69 results about "Metal-induced crystallization" patented technology

An oxide or nitride layer is provided on an amorphous semiconductor layer prior to performing metal-induced crystallization of the semiconductor layer. The oxide or nitride layer facilitates conversion of the amorphous material into large grain polycrystalline material. Hence, a native silicon dioxide layer provided on hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), followed by deposited Al permits induced crystallization at temperatures far below the solid phase crystallization temperature of a-Si. Solar cells and thin film transistors can be prepared using this method.

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for fabricating piezoresistive polysilicon on a substrate by low-temperature metal induced crystallization by: (1) providing the substrate having a passivation layer; (2) performing, at or near room temperature in a chamber without breaking a vacuum or near-vacuum within the chamber, the steps of: (a) creating a metal layer on the passivation layer, and (b) creating an amorphous silicon layer on the metal layer, wherein the metal layer and the amorphous silicon layer have approximately the same thickness; (3) annealing the substrate, the passivation layer, the metal layer and the amorphous silicon layer at a temperature equal to or less than 600° C. and a period of time equal to or less than three hours to form a doped polysilicon layer below a residual metal layer; and (4) removing the residual metal layer to expose the doped polysilicon layer.

The present invention provides for a low-temperature method to crystallize a silicon-germanium film. Metal-induced crystallization of a deposited silicon film can serve to reduce the temperature required to crystallize the film. Increasing germanium content in a silicon-germanium alloy further decreases crystallization temperature. By using metal-induced crystallization to crystallize a deposited silicon-germanium film, temperature can be reduced substantially. In preferred embodiments, for example in a monolithic three dimensional array of stacked memory levels, reduced temperature allows the use of aluminum metallization. In some embodiments, use of metal-induced crystallization in a vertically oriented silicon-germanium diode having conductive contacts at the top and bottom end is be particularly advantageous, as increased solubility of the metal catalyst in the contact material will reduce the risk of metal contamination of the diode.

Crystallization-inducing metal elements are introduced onto an amorphous silicon thin film. A first, low-temperature, heat-treatment induces nucleation of metal-induced crystallization (MIC), resulting in the formation of small polycrystalline silicon “islands”. A metal-gettering layer is formed on the resulting partially crystallized thin film. A second, low-temperature, heat-treatment completes the MIC process, whilst gettering metal elements from the partially crystallized thin film. The process results in the desired polycrystalline silicon thin film.

Provided is a thin film transistor that may be manufactured using Metal Induced Crystallization (MIC) and method for fabricating the same. Also provided is an active matrix flat panel display using the thin film transistor, which may be created by forming a crystallization inducing metal layer below a buffer layer and diffusing the crystallization inducing metal layer. The thin film transistor may include a crystallization inducing metal layer formed on an insulating substrate, a buffer layer formed on the crystallization inducing metal layer, and an active layer formed on the buffer layer and including source/drain regions, and including polycrystalline silicon crystallized by the MIC process.

The invention provides a method of forming a polycrystalline semiconductor film on a supporting substrate of foreign material. The method involves depositing a metal film onto the substrate, forming a film of metal oxide and/or hydroxide on a substrate of the metal, and forming a layer of an amorphous semiconductor material over a surface of the metal oxide and/or hydroxide film. The entire sample is then heated to a temperature at which the semiconductor layer is absorbed into the metal layer and deposited as a polycrystalline layer onto the target surface by metal-induced crystallization. The metal is left as an overlayer covering the deposited polycrystalline layer, with semiconductor inclusions in the metal layer. The polycrystalline semiconductor film and the overlayer are generated by porous interfacial metal oxide nd/or hydroxide film. The metal in the overlayer and the interfacial metal oxide and/or hydroxide film are then removed with an etch which underetches the semiconductor inclusions to form freestanding islands. Finally, the freestanding semiconductor “islands” are removed from the surface of the polycrystalline semiconductor layer by a lift-off process.

A method of manufacturing a thin film transistor that provides high electric field mobility is disclosed. The method comprising: a) forming an amorphous silicon layer and a blocking layer on an insulating substrate; b) forming a photoresist layer having first and second photoresist patterns on the blocking layer, the first and second photoresist patterns spaced apart from each other; c) etching the blocking layer using the first photoresist pattern as a mask to form first and second blocking patterns; d) reflowing the photoresist layer, so that the first and second photoresist patterns abut on each other to entirely cover the first and second blocking patterns; e) forming a metal layer over the entire surface of the insulating substrate; f) removing the photoresist layer to expose the blocking layer and an offset region between the blocking layer and the metal layer; g) crystallizing the amorphous silicon layer to form a poly silicon layer, wherein a portion of the amorphous silicon layer directly contacting the first metal layer is crystallized through a metal induced crystallization (MIC), and the remaining portion of the amorphous silicon layer is crystallized through a metal induced lateral crystallization (MILC), so that a MILC front exists on a portion of the poly silicon layer between the first and second blocking patterns; h) etching the poly silicon layer using the first and second blocking patterns as a mask to form first and second semiconductor layers and to remove the MILC front; and i) removing the first and second blocking patterns.

