Simultaneous activation and crystallization by low-temperature microwave annealing for improved quality of amorphous silicon thin-film transistors

In this study, activation and crystallization in short channel amorphous Si TFTs were demonstrated using a novelmicrowave annealing (MWA) technique. Both low-temperature MWA and rapid thermal annealing (RTA) were compared to study the dopant activation level. We successfully activated the source/drain region, improved the electronic mobility and suppressed the short-channel effects using low temperatureMWA. This can reduce the annealing temperature and processing time below that of solid phase crystallization (SPC). This technique is promising for realizing a high utility rate of AM-LCDs with low cost.