Effects of Nitrogen and Hydrogen Codoping on the Electrical Performance and Reliability of InGaZnO Thin-Film Transistors

Dependence of a Hydrogen Buffer Layer on the Properties of Top-Gate IGZO TFT

In this paper, the effect of a buffer layer created using different hydrogen-containing ratios of reactive gas on the electrical properties of a top-gate In-Ga-Zn-O thin-film transistor was thoroughly investigated. The interface roughness between the buffer layer and active layer was characterized using atomic force microscopy and X-ray reflection. The results obtained using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy show that the hydrogen content of the buffer layer increases with the increase in the hydrogen content of the reaction gas. With the increase in the hydrogen-containing materials in the reactive gas, field effect mobility and negative bias illumination stress stability improve nearly twofold. The reasons for these results are explained using technical computer-aided design simulations.

Electrical performance of La-doped In2O3 thin-film transistors prepared using a solution method for low-voltage driving

In this paper, La-doped In2O3 thin-film transistors (TFTs) were prepared by using a solution method, and the effects of La doping on the structure, surface morphology, optics, and performance of In2O3 thin films and TFTs were systematically investigated. The oxygen defects concentration decreased from 27.54% to 17.93% when La doping was increased to 10 mol%, and La served as a carrier suppressor, effectively passivating defects such as oxygen defects. In fact, the trap density at the dielectric/channel interface and within the active layer can be effectively reduced using this approach. With the increase of La concentration, the mobility of LaInO TFTs decreases gradually; the threshold voltage is shifted in the positive direction, and the TFT devices are operated in the enhanced mode. The TFT device achieved a subthreshold swing (SS) as low as 0.84 V dec-1, a mobility (μ) of 14.22 cm2 V-1 s-1, a threshold voltage (VTH) of 2.16 V, and a current switching ratio of Ion/Ioff of 105 at a low operating voltage of 1 V. Therefore, regulating the doping concentration of La can greatly enhance the performance of TFT devices, which promotes the application of such devices in high-performance, large-scale, and low-power electronic systems.

Research Progress of Vertical Channel Thin Film Transistor Device

Thin film transistors (TFTs) as the core devices for displays, are widely used in various fields including ultra-high-resolution displays, flexible displays, wearable electronic skins and memory devices, especially in terms of sensors. TFTs have now started to move towards miniaturization. Similarly to MOSFETs problem, traditional planar structure TFTs have difficulty in reducing the channel's length sub-1μm under the existing photolithography technology. Vertical channel thin film transistors (V-TFTs) are proposed. It is an effective solution to overcome the miniaturization limit of traditional planar TFTs. So, we summarize the different aspects of VTFTs. Firstly, this paper introduces the structure types, key parameters, and the impact of different preparation methods in devices of V-TFTs. Secondly, an overview of the research progress of V-TFTs' active layer materials in recent years, the characteristics of V-TFTs and their application in examples has proved the enormous application potential of V-TFT in sensing. Finally, in addition to the advantages of V-TFTs, the current technical challenge and their potential solutions are put forward, and the future development trend of this new structure of V-TFTs is proposed.

High-mobility and low subthreshold swing amorphous InGaZnO thin-film transistors byin situH2plasma and neutral oxygen beam irradiation treatment

In this work, staggered bottom-gate structure amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O (a-IGZO) thin film transistors (TFTs) with high-k ZrO₂gate dielectric were fabricated using low-cost atmospheric pressure-plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (AP-PECVD) within situhydrogenation to modulate the carrier concentration and improve interface quality. Subsequently, a neutral oxygen beam irradiation (NOBI) technique is applied, demonstrating that a suitable NOBI treatment could successfully enhance electrical characteristics by reducing native defect states and minimize the trap density in the back channel. A reverse retrograde channel (RRGC) with ultra-high/low carrier concentration is also formed to prevent undesired off-state leakage current and achieve a very low subthreshold swing. The resulting a-IGZO TFTs exhibit excellent electrical characteristics, including a low subthreshold swing of 72 mV dec^-1and high field-effect mobility of 35 cm²V^-1s^-1, due to conduction path passivation and stronger carrier confinement in the RRGC. The UV-vis spectroscopy shows optical transmittance above 90% in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum. The study confirms the H₂plasma with NOBI-treated a-IGZO/ZrO₂TFT is a promising candidate for transparent electronic device applications.

