High-performance polycrystalline-germanium (poly-Ge) thin-film transistors (TFTs) fabricated with lightly doped Ge thin films by excimer laser crystallization (ELC) and counter doping (CD) have been demonstrated. High-quality n-type Ge thin films with a grain size as large as 1 µm were fabricated by ELC in the super lateral-growth regime and CD at a dose of 1 × 1013 cm−2 or higher. Consequently, a superior field-effect mobility of 271 cm2 V−1 s−1 and a high on/off current ratio of 2.7 × 103 have been obtained for p-channel Ge TFTs with the channel width and length of both 0.5 µm fabricated by ELC at 300 mJ/cm2 and CD at a dose of 1 × 1013 cm−2. The effects of ELC conditions and CD dose on the electrical characteristics of p-channel Ge TFTs were also investigated.

High-quality polycrystalline-germanium (poly-Ge) thin films have been successfully fabricated by excimer laser crystallization (ELC). Grains as large as 1 µm were achieved by ELC at 300 mJ/cm2. Meanwhile, the defect-generated hole concentrations in Ge thin films were significantly reduced. Furthermore, the majority carriers could then be converted to n-type by counter doping (CD) with a suitable dose. Then, high-performance p-channel Ge thin-film transistors (TFTs) with a high on/off current ratio of up to 1.7 × 103 and a high field-effect mobility of up to 208 cm2 V−1 s−1 were demonstrated for a channel width and length both of 0.5 µm. It was revealed that ELC combined with CD is effective for attaining high-performance p-channel poly-Ge TFTs.

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