Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 February 2016
This article describes the electrical and physical properties of polysilicondoped with novel N+ and P+ screen printed inks using athermally activated process. Unique ink formulations for N and P type doping ofsilicon are evaluated in volume production in order to enable a low cost, highthroughput process. Inks can be used with multiple substrate types and formfactors. The concentrated doping source combined with thermal drive in andactivation results in degenerately doped layers of polysilicon. Inks aresemiconductor grade which is demonstrated by their use in fabricating highmobility, low leakage Thin Film Transistor (TFT) devices on 300 mm stainlesssteel substrates. Reproducible sheet resistance values (700 A polysilicon) canbe engineered from levels typically ranging from 200 - 2000 ohm/sq. The additiveapproach substitutes the use of high capital cost ion implantation andlithography processes. The ink formulation results in screen printed widthscapable of ranging from 100-300 um. As both N and P type layers can be printedadjacent to each other, it is critical to prevent cross doping using surfacepreparation techniques. Post doping cleaning of surfaces can be achieved in-situor by plasma removal depending on process integration and productconsiderations. Reproducibility and uniformity data to demonstratemanufacturability in a production environment is shown. In summary, a simple,low cost, high throughput additive process based on proprietary inks that can beused in multiple product flows (CMOS TFT, Solar etc.) is demonstrated.