General Electric Company

Roger S Salisbury

Robert F Kwasnick

Ching-Yeu Wei

George E Possin

Brian W Giambattista

Douglas Albagli

Jianqiang Liu

Ching Y Wei

Ching-Yu Wei

A method of repairing severed or damaged data transmission lines of an imager provides a shunt path around the electrical defect in the data transmission line by means of a diode common transmission line. The repair shunt includes a first scan line segment, a common electrode segment, and a second scan line segment, which segments are fused together and to the data line having the electrical defect to bypass the electrical defect. The respective conductive lines are fused together with spot welds formed with the application of a laser. A repaired imager has a data line having an open circuit defect, with respective first and second portions of said data line being coupled to a repair shunt comprising an associated pixel scan line segment and a common electrode segment. In one embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of spot welds are provided in the imager array, each in its unwelded state but capable of being welded by the application of heat.

Process for repairing data transmission lines of imagers

A method of repairing an open circuit defect in a damaged address line in a thin film electronic imager array is provided that includes the steps of forming a repair area exposing the open circuit defect and portions of the damaged address line adjoining the defect, with a first protective layer disposed over the array surrounding the repair area; depositing a layer of conductive repair material over the array so that a portion of the conductive repair material is disposed in the repair area to form a repair shunt electrically connecting the portions of the address line adjoining the defect; forming a planarized second protective layer over the array; removing portions of the second protective layer to form a planarized surface on the array on which the conductive repair material is exposed except for the repair shunt underlying a plug portion of the second protective layer disposed over the repair area; removing the conductive repair material from the array surface except for the portion underlying the plug portion of the second protective layer; and removing remaining portions of the first protective layer and the second protective layer plug portion from the repair area.

Low noise address line repair method for thin film imager devices

A thin film electronic imager device has a repaired area between an upper conductive layer and an underlying component in the array in which portions of the upper conductive layer and a dielectric layer have been removed such that the upper conductive layer is electrically isolated from the underlying component. The repaired area has a bottom level having a surface comprising material of the underlying component and an intermediate step level having a surface comprising the dielectric layer material that extends around the periphery of the repaired area. The lateral dimension of the intermediate step level is greater than the lateral dimension of the bottom level such that the width of the intermediate level step surface is in the range between about 1 .mu.m and 3 .mu.m. Formation of the structure in the repair area is done by removing material by laser ablation to set back the upper conductive layer from the sidewall of the dielectric material in the region in which the defect was excised.

Post-fabrication repair thin film imager structure

Post-fabrication repair method for thin film imager devices

A solid state array device includes a plurality of pixels with associated respective TFT switching transistors; a plurality of first address lines disposed in a first layer of the array device; a plurality of second conductive address lines disposed in a second layer of the array device, respective ones of said first and second address lines being disposed substantially perpendicular to one another in a matrix arrangement such that respective ones of the second address lines overlie respective ones of the first address lines at respective crossover regions; a TFT gate dielectric layer disposed in a channel region of each of the pixel TFTs and further being disposed over the first address lines; and a crossover region supplemental dielectric layer disposed in respective ones of the crossover regions between the first and second address lines, but disposed so as to not extend over the TFT channel regions.

Solid state array with supplemental dielectric layer crossover structure

A method of repairing an open circuit defect in a damaged address line in a thin film electronic imager device includes the steps of forming a repair area on the device so as to expose the open-circuit defect in the damaged address line and then depositing a conductive material to form a second conductive component and to coincidentally form a repair shunt in the repair area so as to electrically bridge the defect. The step of forming the repair area includes the steps of ablating dielectric material disposed over the first conductive component in the repair area, and etching the repair area so as to remove dielectric material disposed over the defect in the address line in the repair area such that the surface of the address line conductive material is exposed but is not contaminated by the removal of the overlying dielectric material. A layer of photoresist is deposited over the imager device prior to forming the repair area, such that the photoresist layer is patterned during the ablating step and serves as a mask during the etch step.

Repair method for low noise metal lines in thin film imager devices

An imager array data line repair structure for use in high performance imager arrays includes a first and a second plurality of address lines that are disposed in respective layers with an intermediate layer having at least one insulative material disposed therebetween. The imager device further includes at least one integral address line repair segment that is disposed in the same layer as the first address lines and that is electrically isolated from the first address lines; the integral address line repair segment is disposed so as to underlie a repair portion of the second address line, with the intermediate layer disposed therebetween, and has a width substantially the same as the overlying second address line. In initial fabrication, the integral address line repair segment is electrically isolated from the overlying repair segment of the second address line; in the event a repair has been effected, the repair portion of the second address line is electrically coupled to the underlying integral address line repair segment through laser welds.

