The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and its fabrication method, especially to a semiconductor device having a thin-film transistor in which a source region, a channel region and a drain region are formed in a semiconductor thin film composed of polycrystalline silicon, and a fabrication method thereof.
Currently, semiconductor devices, including liquid crystal displays, are being actively developed. Thin-film transistors (TFTs) formed in conventional semiconductor devices have a common structure wherein an active layer is composed of amorphous silicon. Because amorphous silicon TFTs have low carrier mobility and do not have sufficiently good operating characteristics, polycrystalline silicon TFTs are recently attracting attention. Polycrystalline silicon TFTs offer excellent operating characteristics compared with amorphous silicon TFTs, and can be used not only as a pixel switching device but also as a peripheral drive circuit device. In particular, the polycrystalline silicon TFT can be suitably used in a large-screen, high-resolution liquid crystal display with an internal drive circuit. Fabrication processes for polycrystalline silicon TFTs can be roughly divided into high-temperature processes in which thermal treatment is conducted at 1000° C. or more, and low-temperature processes in which the highest temperature is held to 600° C. or less. Currently, a low-temperature process wherein glass, which is advantageous in respect of cost, can be used as an insulating substrate is the mainstream process. An example of a polycrystalline silicon TFT in a conventional semiconductor device is shown in
As shown in this figure, a buffer layer 130 is formed on an insulating substrate 120, which is composed of glass, and a semiconductor thin film 110, which is composed of polycrystalline silicon, is formed on the buffer layer 130. The semiconductor thin film 110 comprises a channel region 140, a source/drain region 142, and an LDD (lightly doped drain) region 141, and is structured so that the electric field concentration at the drain end can be alleviated to some extent by the LDD region 141.
The semiconductor thin film 110 is covered with a gate insulator layer 115, and a gate film 144 is formed above the channel region 140 via the gate insulator layer 115. The gate film 144 is covered with an interlayer insulation layer 125, and the source/drain region 142 is connected to the source electrode 147 and the drain electrode 148 via contact holes formed in the gate insulator layer 115 and the layer insulation layer 125. Furthermore, the gate film 144 is connected to a gate electrode 145 via a contact hole formed in the interlayer insulation layer 125.
Typical characteristics of polycrystalline silicon TFTs having such a configuration are shown in
It is also known that impurities introduced into the channel region 140 to form a p− region reduce the OFF-state current. However, while the concentration of the implanted impurity must be relatively low, it is difficult to control the concentration in conventional low-temperature processes, and therefore implementation of such a technique was difficult. Moreover, threshold voltage Vth is not controlled satisfactorily for the same reason, and, sometimes, the semiconductor thin film is contaminated with an impurity from the beginning, making the operating characteristics of the TFT nonuniform over a large-area insulating substrate. For example, in the case of a liquid crystal display, if threshold voltage Vth moves to the depression side, the OFF-state current will increase, causing luminescent spot defects in the pixels.
The present invention aims to provide a semiconductor device that reduces OFF current and easily controls threshold voltage, and a method for fabricating such a semiconductor device.
A semiconductor device for accomplishing the above object comprising:
Such a semiconductor device can reduce leak current in the OFF state because the conductive type of the source region and drain region disposed on both sides of the second layer is opposite to that of the second conductive layer.
The first layer is an intrinsic-like layer because the first conductive impurity and the second conductive impurity are canceled by each other. Because the gate electrode is formed so as to face the first layer, the threshold voltage can be easily controlled.
The gate electrode may be formed on the semiconductor thin film, or alternatively may be formed between the insulating substrate and the semiconductor thin film.
It is preferable that both the source region and the drain region comprise a high-concentration impurity region and a low-concentration impurity region, the low-concentration impurity region being disposed between the channel region and the high-concentration impurity region and having an impurity concentration that is lower than that of the high-concentration impurity region.
The difference in concentration between the first conductive impurity and the second conductive impurity in the first layer may be defined as less than 5×1016/cm3. It is preferable that the thickness of the first layer defined as above be not less than 1 nm and not more than 50% of the total thickness of the channel region.
