Long-Pulse Duration Excimer Laser Processing in the Fabrication of High Performance Polysilicon TFTs for Large Area Electronics

In this work, was investigated both numerically and experimentally, the excimer laser processing of a-Si films deposited on SiO2-coated glass substrates, using the very large area (∼ 20 cm2) and long pulse duration (200 ns) excimer source from SOPRA Company. Experiments were carried out in air or in neutral atmosphere, using both the single- and multi-shot mode. From the microstructural analysis of the laser irradiated area the formation of a large-grained material through the so-called SLG regime was evidenced. In addition, the application of a multi-shot process was demonstrated to be very efficient to prepare uniform polysilicon layers with enlarged grain sizes (up to 1.5 µm after 20 shots). Finally, poly-Si TFTs prepared in the optimized conditions (multi-shot, neutral ambience) exibited field effect mobilities up to 235 cm2/V.s (for N-type) and 84 cm2/V.s (for P-type), with fairly uniform device characteristics over large area and excellent stability under electrical stress.