Elimination of photoleakage current in poly-Si TFTs using a metal-shielding structure

A technology to eliminate the photoleakage current of poly-Si thin-film transistors (TFTs) with top gate structure has been developed. A thin metal film is formed on the glass substrate to be used as a light-shielding layer. The light-shielding layer, buffer layer, and active island are patterned employing the same mask. The leakage current and the variation of subthreshold swing in the proposed devices are suppressed completely under illumination. Due to the parasitic capacitance in the overlap region between the drain side and the metal-shielding layer, a floating voltage coupled from drain bias influences the threshold voltage of the proposed poly-Si TFTs.