Threshold voltage instability and polyimide charging effects of LTPS TFTs for flexible displays

Abstract In this paper, we investigate the V th shift of p-type LTPS TFTs fabricated on a polyimide (PI) and glass substrate considering charging phenomena. The V th of the LTPS TFTs with a PI substrate positively shift after a bias temperature stress test. However, the V th with a glass substrate rarely changed even with increasing stress. Such a positive V th shift results from the negative charging of fluorine stemmed from the PI under the gate bias. In fact, the C–V characterization on the metal–insulator-metal capacitor reveals that charging at the SiO 2 /PI interface depends on the applied gate bias and the PI material, which agrees well with the TCAD simulation and SIMS analyses. As a result, the charging at the SiO 2 /PI interface contributes to the V th shift of the LTPS TFTs leading to image sticking.