An organic light emitting diode display device (OLED display device) having uniform electrical characteristics and a method of manufacturing the same. The OLED display device includes: a substrate; a semiconductor layer disposed on the substrate, and including source and drain regions and a channel region formed using metal induced lateral crystallization (MILC); a gate insulating layer for electrically insulating the semiconductor layer; a gate electrode disposed on the gate insulating layer; an interlayer insulating layer for electrically insulating the gate electrode; a thin film transistor (TFT) including source and drain electrodes that are electrically connected to the source and drain regions of the semiconductor layer; a first electrode for a capacitor disposed on a region of the substrate to be spaced apart from the TFT and formed using a metal induced crystallization (MIC); the gate insulating layer for electrically insulating the first capacitor electrode; a second electrode for the capacitor disposed on the gate insulating layer; a planarization layer disposed on the TFT and the capacitor; a first electrode disposed on the planarization layer; a pixel defining layer disposed on the first electrode; an organic layer disposed on the first electrode and the pixel defining layer, and including at least an emission layer; and a second electrode disposed on the organic layer.

Provided is a method of manufacturing a driving-device for a unit pixel of an organic light emitting display having an improved manufacturing process in which the driving device can be manufactured with a smaller number of processes and in simpler processes. The method includes: forming an amorphous silicon layer including a first amorphous region and a second amorphous region disposed on the same plane of a substrate; forming an SAM (self-assembled monolayer) having a hydrophobic property on the first amorphous region; coating an aqueous solution in which nickel particles are dispersed, on the second amorphous region and the SAM, wherein a larger amount of nickel particles than on the SAM are dispersed on the second amorphous region using a hydrophilicity difference between the second amorphous region and the SAM; vaporizing the SAM through an annealing process and simultaneously performing metal induced crystallization in which the nanoparticles are used as a medium, to crystallize the first and second amorphous regions and to form first and second crystallization regions; patterning the first and second crystallization regions to form first and second channel regions; and forming first and second electrodes on the first and second channel regions.

A method for manufacturing a thin film transistor with improved current characteristics and high electron mobility. According to the method, when an amorphous silicon thin film is crystallized into a polycrystalline silicon thin film by metal-induced crystallization, annealing conditions of the amorphous silicon thin film and the amount of a metal catalyst doped into the amorphous silicon thin film are optimized to reduce the regions of a metal silicide distributed at grain boundaries of the polycrystalline silicon thin film. In addition, oxygen (O₂) gas or water (H₂O) vapor is supplied to form a passivation film on the surface of the polycrystalline silicon thin film.

The invention provides a manufacturing method of an LTPS TFT based on a metal induced crystallization process. The manufacturing method comprises the steps of: forming a polycrystalline silicon thin film by adopting the metal induced crystallization process, wherein the top part of the polycrystalline silicon thin film is a metal silicide layer comprising a large number of metal ions and having an conductive property; adopting a halftone mask plate for carrying out patterning treatment on the polycrystalline silicon thin film to form an active layer, so that the metal silicide layer on a channel portion is etched away, and the purpose of reducing leakage current when the LTPS TFT is in an off state; and reserving the metal silicide layer on a source contact portion and a drain contact portion, thereby achieving the purposes of reducing contact resistance between the active layer and the source as well as the drain in the LTPS TFT.

The invention discloses a thin film transistor and a manufacturing method thereof. Through carrying out annealing treatment on a substrate on which a metal induced layer is formed, metal induced crystallization can be realized for preparing a bottom gate type low-temperature polycrystalline silicon thin film transistor, and a light shield layer adopted in the manufacturing of a top gate type thin film transistor is omitted, thereby saving the manufacturing cost, simplifying the process, and omitting the polycrystalline silicon doping step through metal induced crystallization. In addition, amorphous silicon is converted into the polycrystalline silicon through metal induced crystallization, and the polycrystalline silicon undergoes a composition process to form a first doped region corresponding to an active layer and a second doped region corresponding to a source-drain region, thereby realizing partition of a channel region and the a source-drain region, and ensuring the electrical performance of the thin film transistor. Furthermore, residual metal particles in the channel region due to metal induced crystallization can be removed through etching the first doped region, an off-state current of the device is decreased, the problem of metal particle residual is solved, and the good electrical performance of the device is ensured.

