Integrated Ambient Light Sensor With Nanocrystalline Silicon on a Low-Temperature Polysilicon Display Panel

A novel integrated ambient light sensor using nanocrystalline silicon fabricated using low-temperature polysilicon technology has been developed on a display panel. The photosensing structure of the silicon nanocrystals embedded in a dielectric film sandwiched between the bottom metal and top indium...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on electron devices 2009-04, Vol.56 (4), p.578-586
Main Authors: CHIANG, Wen-Jen, LIN, Chrong-Jung, KING, Ya-Chin, CHO, An-Thung, PENG, Chia-Tien, HUANG, Wei-Ming
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Compound structure devices
Diodes
Display
Electrodes
Electronics
Exact sciences and technology
Flexibility
Integrated optical input screen
Lighting
low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) embedded ambient light sensor
Nanocrystals
Optical device fabrication
Optical sensors
Optoelectronic devices
Panels
Photodiodes
PIN photodiodes
Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices
Sensors
Si-nanocrystal photosensor
Silicon
Stacking
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Summary:A novel integrated ambient light sensor using nanocrystalline silicon fabricated using low-temperature polysilicon technology has been developed on a display panel. The photosensing structure of the silicon nanocrystals embedded in a dielectric film sandwiched between the bottom metal and top indium-thin-oxide electrodes perfectly eliminates backlight noise, which is a problem typical of conventional p-i-n photodiodes integrated into a liquid-crystal display. Experimental results indicate that the Si-nanocrystal photosensor has better performances in dark current and quantum efficiency than those of the p-i-n diode. The Si-nanocrystal photosensor also exhibited response linearity and speed comparable to the p-i-n diode. In terms of long-term operation and reliability, the lifetime of the Si-nanocrystal photosensor is roughly two orders longer than that of the p-i-n diode. The Si-nanocrystal ambient light sensor has considerable flexibility in the design of spectrum, geometry, and the readout circuit, which is achieved by adjusting the nanocrystal size and applying a vertical stacking structure. The Si-nanocrystal photosensor can be a promising low-cost PMOS-only solution for various photosensing applications on display panels.
ISSN:0018-9383
1557-9646
DOI:10.1109/TED.2009.2014195