The present invention relates to the configuration of a thin-film transistor used in an electro-optical device such as a liquid crystal display device.
In an electro-optical device that is represented by an active matrix type liquid crystal display device, there is known a configuration in which thin-film transistors (TFTs) are used as drive elements and switching elements. Thin-film transistors are configured using a semiconductor (usually, silicon semiconductor) thin film that is formed on a glass substrate by vapor-phase deposition. Thin-film transistors are also used for an image sensor and other devices.
The source region 402 of the thin-film transistor shown in
(1) Liquid crystal display is realized by applying light (back light) to the liquid crystal panel.
(2) A video image is produced by applying high-intensity light to the liquid crystal display panel and projecting, onto a screen, light that is transmitted from the liquid crystal panel. (Liquid crystal projector)
(3) A reflecting plate is disposed on the back side of the liquid crystal display panel, and display is effected by causing external light to be reflected by the reflecting plate.
In particular, where light is irradiated from the glass substrate side in cases (1) and (2) above, it is necessary to shield the active layer, particularly the channel forming region, from the illumination light. This originates from the fact that the active layer (semiconductor layer denoted by 402-404 in
Where light 414 is incident from above the gate electrode 406 in the thin-film transistor (top gate TFT) having the structure in which the gate electrode 406 is located over the semiconductor active layer (see FIG. 4(A)), it seems that no light may enters the channel forming region 403 due to the gate electrode 406 serving as a mask.
Actually, however, part of the incident light goes around the gate electrode 406, to enter the channel forming region 403. As a result, the conductivity of the channel forming region 403 is varied by the illumination and its characteristics are also varied.
That is, it is impossible for only the gate electrode 406 to completely prevent light from entering the channel forming region 403. This problem is remarkable when the channel forming region and the gate electrodes are formed in a self-aligned manner. To solve this problem, a light shielding layer or film is effectively used, but this increases the number of manufacturing steps.
An object of the present invention is to realize, without increasing the number of manufacturing steps, a structure of a thin-film transistor which is basically of the type shown in
The invention is characterized in that in an active matrix circuit, a source line or an electrode or wiring line (they cannot be clearly discriminated from each other) extending from the source line is so formed as to cover a channel forming region, to use the source line or an electrode or wiring line as a light shielding layer for the channel forming region. Since the channel forming region is included in a portion where a gate electrode and a semiconductor active layer overlap with each other, forming a source line or an electrode or wiring line extending from the source line to cover such a portion is approximately equivalent to the above.
In the above structure, examples of a substrate having an insulative surface are a glass substrate, a plastic substrate, a metal or semiconductor substrate on whose surface an insulating film is formed.
It may be possible to realize a similar structure by using an electrode/wiring line for connecting the pixel electrode 103 and the drain region 106. However, in such a case, a parasitic capacitance between the pixel electrode 103 and the gate electrode 107 becomes large and a potential variation of the gate line 107 affects the pixel electrode 107, causing serious problems in the operation of the active matrix. (For example, refer to H. Ono Kikuo et al: “Flat-Panel Display '91,” page 109.)
On the other hand, in the invention, a capacitive coupling between the source line and the gate line due to a parasitic capacitance adversely affects the operation speed of the thin-film transistor, which does not influence the pixel potential. Therefore, no problem occurs in terms of the image display. Further, in the invention, a parasitic capacitance that occurs due to the source line laid over the gate electrode does not cause any substantial problem, because it is smaller than 1/10 of the parasitic capacitance at the intersection of the source line and the gate line of the active matrix.
In summary, the problem that the characteristics of a thin-film transistor is varied or deteriorated due to illumination light coming from the electrode side can be solved by constructing the electrode/wiring line that is connected to the source (or drain) of the thin-film transistor so that it serves as a light shielding layer for the channel forming region. The electrode/wiring line that is connected to the drain (or source) is connected to the pixel electrode.
To construct a liquid crystal display panel by using the invention, it is necessary that an active matrix substrate be illuminated from above, i.e., that a light source, an opposed substrate, and the active matrix substrate be arranged in this order. The light shielding effect of the invention is entirely lost if the active matrix substrate is illuminated from below, i.e., from the back side of the thin-film transistor.
