Memory characteristics of poly-Si using MIC as an active layer on glass substrates

In this paper the electrical properties of nonvolatile memory (NVM) using multi-stack gate insulators of oxide–nitride–oxynitride (ONOn) and an active layer of low temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) were investigated. From hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si : H), the LTPS thin film with a high crystalline fraction of 96% and a low surface roughness of 1.28 nm was fabricated by metal induced crystallization (MIC) with annealing conditions of 650 °C for 5 h on glass substrates. The LTPS thin film transistor or the NVM had a field effect mobility of (μFE) 10 cm2 V−1 s−1 and a threshold voltage (VTH) of −3.5 V. The results demonstrated that the NVM had a memory window of 1.6 V with a programming and erasing (P/E) voltage of −14 V and 14 V in 1 ms. Moreover, retention properties of the memory were shown to exceed 80% after 10 years. Therefore, the LTPS fabricated by MIC has become a potential material for NVM application which is employed for the system integration of panel displays.