On the quality of contacts in a-Si:H staggered electrode thin-film transistors

Amorphous silicon thin-film field-effect transistors have been made with a staggered electrode structure. In this structure we distinguish two separate contributions to the total contact resistance, namely, the Al/a-Si:H barrier itself and the bulk resistance of the underlying a-Si:H layer. Concerning the first contribution it was found that a P-implantation forming n
⁺
regions followed by post-metallization annealing (PMA) at a moderate temperature of 200°C is very efficient in reducing the resistance of the Al contacts to negligibly small values. The second contribution, i.e., the bulk resistance, implies a variable series resistance in field-effect (FE) measurements. Thin-film transistors (TFT's) with different gate lengths were used for the first time to determine this residual series resistance R
res
.