The difference in the concentrations of the two types of impurities in the first layer has a correlation with the sheet resistance of the surface such that when the difference in the concentrations of the impurities becomes smaller, the sheet resistance becomes greater. Specifically, when the first layer is defined as above, the sheet resistance of the surface becomes greater than 1×109 Ω/□. There is no upper limit to the sheet resistance; however, the upper limit may be, for example, approximately 1×1012 Ω/□.
It is preferable that the source region and the drain region be n type, and that the second layer be a p type layer in which p type is dominant. The insulating substrate may be formed of glass and the semiconductor thin film may be formed directly on the insulating substrate.
The object of the present invention can be achieved by a method for fabricating a semiconductor device provided with a thin-film transistor comprising a semiconductor thin film comprising:
The third impurity introduction step comprises:
It is also possible to further include a step of measuring the sheet resistance of the semiconductor thin film between the polycrystallization step and the second impurity introduction step to determine the dosage of the impurity to be introduced in the second impurity introduction step based on the obtained sheet resistance.
It is preferable that the impurity introduced in the first impurity introduction step be p type and the impurities introduced in the second and the third impurity introduction steps be n type.
In the first impurity introduction step, the boron contained in the insulating substrate may be introduced into the semiconductor thin film by forming the semiconductor thin film directly on an insulating substrate formed of glass.
The object of the present invention can be achieved by using a method for fabricating a semiconductor device provided with a thin-film transistor comprising a semiconductor thin film comprising:
Embodiments of the present invention are explained below with reference to the drawings.
As shown in
A semiconductor thin film 2 composed of amorphous silicon is then formed to a thickness of 30 nm to 100 nm by plasma CVD, LPCVD, etc. It is also possible to form the semiconductor thin film 2 directly on the insulating substrate 100 without providing the buffer layer 1.
The semiconductor thin film 2 is heated in an oven or subjected to laser radiation to activate impurities contained in the semiconductor thin film 2, and the sheet resistance is then measured. This makes it possible to identify the extent of contamination caused by impurities, such as boron, in the air. The heating conditions may be, for example, 600° C. for about one hour. It is preferable to use a sheet resistance meter having a high-resistant measuring range. In the present embodiment, the “Mitsubishi Hiresta” is used.
As shown in
After the measurement, if the sheet resistance is higher than a predetermined value (for example, 1×109 Ω/□), the first impurity introduction step is performed using ion-implantation device. In this step, a p-type impurity is introduced into the semiconductor thin film 2. In the present embodiment, B (boron) is used as the element to be introduced, the accelerating voltage is set at 10 kV, the dosage is set at 1×1011/cm2, the impurity ions generated from the ion source are subjected to mass separation to extract only the desired ions, the ions are introduced to the semiconductor thin film 2 by scanning the film with an ion beam obtained by forming the ions into a beam-like shape so that the concentration of the introduced impurity is 1×1017/cm3.
In the present embodiment, an ion-implantation device manufactured by Nisshin Ion Equipment, Co., Ltd. is used. This ion-implantation device is provided with a magnetic field deflector. Using magnetic field deflection, the ion-implantation device can implant ions by scanning with an ion beam having such a large current that it would cause difficulties in scanning by electrostatic deflection. The size of the substrate used may be larger than 32 cm×40 cm, and it is possible to efficiently process a large insulating substrate 100 having an area of 1000 cm2 or more. In the ion-implantation device, the maximum beam current is 16 mA, applied energy is variable in the range of 10 KeV to 100 KeV, and the dosage is controllable in the range of 1×1011/cm2 to 1×1020/cm2. The implantable ions are P (phosphorus) and B (boron).
When hydrogen contained in the semiconductor thin film 2 needs to be eliminated, as in the case where the plasma CVD method is employed to form the semiconductor thin film 2, annealing is conducted by placing the insulating substrate 100 in a nitrogen atmosphere and heating it at 400-450° C. for about one hour. This dehydrogenation-annealing step may be conducted by lamp annealing, using RTA, etc., and it is also possible to conduct such a step before the first impurity introduction step.
