Abstract: Provided is a bottom gate type thin film transistor including on a substrate (1) a gate electrode (2), a first insulating film (3) as a gate insulating film, an oxide semiconductor layer (4) as a channel layer, a second insulating film (5) as a protective layer, a source electrode (6), and a drain electrode (7), in which the oxide semiconductor layer (4) includes an oxide including at least one selected from the group consisting of In, Zn, and Sn, and the second insulating film (5) includes an amorphous oxide insulator formed so as to be in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer (4) and contains therein 3.8×1019 molecules/cm3 or more of a desorbed gas observed as oxygen by temperature programmed desorption mass spectrometry.

Abstract: A thin film transistor is manufactured by forming a gate electrode on a substrate, forming a first insulating film on the gate electrode, forming an oxide semiconductor layer on the first insulating film with an amorphous oxide, patterning the first insulating film, patterning the oxide semiconductor layer, forming a second insulating film on the oxide semiconductor layer in an oxidative-gas-containing atmosphere, patterning the second insulating film to expose a pair of contact regions, forming an electrode layer on the pair of contact regions, and patterning the electrode layer to for a source electrode and a drain electrode.

Abstract: There is provided an amorphous oxide semiconductor including hydrogen and at least one element of indium (In) and zinc (Zn), the amorphous oxide semiconductor containing one of hydrogen atoms and deuterium atoms of 1×1020 cm?3 or more to 1×1022 cm?3 or less, and a density of bonds between oxygen and hydrogen except bonds between excess oxygen (OEX) and hydrogen in the amorphous oxide semiconductor being 1×1018 cm?3 or less.

Abstract: Provided is a top gate thin film transistor, including on a substrate: a source electrode layer; a drain electrode layer; an oxide semiconductor layer; a gate insulating layer; a gate electrode layer including an amorphous oxide semiconductor containing at least one kind of element selected from among In, Ga, Zn, and Sn; and a protective layer containing hydrogen, in which: the gate insulating layer is formed on a channel region of the oxide semiconductor layer; the gate electrode layer is formed on the gate insulating layer; and the protective layer is formed on the gate electrode layer.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing a field-effect transistor is provided. The field-effect transistor includes on a substrate a source electrode, a drain electrode, an oxide semiconductor layer, an insulating layer and a gate electrode. The method includes, after forming the insulating layer on the oxide semiconductor layer, an annealing step of increasing the electrical conductivity of the oxide semiconductor layers by annealing in an atmosphere containing moisture. The steam pressure at the annealing step is higher than the saturated vapor pressure in the atmosphere at the annealing temperature.

Abstract: An electronic device includes: multiple electronic elements each including a semiconductor film; and an element isolation region provided between adjacent ones of the multiple electronic elements, the element isolation region including a semiconductor film having a bandgap of 1.95 eV or more, an insulating film, and an element isolation electrode, the element isolation electrode being an electrode which is separated from the semiconductor film of the element isolation region by the insulating film and is applied with a voltage so as to increase a resistance of the semiconductor film of the element isolation region, to thereby electrically isolate the multiple electronic elements from one another.

Abstract: In an electron device in which plural thin film transistors each having at least a source electrode, a drain electrode, a semiconductor region including a channel, a gate insulation film and a gate electrode are provided on a substrate, a device separation region provided between the plural thin film transistors and the semiconductor region are constituted by a same metal oxide layer, and resistance of the semiconductor region is formed to be lower than resistance of the device separation region.

Abstract: In a method of treating a semiconductor element which at least includes a semiconductor, a threshold voltage of the semiconductor element is changed by irradiating the semiconductor with light with a wavelength longer than an absorption edge wavelength of the semiconductor. The areal density of in-gap states in the semiconductor is 1013 cm?2eV?1 or less. The band gap may be 2 eV or greater. The semiconductor may include at least one selected from the group consisting of In, Ga, Zn and Sn. The semiconductor may be one selected from the group consisting of amorphous In—Ga—Zn—O (IGZO), amorphous In—Zn—O (IZO) and amorphous Zn—Sn—O (ZTO). The light irradiation may induce the threshold voltage shift in the semiconductor element, the shift being of the opposite sign to the threshold voltage shift caused by manufacturing process history, time-dependent change, electrical stress or thermal stress.

Abstract: A method for forming a SnO-containing semiconductor film includes a first step of forming a SnO-containing film; a second step of forming an insulator film composed of an oxide or a nitride on the SnO-containing film to provide a laminated film including the SnO-containing film and the insulator film; and a third step of subjecting the laminated film to a heat treatment.

Abstract: A pixel circuit and an image display apparatus are provided making use of a hysteresis characteristics of a transistor for driving a display element. The pixel circuit comprises: a transistor providing both different first and second relations between a gate voltage value and a drain current value at a transition from off state to an on state, and from the on state transits to the off state respectively; a display element supplied as a drive current with a current controlled by the transistor; and a capacitor element connected to a gate electrode of the transistor. One of the first and second relations is utilized during a first period for setting the drive current to be supplied to the display element. And, the other of the first and second relations is utilized during a second period for supplying the drive current to the display element to effect light emission.

