Abstract
The conduction mechanisms of the off-current in low temperature ($\leq$600$^{\circ}C$) processed polycrystalline silicon thin film transistors (LTP poly-Si TFT's) has been systematically studied. Especially, the temperature and bias dependence of the off-current between unpassivated and passivated poly-Si TFT's was investigated and compared. The off-current of unpassivated poly-Si TFT's is due to a resistive current at low gate and drain voltage, thermal emission current at high gate, low drain voltage, and field enhanced thermal emission current in the depletion region near the drain at high gate and drain voltage. After hydrogenation, it was observed that the off-currents were remarkably reduced by plasma-hydrogenation. It was also observed that the off-currents of the passivated poly-Si TFT's are more critically dependent on temperature rather than electric field.
