Patent ID: 7612375

Claim:
A semiconductor device comprising at least one thin-film transistor, the thin-film transistor including: a semiconductor layer, including at least one catalytic element for promoting crystallization, in which a crystalline region, including a channel forming region, a source region and a drain region, is defined; a gate electrode for controlling the conductivity of the channel forming region; and a gate insulating film, which is provided between the gate electrode and the semiconductor layer, wherein, when the thin-film transistor operates, the semiconductor layer includes a gettering region having an amorphous phase outside of the crystalline region thereof adjacent to the source region or the drain region, the at least one catalytic element is included in each of the gettering region, the channel forming region, the source region and the drain region, a concentration of the at least one catalytic element in the gettering region is higher than the concentration of the at least one catalytic element in each of the channel forming region, the source region and the drain region, individually, and the at least one catalytic element is selected from the group consisting of Ni, Co, Sn, Pb, Pd, Fe and Cu.