INITIAL EXPLORATION OF AMORPHOUS AND POLYCRYSTALLINE SI THIN FILM TRANSISTORS AS PREAMPLIFIERS FOR PARTICLE DETECTOR APPLICATIONS

AMORPHOUS SILICON (A-SI) THIN FILM PARTICLE DETECTOR, AS AN EMERGING PARTICLE DETECTION DEVICE, WITH EXCELLENT RADIATIONHARDNESS AND LOWER PRODUCTION COST THAN CRYSTALLINE SILICON (C-SI), HAS ATTRACTED MORE ATTENTION AND IS UNDER ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT WITH PROMISING PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS. DEVELOPING THIN FILM TRANSISTORS (TFT) WHICH CAN BE FABRICATED ON THE SAME SUBSTRATE OF A-SI THIN FILM PARTICLE DETECTORS WOULD PROVIDE SIGNIFICANT ADVANTAGES FOR LARGE SCALE APPLICATIONS SUCH AS FOR THE SUPERCONDUCTING SUPER COLLIDER. BASED ON OUR EXPERIENCE WITH A-SI PARTICLE DETECTORS AND A-SI TFT DEVELOPMENT, AN INITIAL STUDY FOR EXPLORING THE TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY OF DEVELOPING A-SI AND POLY-CRYSTALLINE SI (POLY-SI) TFTS FOR A-SI PARTICLE DETECTION DEVICES IS PROPOSED. THE TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY, POTENTIALS, AND LIMITATIONS OF USING A-SI AND POLY-SI TFT TECHNOLOGY TO MEET THE NEEDS OF A-SI PARTICLE DETECTORS WILL BE EXPLORED THROUGH MATERIAL AND DEVICE DESIGN, FABRICATION, OPTIMIZATION, AND TESTING. IN THIS STUDY, HIGHTEMPERATURE ANNEALING AND LASER ANNEALING WILL BE EXPLORED FOR TRANSFORMATION OF A-SI INTO HIGH QUALITY POLY-SI FOR REACHING MUCH HIGHER ELECTRON AND HOLE MOBILITIES WHICH ARE ESSENTIAL FOR HIGH SPEED TFT DEVICES.