Semiconductors for large area electron device applications: materials issues and devices implications

自电子时代开始以来，电子技术的进步主要是通过减小设备尺寸来实现的。然而，有一类电子设备需要尺寸才能有用。显示器、扫描仪、太阳能电池和x射线图像探测器都是大面积电子设备的例子。虽然在传统电子学中，目前的重点可能是亚微米器件的特征，但在大面积电子学中，重点是在尺寸为一平方米的基板上制造的电子器件。由于晶体硅不能均匀且廉价地大面积沉积，因此必须采用替代电子材料来代替大面积电子器件应用。非晶和多晶（无序）半导体，如氢化非晶硅，已经成为许多此类应用的首选活性电子材料。

Since the dawn of the electronics era, progress in electronics has primarily been achieved through a reduction in device dimensions. There is, however, a certain class of electronic device that requires size in order to be useful. Displays, scanners, solar cells, and x-ray image detectors are all examples of large area electronic devices. While in conventional electronics the emphasis may be presently on sub-micron device features, in large area electronics the focus instead is on electronic devices fabricated over substrates with dimensions of the order of a square meter. As crystalline silicon cannot be uniformly and inexpensively deposited over large areas, alternate electronic materials must be employed instead for large area electronic device applications. Amorphous and polycrystalline (disordered) semiconductors, such as hydrogenated amorphous silicon, have emerged as the active electronic materials of choice for many such applications.