Semiconductor device and display device equipped with same

• US 9,018,631 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2011
• Issued: 04/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Aichi, Hiroshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Sun, Yu-Hsi D
• Assistant Examiner(s): SYLVIA, CHRISTINA A
• Application Number:
  US13/703,248
• Publication Number:
  US 20130082267A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,414 Days
• Field of Search: 257/59, 345/175, 438/34
• US Class Current: 257/71
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/1214 comprising a plurality of TFTs formed on a non-semiconducting substrate, e.g. driving circuits for AMLCDs
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/1446 in a repetitive configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/786 Thin film transistors, i.e. transistors with a channel being at least partly a thin film transistors having only the source or the drain region on an insulator layer H01L29/0653; thin film FinFETs H01L29/785

Abstract

Disclosed is a semiconductor device 1000 including a substrate 1, a thin film diode 100 that is supported by the substrate 1 and has a first semiconductor layer 10 having a light-receiving region 10i, a thin film transistor 200 that is supported by the substrate 1 and has a second semiconductor layer 20, and a metal layer 22a that has an inclined surface 23 that is inclined to the surface of the substrate 1, in which the thin film diode 100 can detect light that enters the light-receiving region 10i and has a prescribed wavelength, in which both the first semiconductor layer 10 and the second semiconductor layer 20 are composed of the same semiconductor film, and in which the inclined surface 23 of the metal layer 22a faces at least a part of the side faces 3R and 3L of the first semiconductor layer 10. This constitution enables an increase in the amount of light absorbed by the thin film diode and an improvement in the effective light reception sensitivity of an optical sensor part.

Claims

1. A semiconductor device, comprising:

a substrate;

a thin film diode supported by the substrate and having a first semiconductor layer that includes a light-receiving region;

a thin film transistor supported by the substrate and having a second semiconductor layer; and

a metal layer having an inclined surface that is inclined relative to a surface of the substrate,

wherein the thin film diode can detect light of a prescribed wavelength incident upon the light-receiving region,

wherein the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer are formed of a same semiconductor film,

wherein the first semiconductor layer is laterally separated from the metal layer in a plan view, and at least a portion of a side face of the first semiconductor layer faces the inclined surface of the metal layer in a direction parallel to the surface of the substrate so that at least a portion of the light incident from above upon the inclined surface is reflected towards said side face of the first semiconductor layer, and

wherein the semiconductor device further comprises;

a first insulating film formed between and being in contact with the side face of the first semiconductor layer and the inclined surface of the metal layer; and

a pair of second insulating films formed so as to be in contact with an upper surface and a lower surface, respectively, of said first insulating film between the side face of the first semiconductor layer and the inclined surface of the metal layer,

wherein the refractive index of each of the second insulating films to the light of the prescribed wavelength is lower than the refractive index of said first insulating film to the light of the prescribed wavelength.

2. The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of said first insulating film is at least ½

and at most 2 times as thick as the first semiconductor layer.

3. The semiconductor device according to claim 1, further comprising a pair of insulating films formed so as to be in contact with an upper surface and a lower surface, respectively, of the first semiconductor layer,

wherein the refractive index of each of the pair of insulating films to the light of the prescribed wavelength is lower than the refractive index of the first semiconductor layer to the light of the prescribed wavelength.

4. The semiconductor device according to claim 1,

wherein the thin film transistor further includes a gate insulating film that covers the second semiconductor layer, and a gate electrode provided on the gate insulating film, and

wherein the metal layer is formed of the same film as the gate electrode.

5. The semiconductor device according to claim 4, wherein the gate insulating film is not formed between the inclined surface of the metal layer and the substrate.

6. The semiconductor device according to claim 4,

wherein the part of the side face of the first semiconductor layer that faces the inclined surface of the metal layer is not covered by the gate insulating film.

7. The semiconductor device according to claim 1,

wherein the first semiconductor layer has a p-type region, an n-type region, and an intrinsic region that is located between the p-type region and the n-type region and is to be the light-receiving region, and

wherein at least portions of a side face of the p-type region and a side face of the n-type region face the inclined surface of the metal layer.

8. The semiconductor device according to claim 1,

wherein the first semiconductor layer has a p-type region, an n-type region, and an intrinsic region that is formed between the p-type region and the n-type region and is to be the light-receiving region, and

wherein at least a portion of the side face of the intrinsic region faces the inclined surface of the metal layer.

9. The semiconductor device according to claim 1,

wherein the light of the prescribed wavelength includes infrared light.

10. The semiconductor device according to claim 1, further comprising a light-shielding layer formed between the thin film diode and the substrate.

11. The semiconductor device according to claim 1,

wherein a reflectance of the metal layer to the light of the prescribed wavelength is at least 70%.

12. A display device, comprising:

the semiconductor device according to claim 1;

a plurality of pixels arranged in two dimensions; and

a plurality of photosensor parts,

wherein each of the plurality of photosensor parts includes the thin film diode, and is disposed corresponding to each of the plurality of pixels or a set constituted of two or more pixels, and

wherein each of the plurality of pixels includes the thin film transistor.

13. The display device according to claim 12, further comprising a backlight that emits the light of the prescribed wavelength.