Development of a New Hybrid Silicon Thin-Film Transistor Fabrication Process

A new hybrid silicon thin-film transistor (TFT) fabrication process using the DPSS laser crystallization technique was developed in this study to realize low-temperature poly-Si (LTPS) and a-Si:H TFTs on the same substrate as a backplane of the active-matrix liquid crystal flat-panel display (AMLCD). LTPS TFTs were integrated into the peripheral area of the activematrix LCD panel for the gate driver circuit, and a-Si:H TFTs were used as a switching device of the pixel electrode in the active area. The technology was developed based on the current a-Si:H TFT fabrication process in the bottom-gate, back-channel etch-type configuration. The ion-doping and activation processes, which are required in the conventional LTPS technology, were thus not introduced, and the field effect mobility values of $4\sim5cm^2/V{\cdot}s$ and $0.5cm^2/V{\cdot}s$ for the LTPS and a-Si:H TFTs, respectively, were obtained. The application of this technology was demonstrated on the 14.1" WXGA+(1440$\times$900) AMLCD panel, and a smaller area, lower power consumption, higher reliability, and lower photosensitivity were realized in the gate driver circuit that was fabricated in this process compared with the a-Si:H TFT gate driver integration circuit