In contrast, when the measured sheet resistance of the semiconductor thin film 2 is less than a predetermined value (for example, 1×109 Ω/□), it indicates that the first impurity introduction step has already been completed by the sufficient introduction of boron and like impurities in the air into the semiconductor thin film 2, and therefore the introduction of an impurity using an ion-implantation device and the like becomes unnecessary. In particular, when the semiconductor thin film 2 is formed directly onto an insulating substrate 100 composed of glass without forming a buffer layer 1, boron and like impurities contained in the insulating substrate 100 are readily introduced to the semiconductor thin film 2 and the first impurity introduction step tends to become unnecessary, reducing the required number of fabrication steps. It is also possible to make the semiconductor thin film 2 become p-like character by using a laser energy condition of 250 mJ/m2 to 500 mJ/m2.
Subsequently, as shown in
Thereafter, using the above-described sheet resistance meter, the sheet resistance of the polycrystalline-silicon semiconductor thin film 2 is measured. The lower the impurity concentration of the semiconductor thin film 2, the greater the sheet resistance. Because they have a correlation, it is possible to learn the impurity concentration of the semiconductor thin film 2 based on the sheet resistance.
As shown in
In the second impurity introduction step, the implantation depth is selected so that the impurity is mostly introduced into an ultra-shallow portion near the surface of the semiconductor thin film in the thickness direction. In the present embodiment, the specific conditions for this step are as follows: an accelerating voltage of 10 kV, an ion beam current of 0.01 μA-10 μA, a scanning frequency in the horizontal direction of 1 Hz, a scanning speed in the vertical direction of 30 mm/sec, an overlap in the beam spot of 66.7%, a scanning cycle in the vertical direction of 8 to 10 cycles, and a total time of 300 sec to 400 sec. This step may be conducted before the above-described dehydrogenation-annealing step, or after the gate insulating film 3 formation step described later. The impurity introduction may be conducted using a semiconductor implanter, etc., and it is also possible to introduce the impurity by scanning a glass substrate with a ribbon beam using a mass separation type implanter.
Because a p-type impurity was already introduced into the semiconductor thin film 2, impurities having opposite conductive types in the region where an n-type impurity was introduced are canceled by each other and an intrinsic-like i-layer 2a is formed as shown in
Thereafter, as shown in
On the insulating substrate 100, Al, Ti, Mo, W, Ta or their alloy is formed into a film with a thickness of 200 nm to 800 nm and patterned into a predetermined shape, and a gate electrode 4 is then formed on the gate insulating film 3.
A third impurity introduction step wherein an n-type impurity is implanted is conducted using the ion-implantation device and utilizing the gate electrode 4 as a mask. In other words, a low-concentration impurity region (LDD region) 81 of the TFT as shown in
After forming a resist pattern 6 around the gate electrode 4 as shown in
In the third impurity introduction step, a source region 91 and a drain region 92 are formed in a low-concentration impurity region 81 and a high-concentration impurity region 82, which are each formed on both sides of the channel region 80. Because a p-type impurity is dominant in the p-type layer 2b formed in the channel region 80, and an n-type impurity is dominant in the source region 91 and drain region 92, an npn junction is formed between the source region 91 and the drain region 92 along the surface of the semiconductor thin film. When integrating a CMOS circuit by forming it on the insulating substrate 100, a resist pattern for a p-channel transistor is formed in addition to a resist pattern 6 for an n-channel transistor, then the gas system for the ion source is changed to 5% B2H6/H2, and B ions are implantated at a dosage of approximately 1×1021/cm2.
As shown in
Thereafter, contact holes are formed in the interlayer insulating film 9, metal films composed of Al—SI or the like are formed by sputtering and patterning into a predetermined shape, and then the metal films are formed into wiring electrodes 10. An SiO2 film 11 and an SiNx film 12 cover the top of the wiring electrodes 10 in this order. The total thickness of these films is approximately 200 nm to 400 nm. The insulating substrate 100 is then placed in a nitrogen atmosphere and subjected to hydrogenation by annealing at approximately 350° C. for about one hour, completing the TFT. The highest temperature for processing the TFT is approximately 400° C. to 600° C. in the step of dehydrogenation by annealing.
