Pure Al thin film protective layer to prevent stress migration in Al wiring for thin-film transistors

Microstructure, texture and tensile properties of aluminum–2at.% neodymium alloy as used in flat panel displays

“…Low resistivity and good response to patterning make aluminum alloys attractive for interconnect applications. However, since the feature size of the conductor line-width is being greatly reduced in advanced devices, the microstructure of the thin film conductor is of vital importance for its stability against stress migration related failure [6,7]. In case of TFT-LCD, 300-500 nm thick aluminum or its alloy films are deposited on glass substrates using sputtering and subsequently subjected to 350 • C temperature for 30 min to 1 h during deposition of SiN x layer at the top of it using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition [8,9].…”

P‐149: Anode Electrode of Al‐Ni Alloy Film Directly in Contact with ITO for Top‐Emitting OLEDs

“…We have reported that Al-Ni-La alloy films are operational as single-layer interconnections of a-Si TFTs [6] as they work without barrier metals such as Mo, Ti, or Cr. The interconnection lines of a pure Al or Al-alloy film need barrier metal films of several tens of nm in thickness at the interface with ITO [7,8] because direct contact of a pure Al or Al-alloy film with an ITO film causes oxidation of the pure Al or Al-alloy film surface during the ITO deposition process [6]. On the other hand, it is expected that the direct contact technology using the stacked ITO/Al-Ni alloy-based films for a-Si TFT interconnections can be applied to the anode electrode of top-emitting OLEDs, replacing the conventional ITO/Ag and ITO/barrier metal/Al or Al-alloy film structures.…”

56.4: Formation of Single‐Layer Al‐Alloy Interconnection for Source and Drain of a‐Si TFT Using One‐Wet‐One‐Dry Etching with Four‐Mask Process

“…Simple but advanced materials and processes are strongly demanded for interconnections in high-end monitors and largescale LCD-TV panels. For source and drain interconnections between TFTs on such panels, multilayered interconnection structures such as Mo/Al/Mo and Ti/Al/Ti [1][2][3][4] have been conventionally adopted due to their relatively low resistivity and high reliability. However, these materials and structures require complicated process steps i.e., each of wet and dry etching must be performed more than twice, to fabricate the source and drain interconnections.…”