With the structure shown in
First, a glass substrate 200 is prepared which may be any material having an insulative surface. For example, it may be a semiconductor or metal substrate on which surface an insulating film is formed.
A silicon dioxide film or a silicon nitride film as an undercoat film (not shown) is formed on the surface of the glass substrate 200, to prevent diffusion of impurities from the glass substrate 200 and to reduce stress during a heat treatment.
Then, a thin-film semiconductor 201 is formed which constitutes an active layer of the thin-film transistor. In this embodiment, a 1,000-Å-thick amorphous silicon thin film is formed by plasma CVD or low-pressure thermal CVD (see
Since this embodiment needs a crystallized semiconductor layer as an active layer, the amorphous silicon thin film 201 is crystallized in this step. The crystallization is effected by a heat treatment (thermal annealing) of 600° C. for 12 hours in an inert atmosphere. To facilitate crystallization, an element such as nickel may be added by a small amount.
The crystallization may be effected by illumination with laser light or equivalent high-intensity light. Further, laser light or equivalent high-intensity light may be applied to a silicon film that has been crystallized by thermal annealing. Where the thin-film transistor is allowed to have low-grade performance, the amorphous silicon film 201 may be used as it is.
Then, the crystallized silicon semiconductor thin film is patterned into a size of the intended active layer of the thin-film transistor. Thus, an active layer 202 of the thin-film transistor is formed. A 1000-Å-thick silicon dioxide film 203 to become a gate insulating film is then formed by plasma CVD or sputtering.
Subsequently, a gate electrode 107 is formed by depositing a metal such as aluminum or a polysilicon film doped with phosphorus and then patterning it. A gate line 101 (see
Then, a source 104 and a drain 106 are formed by implanting phosphorus ions. Since the gate electrode 107 serves as a mask, the phosphorus ions are implanted into the regions 104 and 106, but not into the region 105. In this manner, the channel forming region 105 is formed at the same time. Because of the implantation of phosphorus, the source 104 and drain 106 are of an N type (see
Next, annealing is performed by illumination with laser light to anneal portions damaged by the above ion implantation and to activate implanted impurity ions. In this embodiment, a KrF excimer laser is used. This step may be effected by thermal annealing at a low temperature of about 600° C. (see
Then, contact portions 108 and 109 are formed by forming a silicon dioxide film 107 as an interlayer insulating layer, performing patterning for hole formation, and forming metal wiring lines. As shown in
It is particularly important that the source wiring line 112 be so provided as to cover the top portion of the channel forming region 105. With this structure, illumination light from the gate electrode side can be prevented from reaching the channel forming region 105, to thereby avoid a variation or deterioration of the characteristics of the thin-film transistor.
This embodiment relates to a thin-film transistor having a structure in which a gate electrode is made of aluminum, and an oxide layer is formed on the top and side faces of the gate electrode by anodic oxidation to increase the breakdown voltage.
Referring to
Then, the amorphous silicon film 301 is crystallized by subjecting it to a heat treatment of 600° C. and 12 hours, and then patterned into a size of the intended active layer of the thin-film transistor, to form an active layer 302 of a crystalline silicon thin film. A 1,000-Å-thick silicon dioxide film 303 serving as a gate insulating film is formed thereon by plasma CVD or sputtering (see
Next, a 5,000-Å-thick film mainly made of aluminum and serving as a gate electrode is formed. By adding scandium of 0.1-0.5 wt %, for instance, 0.2 wt % to aluminum, hillocks can be prevented from occurring in a subsequent anodic oxidation step etc.
