Electrical characteristic analysis using low-frequency noise in low-temperature polysilicon thin film transistors

This study carried out an electrical characteristic analysis using low-frequency noise (LFN) in top gate p-type low-temperature polysilicon thin film transistors (LTPS TFTs) with different active layer thicknesses between 40 nm and 80 nm. The transfer characteristic curves show that the 40-nm device has better electrical characteristics compared with the 80-nm device. The carrier number fluctuation, with and without correlated mobility fluctuation model in both devices, has modeled well the measured noise. On the other hand, the trap density and coulomb scattering in the 40-nm device are smaller compared with the 80-nm device. To confirm the effectiveness of the LFN noise analysis, the trap densities at a grain boundary are extracted using in both devices the similar methods of Proano et al. and Levinson et al. That is, coulomb scattering, caused by the trapped charges at or near the interface, has a greater effect on the device with inferior electrical properties. Based on the LFN and the quantitative analysis of the trap density at a grain boundary, the interface traps between the active layer and the gate insulator can explain the devices' electrical degradation.