Reliability analysis for flexible electronics

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Reliability analysis for flexible electronics: Case study of integrated a-Si:H TFT scan driver

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ACM Journal on Emerging Technologies in Computing Systems (JETC) archive
Volume 4 , Issue 3 (August 2008) table of contents

Article No. 12

Year of Publication: 2008

ISSN:1550-4832

Authors

Tsung-Ching Huang	University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
Kwang-Ting (Tim) Cheng	University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
Huai-Yuan Tseng	EOL/ITRI, Taiwan, R.O.C
Chen-Pang Kung	EOL/ITRI, Taiwan, R.O.C

Publisher

ACM New York, NY, USA

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ABSTRACT

Flexible electronics fabricated on thin-film, lightweight, and bendable substrates (e.g., plastic) have great potential for novel applications in consumer electronics such as flexible displays, e-paper, and smart labels; however, the key elements, namely thin-film transistors (TFTs), for implementing flexible circuits often suffer from electrical instability. Therefore, thorough reliability analysis is critical for flexible circuit design to ensure that the circuit will operate reliably throughout its lifetime. In this article we propose a methodology for reliability simulation of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) TFT circuits. We show that: (1) the threshold voltage (V_TH) shift of a single TFT can be estimated by analyzing its operating conditions; and (2) the circuit lifetime can be predicted accordingly by using SPICE-like simulators with proper modeling. We also propose an algorithm to reduce the simulation time by orders of magnitude, with good prediction accuracy. To validate our analytical model and simulation methodology, we compare simulation results with the actual circuit measurements of an integrated a-Si:H TFT scan driver fabricated on a glass substrate and we demonstrate very good consistency.

REFERENCES

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