Reversible dangling-bond generation in amorphous silicon thin-film transistors

The field-induced degradation and thermal recovery of amorphous silicon thin-film transistors have been studied. Experimental evidence is given for the single carrier trapping-induced creation of dangling bonds in the amorphous silicon layer. It is suggested that the recovery is due to the re-formation of weak-bonds after a rate-limiting step of thermal electron-emission out of these defects with an activation energy of 0.77 eV and an attempt frequency of 4×106 H