59.4: Rapid Dehydrogenation Technology of a-Si using Xe Flash-Lamp Annealing

Feasibility of the flash lamp annealing (FLA) process is tested for rapid dehydrogenation of a-Si:H films without any damage on the glass substrate. Pulse duration of the flash lamp is 100 μs and the annealing process was carried out at room temperature. As the pulse energy density increases, hydrogen content in a-Si films decreases. Thin film transistors based on the FLA dehydrogenation process have mobility of 108 cm2/V-s and sub-threshold swing of 0.39 V/dec. 14″ qFHD AMOLED displays have been fabricated using FLA. It is expected that the FLA process can further reduce manufacturing cost of LTPS TFT backplanes for large area AMOLED displays, because the FLA process can be applied not only for the dehydrogenation process but also for the crystallization and dopant activation processes.