High-Performance Polycrystalline Silicon Thin-Film Transistors Based on Metal-Induced Crystallization in an Oxidizing Atmosphere

An oxidizing rather than the commonly used nonoxidizing atmosphere is used to carry out the thermal process required by the metal-induced crystallization (MIC) of amorphous silicon. Thin-film transistors fabricated on the resulting polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) exhibit improved device characteristics. Since thermal oxidation is known to induce the injection of silicon interstitials, the improvement is attributed to a reduction in the defect population caused by the incorporation of the injected silicon interstitials in the grain boundaries of the MIC poly-Si.