The Application of Hydrogenation to Amorphous Silicon Thin Film Transistors for the Decrease of the off Current

The influence of hydrogenation on OFF current of TFTs with a bottom gate staggered structure has been investigated. The hydrogenation is done by exposing the surface of the a-Si:H channel layer to H2 plasma. The hydrogenation decreases the OFF current by more than one order of magnitude. The decrease in the OFF current is attributed to the increase in the density of states at the interface between the a-Si:H channel layer and the SiN passivating layer.