Numerical analysis of poly-TFTs under off conditions

Polycrystalline silicon thin-film transistors (poly-TFTs) are getting increasingly important for applications in active-matrix flat-panel displays (AMFPDs) and, more generally, for large-area electronics. As the leakage current requirements of poly-TFTs for large area applications become more stringent, it is important to improve our understanding of the physical effects which originate it. The purpose of this work is that of investigating the anomalous behaviour of leakage-currents in poly-TFTs by numerical simulation, taking into account the effect of energy-distributed traps and field-enhanced generation mechanisms. In what follows, we show that the off current is due to the concomitant effects of Poole-Frenkel, trap-assisted and band-to-band tunneling generation mechanisms, and that each of them may be important at different temperature and bias conditions. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.