Amorphous silicon thin film transistor image sensors

Abstract

Amorphous silicon thin film transistors (TFT) are the underlying technology for flat panel displays and medical X-ray imaging. We describe some recent developments in TFT technology for high performance detectors and flexible image sensors. X-ray detectors with high gain now make it possible to detect the ionization tracks of individual X-rays and provide a new approach to neutron imaging. Development of the amorphous silicon deposition process makes it possible to fabricate image sensor arrays on plastic substrates.

Keywords:

• amorphous silicon
• flexible electronics
• thin film transistor
• X-ray detector

Acknowledgements

Those of us studying and using amorphous silicon recognize and honour the pioneering scientific research of Walter Spear, Peter LeComber and other members of Walter's laboratory. Many important discoveries and fundamental insights into amorphous silicon were made by him and his colleagues. The authors acknowledge the collaboration of many scientists at PARC. We also acknowledge external collaboration with L. Antonuk and his group for X-ray imagers, M. Scheiber for the HgI₂ detector, K. Black for the GEM detector, R. Ambrosi for the neutron detector, and T. Kamei and R. Mathies for the capillary electrophoresis sensor.