Subsequently, the aluminum film is etched to form a gate electrode 304. An oxide layer 305 of 1,000-3,000 Å, for instance, about 2,000 Å in thickness is formed by performing anodic oxidation in an approximately neutral electrolyte using the gate electrode 304 as an anode. The voltage applied to the gate electrode 304 is about 120 V at the maximum. It is preferable that the oxide layer 305 have a sufficiently high breakdown voltage. To this end, the oxide layer 305 is desired to be sufficiently dense. The anodic oxide coating 305 produced in the above manner is called a barrier-type anodic oxide film, and has a breakdown voltage that amounts to 90% of the maximum application voltage, which is 120 V in this embodiment (see
Then, phosphorus ions are implanted into regions 306 and 307 to form a source 306 and a drain 307. A channel forming region 308 is formed at the same time in a self-aligned manner. In contrast to the case of the first embodiment, this embodiment provides what is called an offset state in which the source 306 and drain 307 are spaced from the gate electrode 304 by the thickness of the anodic oxide coating 305. The offset state is effective in reducing the leak current that is characteristic of the thin-film transistor.
Then, the ion-implanted regions are annealed and implanted ions are activated by illumination with KrF excimer laser light (see
Subsequently, a silicon dioxide film 309 of about 7,000 Å in thickness is deposited as in interlayer insulating layer by plasma CVD. The interlayer insulating layer may be made of an organic resin or a multilayer of silicon dioxide and an organic resin.
Finally, a pixel electrode 310 is formed by ITO, and then etching is performed for hole formation, and metal electrodes/wiring lines are formed. The metal electrode/wiring line 313 extends to the source line and contacts with the source 306 via a contact portion 312. A drain electrode/wiring line extending from a contact portion 311 is connected to the pixel electrode 310.
Also in this embodiment, since the electrode 313 extending to the source line is so formed as to cover the source 306 and the channel forming region 308 of the thin-film transistor, no light is irradiated to the channel forming region 308. Thus, there can be realized the thin-film transistor that is free from a variation or deterioration of the characteristics due to light illumination.
In particular, where the oxide layer is provided around the gate electrode that is mainly made of aluminum as in this embodiment, it is effective to cover the channel forming region by the electrode/wiring line connected to the source. Since the aluminum oxide layer is transparent, if there were provided no shielding layer, light coming from the gate electrode side likely would reach the channel forming region passing through the offset regions (parts of the channel forming region 308 that are not covered with the gate electrode 304) or through refraction. By forming the electrode/wiring line 313 of this embodiment, the offset gate regions and the channel forming region can be prevented from being illuminated with light.
In the case of the first embodiment, there exists only the interlayer insulating layer between the gate electrode and the source line. However, since the thin-film transistor portion is complicate in structure, i.e., has many steps, the single interlayer insulating layer may be insufficient in step coating ability, resulting in insufficient insulation. In contrast, in this embodiment, because the anodic oxide layer having a sufficiently high breakdown voltage is provided on the top and side faces of the gate electrode in addition to the interlayer insulating layer, the leak current between the source line and the gate electrode can be reduced as much as possible.
In this embodiment, the N-channel TFT is formed because phosphorus is used as impurities. However, a P-channel TFT is generally preferable for a pixel of an active matrix to the N-channel TFT that suffers from a large leak current. To form a P-channel TFT, boron may be doped instead of phosphorus in the step of
Referring to
Then, after a second interlayer insulating layer 514 is formed, a contact hole 511 for the drain 507 is formed. Silicon nitride, aluminum oxide and aluminum nitride, which are used as a passivation film, are more appropriate as a material of the second interlayer insulating film than silicon dioxide. A pixel electrode 510 that is an ITO film is directly connected to the drain 507.
A gate electrode 604 is formed on the channel forming region 608, and an anodic oxide film 605 is formed around the gate electrode 604. An interlayer insulating layer 609 is so formed as to cover the TFT, and contact holes 611 and 612 are formed for the drain 607 and the source 606, respectively. A metal electrode/wiring line 613 is connected to the source 606, and a pixel electrode 610 that is an ITO film is connected to the drain 607. Also in this embodiment, the metal electrode/wiring line 613 that extends from the source line covers the channel forming region 608.
Although in
As described above, by forming the source line so that it covers the channel forming region of the corresponding thin-film transistor, the channel forming region can be prevented from being illuminated with light coming from above the thin-film transistor. Therefore, a variation or deterioration of the characteristics of the thin-film transistor due to light illumination can be avoided.
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