High quality SiO2 gate insulator suitable for poly-Si TFTs on plastic substrates employing inductively coupled plasma-chemical vapor deposition with N2O plasma treatment and excimer laser annealing

Abstract Electrical characteristics, such as capacitance–voltage characteristics ( C–V ) and break-down field, of SiO 2 films deposited on plastic substrates by inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition at 150 °C were improved by excimer laser annealing and N 2 O plasma pre-treatment. Excimer laser annealing at an energy density of 250 mJ/cm 2 produced a flat-band voltage of the SiO 2 film shifted close to 0 V while the effective oxide charge density considerably reduced. The breakdown field was improved from 7 MV/cm to 9.5 MV/cm after N 2 O plasma treatment. By employing excimer laser annealing and N 2 O plasma pre-treatment, the flat-band voltage was improved from −9 V to −1.8 V and the effective charge density was reduced to the level found for TEOS SiO 2 deposited at 400 °C.