the several advantages: i.e. ultra-slim, light-weight and unbreakable, etc. Nevertheless, the limitation of process temperature for the low-melting substrates is an important issue. In this thesis, the feasibility of a-Si TFT devices fabricated on flexible substrates by using two different technologies have been evaluated. First, a-Si TFT devices were fabricated on glass at 150¢Jsuccessfully and the characteristics of films deposited at lowtemperature have been studied sequentially. For improving the adhesion between organic and inorganic layers and protecting substrate against water or gas during processes, several hot coating layers were investigated. With hot coating layer be introduced, glass was substituted by plastic substrates. We chose PES as the flexible substrate from several candidates due to better optical transmittance and good thermal stability below 200¢J. After direct fabrication on flexible substrate, the stability of electronic characteristics were been investigated with bending examination. In addition, TFT devices were successfully separated from glass and transferred to flexible substrates such as PES or metal foil. Using this technology, temperature limitation has been circumvented and TFT devices still exhibit good electronic characteristic. Furthermore, the bending measurements have been also applied to devices.

The off-state leakage current under back light illumination is, in particular, a serious problem in the multimedia displays that require high intensity backlight illumination. The photo leakage current characteristic of flexible a-Si:H TFTs has been measured in this study . The device activation energy (Ea) of a-Si:H TFTs extracted from various temperature measurements are different from those of typical a-Si:H TFTs, because the Fermi level of a-Si:H TFTs are modulate by the density of states (DOS) in the a-Si:H band gap. The information on DOS is important for understanding the physical mechanisms responsible for the device behavior. It¡¦s related to the threshold voltage,iii subthreshold slope, field effect mobility and the stability of the TFTs. Experimental results show the photo leakage currents of a-Si:H TFTs under tensile stress are less than that of flattened a-Si:H TFTs stemmed the weak light intensity. In addition, the small shifts of threshold voltage and subthreshold swing are resulted from the smaller Ea in a-Si:H channel material.

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.