Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
Constraint theory developed for bulk glasses and recently applied to thin films and single crystalline Si (C-Si) dielectric interfaces is extended in this paper to a-Si:H and polycrystalline-Si (poly-Si) dielectric interfaces in TFTs where it provides guidelines for device optimization. The constraining effects of network bonding forces are a linear function of the average bonding coordination, Nav. Nav ∼ 3 separates low-defect density networks as in Si02 (Nav =2.67), from highly-defective networks such as non-hydrogenated Si3N4 (Nay = 3.43). Nay ∼ 3 also separates device-quality from highly-defective Si-dielectric interfaces. These criteria are applied to Si-Si02 and Si-SiNx:H interfaces that are integral components of TFT devices.