Study of point defects caused by a thin contamination layer in a-Si TFT-LCD

Analysis of point defects invisible by a microscope has been studied on the a-Si thin film transistor panel. The point defects which were named Invisible Point Defect (IPD) is characterized by no particles or distortion of patterns on a pixel structure and randomly distributed on panels. To investigate the IPD, measurements were carried out: gray level driving, transistor transfer characteristic, focused ion beam (FIB), and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). The results showed that a contamination layer had a bad influence on an active surface. The contamination layer consisted of oxygen and iron from a water supply line during cleaning process. After the process tuning, IPD has been stabilized.