In a polycrystalline-silicon TFT comprising the channel region 80 wherein the i-layer 2a and the p-type layer 2b are laminated, it is possible to form an npn junction between the source region 91 and the drain region 92, thereby reducing the leak current when the gate voltage is negative, by making the conductive type of the source region 91 and the drain region 92 opposite to the conductive type that is dominant in the p-type layer 2b.
By positioning the gate electrode 4 so it faces the i-layer 2a, the application of small positive gate voltage will form an n-type region in the i-layer 2a due to the induction of electrons, causing current to flow across the source region 91 and the drain region 92. This makes it easier to control the threshold voltage Vth and makes it possible to bring the threshold voltage Vth close to 0 V.
The definition of the i-layer 2a is described later. From the viewpoint of reducing leak current, the ratio of the thickness of the i-layer 2a relative to the total thickness of the channel region 80 is preferably not more than 50%, more preferably not more than 30% and most preferably not more than 10% to obtain a more perfect npn junction between the source region 91 and the drain region 92 in the OFF-state. In contrast, from the viewpoint of controlling the threshold voltage Vth, in order to obtain a channel in the ON-state, the thickness of the i-layer 2a is preferably not less than 1 nm, more preferably not less than 2 nm and most preferably not less than 3 nm. In other words, a thinner i-layer 2a is better for reducing the leak current, and a thicker i-layer 2a is better for improving the control of the threshold voltage Vth. Therefore, it is preferable to select a thickness for the i-layer 2a that suits both of these characteristics. In the present embodiment, the thickness of the semiconductor thin film 2 is 100 nm and the thickness of the i-layer 2a is 30 nm.
Below the i-layer, the concentration of boron is substantially stable; however, the concentration of phosphorus gradually decreases, and therefore a p-type layer in which boron is dominant is formed. The p-type layer corresponds to the region other than the i-layer in the channel region 80.
The polycrystalline-silicon TFT in the first embodiment is generally called a coplanar structure or stagger structure. It is also possible to apply the present invention to a polycrystalline-silicon TFT having a bottom-gate structure or inverted-stagger structure. The steps for fabricating such a TFT are shown in
As shown in
SiNx is then deposited to a film thickness of 50 nm by plasma CVD, atmospheric pressure CVD, decompression CVD or the like, to obtain a gate insulating film 9a. Subsequently, a semiconductor thin film 2 composed of amorphous silicon is continuously formed thereon to a film thickness of approximately 30 nm to 100 nm. If plasma CVD is employed here, annealing is conducted in a nitrogen atmosphere at 400° C. to 450° C. for about one hour to remove hydrogen from the film. The dehydrogenation by annealing may also be conducted by employing lamp annealing using RTP, etc.
After heating in the same manner as in the first embodiment, the sheet resistance in the semiconductor thin film 2 is measured. A sheet resistance meter similar to that used in the first embodiment can be used. If the sheet resistance measured is beyond a predetermined value (for example, 1×109 Ω/□), as in the first embodiment, a first impurity introduction step is conducted using an ion-implantation device. The doping conditions are the same as those in the first embodiment. If the sheet resistance of the semiconductor thin film 2 is less than a predetermined value (for example, 1×109 Ω/□), it indicates that impurities such as boron or the like contained in the air have been satisfactorily introduced into the semiconductor thin film 2, thereby completing the first impurity introduction step.
Subsequently, amorphous silicon in the semiconductor thin film 2 is converted into polycrystalline silicon by laser annealing, solid-phase growth, etc. The sheet resistance of the semiconductor thin film 2 composed of polycrystalline silicon is measured using a sheet resistance meter.
