High-performance polysilicon circuits on thin metal foils

Themis Afentakis; Miltiadis K. Hatalis; Apostolos T. Voutsas; John W. Hartzell

doi:10.1117/12.482574

16 May 2003 High-performance poly-silicon circuits on thin metal foils

Themis Afentakis, Miltiadis K. Hatalis, Apostolos T. Voutsas, John W. Hartzell

Proceedings Volume 5004, Poly-Silicon Thin Film Transistor Technology and Applications in Displays and Other Novel Technology Areas; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.482574
Event: Electronic Imaging 2003, 2003, Santa Clara, CA, United States

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in microelectronic fabrication of thin, flexible substrates. The utilization of flexible materials in processing is motivated by the need to have low weight, high strength microelectronic circuitry compatible with roll-to-roll processing. This can lead to a new era in the fabrication of reliable, low cost and highly versatile circuits for a wide variety of applications. This metal foils offer a number of significant advantages over polymers, their main contender in this field. The most important asset of metals for substrate application is their compatibility with high temperature processing (up to 1000°C), which can lead to high mobility, low drift devices. This paper examines the performance of a variety of circuits fabricated on flexible metal foils, such as stainless steel, using laser crystallized polycrystalline silicon films. The basic performance characteristiscs and architecture of fabricated static and dynamic shift registers and ring oscillators are discussed. N-channel thin film transistors with an average mobility of 200cm²/Vs were measured. Ring oscillator measurements indicated an average propagation delay of 1.38ns per inverter stage at a supply voltage of 15V. Both static and dynamic shift registers exhibit a maximum clock frequency beyond 1MHz. These circuits play a pivotal role for the fabrication of integrated display systems and most other large area electronics. This is the first time circuits of this complexity and performance have been successfully fabricated on flexible metal substrates.

Citation Download Citation

Themis Afentakis, Miltiadis K. Hatalis, Apostolos T. Voutsas, and John W. Hartzell "High-performance poly-silicon circuits on thin metal foils", Proc. SPIE 5004, Poly-Silicon Thin Film Transistor Technology and Applications in Displays and Other Novel Technology Areas, (16 May 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.482574

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