TCAD Analysis of the Four-Terminal Poly-Si TFTs on Suppression Mechanisms of the DC and AC Hot-Carrier Degradation

Four-terminal poly-Si thin-film transistors (TFTs), with a counter-doped body terminal connected to the floating channel, can suppress both dc and dynamic hot-carrier (HC) degradation of TFTs. With 3-D TCAD simulation, we clarify the underlying mechanisms of the suppression effect and analyze its dependence on the position and width of the body terminal. Under dc HC condition, a wider body terminal or that closer to the drain collects more holes generated from impact ionization in the drain depletion region and suppresses the parasitic bipolar junction transistor effect, subsequently reduces the kink current more effectively. Under dynamic HC condition, the body terminal injects holes at the end of the falling time of the gate pulse, partially removes the non-equilibrium state, significantly relieves the transient maximum electric field in the drain depletion region, thus suppresses the dynamic HC degradation. A wider body terminal can inject more holes and the holes injected by that closer to the drain diffuse to drain depletion region first, thus suppress the dynamic HC degradation better.