Thereafter, based on the measured sheet resistance, as in the first embodiment, the second impurity introduction step is conducted. Because the sheet resistance correlates with the amount of the p-type impurity already doped, the amount of the n-type impurity, which is introduced to control the threshold voltage Vth, is selected based on the sheet resistance and the n-type impurity is introduced using an ion-implantation device. In the second impurity introduction step, the introduction depth is selected so that the impurity is mostly introduced to the deepest portion, which is in the vicinity of the gate electrode 4 in the thickness direction. In the present embodiment, the specific conditions are as follows: an accelerating voltage of 100 kV, an ion beam current of 15 μA, a scanning frequency in the horizontal direction of 1 Hz, a scanning speed in the vertical direction of 30 mm/sec, an overlap in the beam spot of 66.7%, a scanning cycle in the vertical direction of 8 to 10 cycles, and a total time of 300 sec to 400 sec.
Because the p-type impurity was already introduced into the semiconductor thin film 2, the p-type impurity and n-type impurity are canceled by each other in the vicinity of the gate electrode 4 to which n-type impurity was introduced, and an intrinsic-like i-layer 2a is formed. Above the i-layer 2a, a p-type layer 2b in which the p-type impurity is dominant in the thickness direction is formed. In other words, the first and second impurity introduction steps give the semiconductor thin film 2 a layered structure wherein the i-layer 2a as the first layer and the p-type layer 2b as the second layer are laminated.
Thereafter, as shown in
The third impurity introduction step, wherein an n-type impurity is implanted, is conducted using an ion-implantation device. In other words, a low-concentration impurity region (LDD region) 81 of the TFT is formed by first mass separating impurity ions generated from an ion source to extract only phosphorus, which is the desired ion, then introducing the ions into the semiconductor thin film 2 by scanning the semiconductor thin film 2 with an ion beam obtained by forming the ions into a beam-like shape in such a manner that the concentration of the introduced impurity is less than 1×1014/cm2, and using the resist pattern 4 as a mask. It is necessary to set the dosage so that the concentration of phosphorus in the LDD region 81 is greater than that of boron, specifically, in the range of 6×1012/cm2 to 5×1013/cm2. This makes the n-type impurity in the LDD region 81 dominant and forms the channel region 80 below the resist pattern 6.
After further forming a resist pattern 6 so as to cover the resist pattern 6a as shown in
A source region 91 and a drain region 92 are thereby formed in a low-concentration impurity region 81 and a high-concentration impurity region 82, which are each formed on both sides of the channel region 80 in the third impurity introduction step.
The dopant introduced into the semiconductor thin film 2 is then activated by annealing at approximately 300° C. to 400° C. As in the first embodiment, activation annealing may also be conducted by laser annealing.
Because a p-type impurity is dominant in the p-type layer 2b formed in the channel region 80, and an n-type impurity is dominant in the source region 91 and drain region 92, an npn junction is formed between the source region 91 and the drain region 92 along the surface of the semiconductor thin film. When integrating a CMOS circuit by forming it on the insulating substrate 100, a resist pattern for a p-channel transistor is formed in addition to a resist pattern 6 for an n-channel transistor, then the gas system for the ion source is changed to 5% B2H6/H2, and B+ ions are implanted at a dosage of approximately 1×1021/cm2.
As shown in
Thereafter, contact holes are formed in the interlayer insulating film 9, metal films composed of Al—Si or the like are formed by sputtering and patterning into a predetermined shape, and then formed into wiring electrodes 10. An SiO2 film 11 and an SiNx film 12 cover the wiring electrodes 10 in this order. The total thickness of these films is approximately 200 nm to 400 nm. The insulating substrate 100 is then placed in a nitrogen atmosphere and subjected to hydrogenation by annealing at approximately 350° C. and for about one hour, completing the TFT. This annealing process introduces the hydrogen contained in the SiO2 film 11 into the semiconductor thin film 2, improving the operating characteristics of the TFT.
