Illumination-Assisted Negative Bias Temperature Instability Degradation in Low Temperature Polycrystalline Silicon Thin-Film Transistors

Abstract

In this work, the negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) in low temperature polycrystalline silicon thin-film transistors in a darkened and in an illuminated environment was investigated. Experimental results reveal that the generation of interface state density (N(it)) showed no change between the different NBTI stresses. Nevertheless, the degradation of the grain boundary trap (N(trap)) under illumination was more significant than that in the darkened environment. This phenomenon is mainly caused by the extra number of holes generated during the illuminated NBTI stress.