Abstract: To provide TFT of improved low-temperature polycrystalline layer that has higher electron mobility and assures less fluctuation in manufacture in view of realizing a liquid-crystal display device having a large display area by utilizing a glass substrate. A TFT having higher electron mobility can be realized within the predetermined range of characteristic fluctuation by utilizing the semiconductor thin-film (called quasi single crystal thin-film) formed of poly-crystal grain joined with the {111} twin-boundary of Diamond structure as the channel region (namely, active region) of TFT.

Abstract: A method of forming thin-film semiconductor device is provided in which an island region of an isolated single-crystal thin-film is formed on an entire surface or within a specific region of an insulating film by utilizing cohesion phenomena due to the surface tension of a melted semiconductor, wherein more than one active region of a thin-film transistor is formed in the island region.

Abstract: An electronic apparatus employs a polycrystalline semiconductor thin film structure formed of an insulating substrate and a plurality of polycrystalline layers laminated on the insulating substrate. A plurality of transistors are formed at the surface of the polycrystalline semiconductor thin film structure, each transistor being formed in a region of one of a plurality of crystal grains disseminated on the surface of the polycrystalline layers. A number of crystal grains in each of the polycrystalline layers is gradually reduced from a lower layer to an upper layer.

Abstract: An image display device which includes a display pixel block and circuit blocks peripheral thereto. Each block has a circuit made of high-performance thin film transistors. The display pixel block and the peripheral circuit blocks including the four corners of the display device are formed on an image display device substrate of circuit-built-in type thin film transistors having a small circuit occupation surface area. A circuit including thin film transistors of a polycrystalline silicon film anisotropically crystal-grown and having crystal grains aligned in its longitudinal direction with a current direction is provided in the whole or partial surface of the display pixel block and circuit blocks. The longitudinal direction is aligned with a horizontal or vertical direction within the block, and blocks aligned in the horizontal and vertical directions can be arranged as mixed when viewed from an identical straight line.

Abstract: A thin film semiconductor device has a semiconductor thin film with a film thickness of 200 nm or less. The semiconductor thin film is formed over a dielectric substrate with a warping point of 600° C. or lower. The semiconductor thin film has a region in which a first semiconductor thin film region with the defect density of 1×1017 cm?3 or less and a second semiconductor thin film region with the defect density of 1×1017 cm?3 or more are disposed alternately in the form of stripes. The width of the first semiconductor thin film region is larger than the width of the semiconductor thin film region. The grain boundaries, grain size and orientation of crystals over the dielectric substrate are controlled, so that a high quality thin film semiconductor device is obtained.

Abstract: In order to provide a semiconductor device having a field effect transistor with a low power consumption and a high speed by use of the combination of Si and an element such as Ge, C or the like of the same group as Si, a strain is applied by a strain applying semiconductor layer 2 to a channel forming layer 1 having a channel of the field effect transistor formed therein so that the mobility of carriers in the channel is made larger than the mobility of carriers in that material of the channel forming layer which is unstrained.

Abstract: A thin-film semiconductor device is provided in which an island region of an isolated single-crystal thin-film is formed on an entire surface or within a specific region of an insulating film by utilizing cohesion phenomena due to the surface tension of a melted semiconductor, wherein more than one active region of a thin-film transistor is formed in the island region.

Abstract: A large number of pixels PXL are arranged in a matrix fashion in a display region DSP on an insulating substrate. Disposed around the display region DSP are a drain-side pixel-driving circuit including a drain shift register DSR, a digital-to-analog converter circuit DAC, a drain level shifter DLS, a buffer BF and sampling switches SSW; and a gate-side pixel-driving circuit including a gate shift register GSR and a gate level shifter GLS, and various kinds of circuits. Current mobility of thin film transistors constituting a circuit region SX requiring high-speed operation of these pixel-driving circuits is improved by optimizing a combination of plural layouts, arrangements and configurations for the respective circuits to meet the specifications special for the respective circuits.

Abstract: A process for producing an image display device using a thin film semiconductor device is provided which includes forming a polycrystalline semiconductor thin film on a substrate. A substantially belt-shaped crystal is formed which is crystallized so as to grow crystal grains in a direction substantially parallel to a scanning direction of a CW laser beam by scanning the CW laser beam along the substrate, thereby irradiating the CW laser beam on portions of the polycrystalline semiconductor thin film formed onto the substrate.

Abstract: An image display device which includes a display pixel block and circuit blocks peripheral thereto. Each block has a circuit made of high-performance thin film transistors. The display pixel block and the peripheral circuit blocks including the four corners of the display device are formed on an image display device substrate of circuit-built-in type thin film transistors having a small circuit occupation surface area. A circuit including thin film transistors of a polycrystalline silicon film anisotropically crystal-grown and having crystal grains aligned in its longitudinal direction with a current direction is provided in the whole or partial surface of the display pixel block and circuit blocks. The longitudinal direction is aligned with a horizontal or vertical direction within the block, and blocks aligned in the horizontal and vertical directions can be arranged as mixed when viewed from an identical straight line.