In such a TFT, as described in the first embodiment, it is possible to form an npn junction between the source region 91 and the drain region 92, thereby reducing the leak current when the gate voltage is negative, by making the conductive type of the source region 91 and the drain region 92 opposite to the conductive type that is dominant in the p-type layer 2b.
By positioning the gate electrode 4 so it faces the i-layer 2a, the application of a small positive gate voltage will form an n-type region in the i-layer 2a due to the induction of electrons, causing current to flow across the source region 91 and the drain region 92. This makes it easier to control the threshold voltage Vth and makes it possible to bring the threshold voltage Vth close to 0 V.
A liquid crystal display device is shown in
The TFT array substrate 52 comprises TFTs 53, which are switching elements, arranged in a matrix on the upper side (opposing substrate 60 side). The TFTs 53 can be formed in the same manner as that used to form the TFT in the first or second embodiment.
The opposing substrate 60 is a glass insulating substrate provided with a color filter 59 and a transparent electrode 58 on the bottom side (TFT array substrate 52 side). Between the TFT array substrate 52 and the opposing substrate 60, a liquid crystal layer 56 is sandwiched between orientation films 55 and 57, which are composed of polyimide or the like. Furthermore, polarizing plates 51 and 60 are respectively attached to the surfaces of the TFT array substrate 52 and the opposing substrate 60 that are opposite to the surfaces facing each other. Below the TFT array substrate 52, a backlight 63 is provided to improve visibility.
Use of a liquid crystal display device having such a structure provides uniform and stable display images without luminescent spot defects by reducing leak current in the TFT 53 and improving control of the threshold voltage Vth, and also makes it possible to save energy consumption by controlling the drive voltage of the TFT 53.
As shown in
As shown in
By reducing the leak current in the switching TFT 71 and the drive TFT 74, this EL display device eliminates the possibility of the drive TFT 74 turning on when the switching TFT 71 is in the OFF-state, thus preventing the EL element 70 from abnormally emitting light. Furthermore, by improving the control of the threshold voltage Vth, it is possible to suppress variations in the current supplied to the EL element 70. As a result, uneven brightness in the displayed image can be reduced and an excellent image display can be achieved.
For example, when an eight-level gray scale is displayed, the design generally calls for noise to be 1/10 (20 dB) relative to the signal. It is assumed that the primary cause of noise is variation in the TFT characteristics, and therefore use of the present invention makes it easier to meet the noise requirement. Because it is possible to increase the ON-current while reducing the leak current, the brightness of the EL element 70 can be easily maintained, increasing its life.
Several embodiments of the present invention are described in detail above; however, the actual embodiments of the present invention are not limited to those described above. For example, an i-layer and a p-type layer in a channel region may be formed in other fabricating processes.
In the embodiments described above, boron or a like p-type impurity is introduced in the first impurity introduction step, and phosphorus or a like n-type impurity is introduced in the second impurity introduction step to form the i-layer and p-type layer in the channel region; however, it is also possible to form the i-layer and p-type layer in the channel region by introducing phosphorus or a like n-type impurity in the first impurity introduction step and introducing boron or a like p-type impurity in the second impurity introduction step. In other words, it is possible to form a layered structure having an intrinsic-like i-layer and an n-type layer in which n-type impurity is dominant in the thickness direction. In this case, by implanting a p-type impurity in the third impurity introduction step, a pnp junction is formed along the surface of the semiconductor thin film between the source region 91 and the drain region 92, obtaining the same effects as in the above embodiments.
In the above embodiments, B (boron) is used as a p-type impurity and P (phosphorus) is used as an n-type impurity; however, it is also possible to use Al (aluminum), Ga (gallium), In (indium), Tl (thallium), etc., as a p-type impurity and N (nitrogen), As (arsenic), Sb (antimony), Bi (bismuth) or the like as an n-type impurity. The impurity can be implanted by merely combining these impurities as described.
Examples of semiconductor devices can also include those other than liquid crystal display devices and EL display devices, and it is possible to employ the present invention to, for example, a switching element of an image sensor, etc.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP02/01004 | 2/7/2002 | WO | 8/5/2004 |