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We have designed and fabricated a field emitter array (FEA) with an amorphous silicon thin-film transistor (a-Si TFT) monolithically, as an emission control device, on a glass substrate. The TFT was fabricated on the glass substrate at a low temperature, less than 350 °C. The measured emission characteristics showed that the FEA had saturated emission currents with the aid of the a-Si TFT; thus the a-Si TFT is expected to stabilize the emission current. The emission current of the FEA was controlled in the range of 0–0.12 μA with the TFT-gate voltage from 0 to 15 V. © 1998 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The crystallization of amorphous thin films was achieved by 13.56 MHz RF (radio frequency) plasma treatment. This crystallization process has a strong advantage that the sample temperature is lower than 120 °C during the plasma treatment even without compulsory cooling and various amorphous films are crystallized after 2 min or so. This treatment works on amorphous films of various materials, independently of the film preparation method and substrate materials. Crystallization has been confirmed on amorphous thin films of sputtered ITO (tin doped indium oxide) deposited on soda-lime glass and PET (polyethylene terephthalate), of sputtered TiO2 on soda-lime glass, of sol–gel derived TiO2 on silicon wafer and of sputtered hydrogen-doped silicon on soda-lime glass. The plasma gas pressure was found to be the key parameter in the plasma crystallization process. The appropriate gas pressure depends on the plasma gas species and not on film or substrate materials. A Cu electrode, attached to the backside of the substrate and is electrically floated from the electric ground, was found to enhance the plasma crystallization performance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We propose use of silicon field emission array as a novel charge neutralization device for ion implanter. Fundamental characteristics of the emitted electrons, i.e. energy distribution and operation in high vacuum were investigated. As a result, energy spread was narrow enough but unexpected energy peak shift was observed. To reduce the energy spread and peak shift, a FEA with less number of tips and with narrower gate diameter is necessary. The FEA could be operated about 100h in high vacuum. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Work function (ϕ m ) of metal transistor gates was controlled by using Al-Ni and Ni-Ta alloys made through an interdiffusion process, in which stacks of different metals were annealed. In addition to conventional capacitance-voltage measurements for ϕ m evaluation, ϕ m uniformity was also measured microscopically. The average ϕ m of the Al-Ni alloy was successfully changed compared to that of pure Al by interdiffusion at 500 °C. The ϕ m nonuniformity of Al-Ni, however, was problematic. Though Ni-Ta alloys required interdiffusion at a higher temperature of 700 °C, the Ni-Ta alloys had better ϕ m uniformity. Thus, the Ni-Ta alloy is a more suitable candidate for use in metal gates of high-integrity transistors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]