POLYCRYSTALLINE SILICON-GERMANIUM THIN-FILM TRANSISTORS

The fabrication of p- and n-channel MOS thin-film transistors (TFT's) in polycrystalline silicon-germanium (poly-Si1-xGex) films is describe d, and their electrical characteristics are presented. Various technol ogical issues are then addressed in order to provide direction for fur ther work in optimizing the fabrication process. The initial devices f abricated in this work exhibit well behaved electrical characteristics ; enhanced performance is expected to accompany improvements in the cr ystallization and defect-passivation processes. Compared to a poly-Si TFT technology, an optimized poly-Si1-xGe(x) TFT technology may ultima tely be able to provide a lower-temperature, shorter-time processing c apability at little expense to device performance and it is therefore promising for large-area electronics applications.