Poly-Si thin film transistors: Opportunities for low-cost RF applications

Soo Youn Kim, Loke Wing-Fai Loke, Sang Phill Park, Byunghoo Jung, Kaushik Roy

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The demand for low-power and low-cost RF applications such as wireless sensor nodes and radio frequency identification (RFID) have driven the development of new technologies in lieu of bulk CMOS. Low Temperature Polycrystalline Silicon Thin Film Transistors (LTPS TFTs) on glass substrates is one of the promising candidates for its low manufacturing cost. However, due to inherent grain boundaries (GBs) in the channel, poly-Si TFTs suffer from lower carrier mobility compared to bulk CMOS transistors. This has been the critical limiting factor for its use in low-voltage and high-speed operations. In this paper, our device modeling present the potential of optimized LTPS TFTs for high frequency operations - cut off frequency f T ∼40 GHz of nFETs. We show that high resistivity channel due to the presence of GBs leads to high linearity and independence from channel length. In addition, glass substrate also presents a major advantage by providing negligible substrate-loss, leading to high quality-factor inductors. With the proposed LTPS TFTs and inductors, we designed an inductive coupling wireless link having 2.7 mW of power consumption. This wireless link demonstrates an upper limit of 408 Mbps data rate with inductive coupling distance of 5 cm between two coupling inductors. The designed wireless link presents new opportunities for low-cost RF applications.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationICICDT 2012 - IEEE International Conference on Integrated Circuit Design and Technology
DOIs
StatePublished - 2012
EventIEEE International Conference on Integrated Circuit Design and Technology, ICICDT 2012 - Austin, TX, United States
Duration: 30 May 20121 Jun 2012

Publication series

NameICICDT 2012 - IEEE International Conference on Integrated Circuit Design and Technology

Conference

ConferenceIEEE International Conference on Integrated Circuit Design and Technology, ICICDT 2012
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityAustin, TX
Period30/05/121/06/12

Keywords

  • grain boundary (GB)
  • inductive coupling
  • linearity
  • radio frequency (RF)
  • thin film transistor (TFT)

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Poly-Si thin film transistors: Opportunities for low-cost RF applications'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this