Abstract: An amorphous insulator film is provided which is composed of silicon (Si) oxide, in which the amorphous insulator film includes Ar and an amount of Ar included therein is equal to or larger than 3 at. % in terms of atomic ratio with respect to Si.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method of driving a transistor including a semiconductor layer, a first insulating layer, a second insulating layer, a first conductive layer, and a second conductive layer such that the semiconductor layer is disposed between the first and second insulating layers, one surface of the first insulating layer opposite the other surface in contact with the semiconductor layer is in contact with the first conductive layer, one surface of the second insulating layer opposite the other surface in contact with the semiconductor layer is in contact with the second conductive layer. The method includes applying a voltage VBG that satisfies the relation of VBG?VON1×C1/(C1+C2) to the second conductive layer.

Abstract: An X-ray detector includes an X-ray photoelectric conversion layer configured to produce electric charges in proportion to X-ray irradiation incident on the layer, a collecting electrode configured to collect the electric charges produced by the X-ray photoelectric conversion layer, a common electrode disposed on a surface of the X-ray photoelectric conversion layer opposite to the collecting electrode, a storage capacitor configured to store the electric charges collected by the collecting electrode, and a readout unit configured to read out the electric charges stored in the storage capacitor. A voltage is to be applied between the collecting electrode and the common electrode. The X-ray photoelectric conversion layer is formed of a polycrystalline oxide.

Abstract: There is provided a light emitting display apparatus including at least a light emitting element and a thin film transistor (TFT) for driving the light emitting element, characterized in that a mechanism is provided in which a semiconductor constituting the TFT is irradiated with at least a part of light whose wavelength is longer than a predetermined wavelength among the light emitted by the light emitting element.

Abstract: In a method of treating a semiconductor element which at least includes a semiconductor, a threshold voltage of the semiconductor element is changed by irradiating the semiconductor with light with a wavelength longer than an absorption edge wavelength of the semiconductor. The areal density of in-gap states in the semiconductor is 1013 cm?2eV?1 or less. The band gap may be 2 eV or greater. The semiconductor may include at least one selected from the group consisting of In, Ga, Zn and Sn. The semiconductor may be one selected from the group consisting of amorphous In—Ga—Zn—O (IGZO), amorphous In—Zn—O (IZO) and amorphous Zn—Sn—O (ZTO). The light irradiation may induce the threshold voltage shift in the semiconductor element, the shift being of the opposite sign to the threshold voltage shift caused by manufacturing process history, time-dependent change, electrical stress or thermal stress.

Abstract: The thin-film transistor of the present invention has at least a semiconductor layer including: on a substrate, a source electrode, a drain electrode, and a channel region; a gate insulating film; and a gate electrode, wherein the semiconductor layer is an oxide semiconductor layer, and wherein the gate insulating film is amorphous silicon including at least O and N, and the gate insulating film has a distribution of an oxygen concentration in a thickness direction so that the oxygen concentration is high in the side of an interface with an oxide semiconductor layer and the oxygen concentration decreases toward the side of the gate electrode.

Abstract: A method for controlling the threshold voltage of a semiconductor element having at least a semiconductor as a component is characterized in including a process to measure one of a threshold voltage and a characteristic value serving as an index for the threshold voltage; a process to determine one of the irradiation intensity, irradiation time, and wavelength of the light for irradiating the semiconductor based on one of the measured threshold voltage and the measured characteristic value serving as the index for the threshold voltage; and a process to irradiate light whose one of the irradiation intensity, irradiation time, and wavelength has been determined onto the semiconductor; wherein the light irradiating the semiconductor is a light having a longer wavelength than the wavelength of the absorption edge of the semiconductor, and the threshold voltage is changed by the irradiation of the light.

Abstract: To achieve, in an oxide semiconductor thin layer transistor, both the stability of threshold voltage against electric stress and suppression of variation in the threshold voltage in a transfer characteristic. A thin film transistor includes an oxide semiconductor layer and a gate insulating layer disposed so as to be in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer, wherein the oxide semiconductor layer contains hydrogen atoms and includes at least two regions that function as active layers of the oxide semiconductor and have different average hydrogen concentrations in the layer thickness direction; and when the regions functioning as the active layers of the oxide semiconductor are sequentially defined as, from the side of the gate insulating layer, a first region and a second region, the average hydrogen concentration of the first region is lower than the average hydrogen concentration of the second region.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device or apparatus having at least a semiconductor as a component, characterized by including irradiating the semiconductor with light having a longer wavelength than the absorption edge wavelength of the semiconductor to change the threshold voltage of the semiconductor device or apparatus, and checking the threshold voltage of the semiconductor device or apparatus, after or during irradiation with the light, to determine whether the threshold voltage is in a predetermined range, during manufacturing the semiconductor device or apparatus.

Abstract: In an electron device in which plural thin film transistors each having at least a source electrode, a drain electrode, a semiconductor region including a channel, a gate insulation film and a gate electrode are provided on a substrate, a device separation region provided between the plural thin film transistors and the semiconductor region are constituted by a same metal oxide layer, and resistance of the semiconductor region is formed to be lower than resistance of the device separation region.