Imager device with integral address line repair segments

A method for repairing address lines in a thin film imager device includes the steps of removing non-conductive material from a selected repair area so as to expose an open circuit defect in a first conductive component and portions of the first conductive component adjoining the defect, and then depositing conductive material to form a second conductive component and to coincidentally form a repair shunt in the selected repair area that is disposed in electrical contact with the adjoining exposed portions of the first conductive component so as to electrically bridge the open circuit defect. Removal of the non-conductive material to form the selected repair area is accomplished with an excimer laser, allowing the formation of a selected repair area having desired dimensions and substantially planar surfaces. Following formation of the repair shunt, any conductive material disposed between the repair shunt and the second conductive component is removed to electrically isolate the repair shunt from the second electrically conductive component.

Address line repair structure and method for thin film imager devices

A solid state radiation imager pixel having a thin film transistor (TFT) coupled to a photodiode in which the photodiode and the TFT each comprise a common dielectric layer, that is, a single dielectric layer that extends across the pixel and that has a gate dielectric layer portion and a photodiode body passivation portion. The common dielectric layer comprises a monolithic dielectric material such as silicon nitride or silicon oxide. Further, the bottom electrode of the photosensor body and the gate electrode are each disposed on a common surface of the substrate and comprise the same conductive material, the conductive material having been deposited on the pixel in the same deposition process. The source and drain electrodes and the common contact electrode for the photodiode each comprises the same source/drain metal conductive material, the conductive material having been deposited on the pixel in the same deposition process. A method of fabricating an imager array includes, for each pixel in the array, the steps of depositing a first conductive layer on a substrate, forming a gate electrode and a photosensor bottom electrode from the first conductive layer, forming a photosensor body disposed on at least a portion of the photosensor bottom electrode, depositing a common dielectric layer over the gate electrode and over the photosensor body and exposed portion of the photosensor bottom electrode, and completing fabrication of the pixel TFT and the photosensor such that the TFT is electrically coupled to the respective photosensor. The portion of the common dielectric layer disposed over the gate electrode comprises the gate dielectric layer and the portion disposed over the photosensor body comprises the photosensor passivation layer.

Method of fabricating a radiation imager with common passivation

Repair lines in an imager device include protective layers disposed over steps in the repair lines where the repair lines extend over underlying components in the imager array. The protective layers each include a layer of polyimide to provide protection for the step portions of the conductive repair line from etchants and the like to which the conductive line is exposed during fabrication processes for the imager array. The protective layers are disposed over the steps of a conductive line in a repair crossover region so as to provide a repair area free from the protective material of the protective layers disposed thereon in the repair crossover region where the conductive repair line is disposed in vertical alignment with an underlying address line.

Repair line structure for thin film electronic devices

A solid state radiation imager pixel having a thin film transistor (TFT) coupled to a photodiode in which the photodiode and the TFT each comprise a common dielectric layer, that is, a single dielectric layer that extends across the pixel and that has a gate dielectric layer portion and a photodiode body passivation portion. The common dielectric layer comprises a monolithic dielectric material such as silicon nitride or silicon oxide. Further, the bottom electrode of the photosensor body and the gate electrode are each disposed on a common surface of the substrate and comprise the same conductive material, the conductive material having been deposited on the pixel in the same deposition process. The source and drain electrodes and the common contact electrode for the photodiode each comprises the same source/drain metal conductive material, the conductive material having been deposited on the pixel in the same deposition process.

Radiation imager with common passivation dielectric for gate electrode

An active electrical array wafer includes a substrate on which are disposed a plurality of layers of electrically conductive components, such as sets of address lines (for example scan and data lines) that are electrically insulated from one another by a dielectric material. Static protection capacitors to protect against the discharge of static potential between the layers of electrically conductive components are disposed at selected points on the wafer. A static protection line is disposed so as to cross over scan or data lines extending from the active area of the array towards the edge of the wafer. A dielectric material, such as the dielectric material separating the scan and data lines in the active area of the array, is disposed between the static protection line and the crossing-over address line, thereby forming a capacitor in which the two electrodes are the overlying portions of the respective address line and the static protection line. The capacitance of the static protection capacitor is selected, for example by determining the width of the scan protection line, to cause the static protection capacitor to exhibit electrical breakdown before a static potential causes an electrical breakdown between conductive components in the active portion of the array.

Active array static protection devices

A thin film electronic display device having electrically conductive transmission lines disposed therein has embedded repair lines positioned to be electrically coupleable to the transmission lines internally to the display device so that an open circuit on a transmission line can be bypassed by a repair line electrically coupled to the defective transmission line. A method of repairing a defective transmission line in this electronic display device includes identifying the defective transmission line, electrically isolating the defective portion of the transmission line, and electrically connecting the transmission line to its associated repair line.

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Schenectady, NY, United States of America

Roger S Salisbury