Abstract: In an MIS field effect transistor having a gate electrode formed on a first semiconductor layer which is a polycrystalline silicon film on an insulating substrate through a gate insulating film, a channel region formed in the semiconductor layer and a source region and a drain region arranged on both sides of the channel region, a thin film semiconductor device has a main orientation of at least the channel region of {110} with respect to the surface of the gate insulating film. Further, a polycrystalline semiconductor film having a main orientation of the surface almost perpendicular to a direction for connecting the source and drain regions of {100} is preferably used in the channel of a semiconductor device.

Abstract: There is provided a method for fabricating an image display device having an active matrix substrate including high-performance transistor circuits operating with high mobility as drive circuits for driving pixel portions which are arranged as a matrix. The portion of a polysilicon film formed in a drive circuit region DAR1 provided on the periphery of the pixel region PAR of the active matrix substrate SUB1 composing the image display device is irradiated and scanned with a pulse modulated laser beam or a pseudo CW laser beam to be reformed into a quasi-strip-like-crystal silicon film having a crystal boundary continuous in the scanning direction so that discrete reformed regions each composed of the quasi-strip-like-crystal silicon film are formed.

Abstract: At least one of a semiconductor thin-film for forming a picture display portion and a semiconductor thin-film for forming a peripheral circuit portion, which are accumulated on one common insulative substrate, is constructed with a semiconductor thin-film having a plural number of semiconductor crystalline portions formed to be divided and disposed in a matrix-like, and TFTs are provided in the semiconductor thin-film by bringing those semiconductor single crystal portions into active portions thereof. For that purpose, a crystallization accelerating material is adhered at the position of lattice points of a matrix and is treated with heating process, for forming the single crystal portions disposed in the matrix-like manner, so as to form the TFTs on the surface thereof, thereby completing the thin-film semiconductor integrated circuit device.

Abstract: A method of producing a strain-relaxed Si—Ge virtual substrate for use in a semiconductor substrate which is planar and of less defects for improving the performance of a field effect semiconductor device, which method comprises covering an Si—Ge layer formed on an SOI substrate with an insulating layer to prevent evaporation of Ge, heating the mixed layer of silicon and germanium at a temperature higher than a solidus curve temperature determined by the germanium content of the Si—Ge layer into a partially melting state, and diffusing germanium to the Si layer on the insulating layer, thereby solidifying the molten Si—Ge layer to obtain a strain-relaxed Si—Ge virtual substrate.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a thin film transistor, in a low-temperature poly-Si thin film becoming an elemental material of the thin film transistor, an object of the invention is to provide the thin film transistor suitable for realizing an image display device having a high performance and a large area at low cost by realizing a poly-crystalline thin film having a crystal structure restraining current scattering in a grain boundary, lessening surface roughness, and capable of realizing high mobility even to a positive hole current.

Abstract: A process is provided for producing an image display device which includes a thin film semiconductor device. In accordance with the process, semiconductor crystal grains are grown in a transverse direction in a semiconductor film by modulating a continuous wave laser into a pulsed laser beam and then irradiating the pulsed laser beam on the semiconductor film.

Abstract: An image display device which includes a display pixel block and circuit blocks peripheral thereto. Each block has a circuit made of high-performance thin film transistors. The display pixel block and the peripheral circuit blocks including the four corners of the display device are formed on an image display device substrate of circuit-built-in type thin film transistors having a small circuit occupation surface area. A circuit including thin film transistors of a polycrystalline silicon film anisotropically crystal-grown and having crystal grains aligned in its longitudinal direction with a current direction is provided in the whole or partial surface of the display pixel block and circuit blocks. The longitudinal direction is aligned with a horizontal or vertical direction within the block, and blocks aligned in the horizontal and vertical directions can be arranged as mixed when viewed from an identical straight line.

Abstract: The active layer (active region) of the thin-film transistor making up the driver circuit is obtained by reformation implemented by scanning the continuous-wave laser light, condensed into a linear form or a rectangle form extremely longer in the longitudinal direction than in the transverse direction, along a given direction crossing the longitudinal direction. This is made up of a poly silicon film containing crystal grains having no grain boundaries crossing the direction of current flow, that is, a band-like polycrystalline silicon film. As a result, it is possible to implement a display device having stable and high quality active elements outside the display region on the insulating substrate.

Abstract: A thin film transistor is provided containing polycrystalline Si—Ge alloy. A high performance TFT may be provided having crystal structure restraining both current scattering in a grain boundary and surface roughness by introduction of Ge into Si. An image display device may be realized having a high performance and a large area at a low cost.

Abstract: An image display device has an active matrix substrate provided with a drive circuit formed of high-performance active elements such as thin film transistors which operate with high mobility for driving pixel sections arranged in a matrix configuration. The image display device has discontinuous converted regions (virtual tiles) TL formed of roughly-band-shaped-crystal silicon films in circuit sections constituting a drive circuit DDR disposed around a pixel region PAR on the active matrix substrate SUB1, and has the drive circuit DDR formed of active elements such as thin film transistors fabricated in the discontinuous converted regions TL with their channel direction in a direction of growth direction of the roughly-band-shaped-crystal silicon films.