The invention discloses an integratable nanostructure infrared light source. According to the integratable nanostructure infrared light source, the surface of amorphous silicon is subjected to nano-modification processing by using an MEMS/CMOS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System/Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) process so as to form tapered nanostructures, and then, the tapered nanostructures are subjected to TiN cladding processing; finally, a silicon substrate is subjected to deep silicon etching by using a front XeF2 release technology, and a narrowband infrared light supply is separated from being in contact with the silicon substrate, so that the heat loss during Ohmic heating of silicon wires is reduced, and the operating power of the light source is increased. According to the integratable nanostructure infrared light source, an MEMS/CMOS light source manufacturing technology is adopted, the surface modification for the infrared light source is realized by using a metal-induced crystallization technology so as to obtain the tapered nanostructures, and the tapered nanostructures are subjected to surface TiN cladding processing, so that a surface plasma resonance technology for Si-TiN and TiN-Air is realized; micro cantilevers are formed by adopting a front release technology and support the infrared light source so as to reduce heat loss, and the structure stress is lowered through pre-burying a dielectric layer, namely silicon nitride, below a heating layer.

A device and a method of forming a continuous polycrystalline Ge film having crystalline Ge islands is provided that includes depositing an amorphous Ge (a-Ge) layer on a substrate, oxidizing the top surface of the a-Ge layer to form a GeO_x layer, depositing a seed layer of Al on the GeO_x layer and catalyzing the Al seed layer, where Ge mass transport is generated from the underlying a-Ge layer to the Al seed layer through the GeO_x layer by thermal annealing, where a continuous polycrystalline Ge film having crystalline Ge islands is formed on the Al seed layer.

The invention relates to a technology for producing a high quality and large area polycrystalline silicon thin film by amorphous silicon-metal-induced crystallization. Crystallization-inducing metal elements of controllable amound are introduced onto an initial amorphous silicon thin film. A first, low-temperature, heat-treatment induces nucleation of metal-induced crystallization (MIC), resulting in the formation of small polycrystalline silicon''islands''. A metal-gettering layer is formed on the resulting partially crystallized thin film. A second, low-temperature, heat-treatment completes the MIC process to form the desired polycrystalline silicon thin film. while the metal-gettering layer can be removed at randon after crystallization heat-treatment.

The invention discloses a method for manufacturing a polysilicon active layer-containing thin film transistor. The method comprises the following steps of: depositing an amorphous silicon layer on a substrate; patterning the amorphous silicon layer; forming an active layer which comprises a source region, a drain region and a channel region; depositing an induced metal on the source region and the drain region; performing heat treatment on the active layer on which the induced metal is deposited, so that the active layer is subjected to metal-induced crystallization and metal-induced lateral crystallization under the action of the induced metal; doping a first impurity used for collecting the induced metal and a second impurity used for forming a P-channel metal oxide semiconductor (PMOS) or an N-channel metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS) into the source region and the drain region; and performing the heat treatment on the doped active layer, so that the second impurity is activated and the residue induced metal in the channel region is absorbed by the first impurity.

The invention discloses a lower temperature polycrystalline silicon film transistor and a manufacturing method thereof. The method comprises the following steps: manufacturing a buffer layer on a substrate; manufacturing an amorphous silicon layer on the buffer layer; covering a metal induced layer on the amorphous silicon layer, and performing metal induced crystallization, so as to convert amorphous silicon layer into a polycrystalline silicon layer; schematizing the polycrystalline silicon layer to form a channel region and a source drain region; etching the surface layer, on which metallics remain due to metal induced crystallization, of the channel region; successively forming a gate-insulation layer, a gate, a layer insulation layer and a source drain electrode on the source drain region and the etched channel region. The polycrystalline silicon film transistor and the manufacturing method thereof, disclosed by the invention, realize the individual control of the density of the metallics on the channel region and the source drain region, so that not only is the density of the metallics on the channel region lower, but also the leaked current is reduced; the density of the metallics on the source drain region is higher, the metallics can be used as adulterants so as to reduce the technology of doping again, and besides, contact resistance is decreased; finally, the influence of the metallics remained in an active region on the performance of devices is eliminated.

A method for forming fin structures for a semiconductor device that includes a substrate and a dielectric layer formed on the substrate is provided. The method includes etching the dielectric layer to form a first structure, depositing an amorphous silicon layer over the first structure, and etching the amorphous silicon layer to form second and third fin structures adjacent first and second side surfaces of the first structure. The second and third fin structures may include amorphous silicon material. The method further includes depositing a metal layer on upper surfaces of the second and third fin structures, performing a metal-induced crystallization operation to convert the amorphous silicon material of the second and third fin structures to a crystalline silicon material, and removing the first structure.