Memory characteristics of laser-crystallized polycrystalline-silicon silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon thin-film transistor with location-controlled grain boundary perpendicular to the channel

Abstract

An excimer-laser-crystallized polycrystalline-silicon silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon thin-film transistor with recessed-channel structure has been designed to achieve only one grain boundary with a protrusion perpendicular to the channel for investigating the grain boundary location effects on the memory characteristics. After programming, the devices demonstrated better memory characteristics as the grain boundary was allocated near the source junction. In contrast, the memory characteristics were degraded when the grain boundary was located near the drain junction. The phenomenon was explained by the 2-D device simulation and the energy band diagrams. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4724314]