Amorphous silicon thin-film transistors made on clear plastic at 300°C

We have made a-Si:H TFTs at a process temperature of 300°C on free-standing clear plastic foil substrates and have improved the large-area alignment of TPT device layers. The key to achieving flat and crack-free samples is to design the mechanical stresses in the substrate passivation and transistor layers, allowing us to obtain functional transistors over the entire active surface. The TFT gate and the back-channel passivation were self-aligned. Back-channel passivated TFTs made at 300°C on glass substrates and plastic substrate have identical electrical characteristics and gate bias stress stability. These results suggest that free-standing clear plastic foil can replace display glass as a substrate from the points of process temperature, substrate and device integrity and TFT performance and stability.