One-Step Synergistic Treatment Approach for High Performance Amorphous InGaZnO Thin-Film Transistors Fabricated at Room Temperature

Amorphous InGaZnO (a-InGaZnO) is currently the most prominent oxide semiconductor complement to low-temperature polysilicon for thin-film transistor (TFT) applications in next-generation displays. However, balancing the transmission performance and low-temperature deposition is the primary obstacle in the application of a-InGaZnO TFTs in the field of ultra-high resolution optoelectronic display. Here, we report that a-InGaZnO:O TFT prepared at room temperature has high transport performance, manipulating oxygen vacancy (V_O) defects through an oxygen-doped a-InGaZnO framework. The main electrical properties of a-InGaZnO:O TFTs included high field-effect mobility (µ_FE) of 28 cm²/V s, a threshold voltage (V_th) of 0.9 V, a subthreshold swing (SS) of 0.9 V/dec, and a current switching ratio (I_on/I_off) of 10⁷; significant improvements over a-InGaZnO TFTs without oxygen plasma. A possible reason for this is that appropriate oxygen plasma treatment and room temperature preparation technology jointly play a role in improving the electrical performance of a-InGaZnO TFTs, which could not only increase carrier concentration, but also reduce the channel-layer surface defects and interface trap density of a-InGaZnO TFTs. These provides a powerful way to synergistically boost the transport performance of oxide TFTs fabricated at room temperature.

Roles of Oxygen Interstitial Defects in Atomic-Layer Deposited InGaZnO Thin Films with Controlling the Cationic Compositions and Gate-Stack Processes for the Devices with Subμm Channel Lengths

Roles of oxygen interstitial defects located in the In-Ga-Zn-O (IGZO) thin films prepared by atomic layer deposition were investigated with controlling the cationic compositions and gate-stack process conditions. It was found from the spectroscopic ellipsometry analysis that the excess oxygens increased with increasing the In contents within the IGZO channels. While the device using the IGZO channel with an In/Ga ratio of 0.2 did not show marked differences with the variations in the oxidant types during the gate-stack formation, the device characteristics were severely deteriorated with increasing the In/Ga ratio to 1.4, when the Al₂O₃ gate insulator (GI) was prepared with the H₂O oxidants (H₂O-Al₂O₃) due to a higher amount of excess oxygen in the channel. Additionally, during the deposition process of the Al-doped ZnO (AZO) gate electrode (GE) replacing from the indium-tin oxide (ITO) GE, the thermal annealing effect at 180 °C facilitated the passivation of oxygen vacancy and the strengthening of metal-oxygen bonding, which could stabilize the TFT operations. From these results, the gate-stack structure employing O₃-processed Al₂O₃ GI (O_3-Al₂O₃) and AZO GE (OA) was suggested to be most suitable for the device using IGZO channel with a higher In content. On the other hand, the device employing H₂O-Al₂O₃ GI and AZO GE exhibited larger negative shifts of threshold voltage (V_TH) under positive-bias-temperature stress (PBTS) condition than the device employing O_3- Al₂O₃ GI and ITO GE due to larger hydrogen contents within the gate stacks. Anomalous negative shifts of V_TH were accelerated with increasing the In contents of the IGZO channel. When the channel length of the fabricated device were scaled down to submicrometer regime, the OA gate stacks successfully alleviated the short-channel effects.

Compact Integration of Hydrogen–Resistant a–InGaZnO and Poly–Si Thin–Film Transistors

The low–temperature poly–Si oxide (LTPO) backplane is realized by monolithically integrating low–temperature poly–Si (LTPS) and amorphous oxide semiconductor (AOS) thin–film transistors (TFTs) in the same display backplane. The LTPO–enabled dynamic refreshing rate can significantly reduce the display’s power consumption. However, the essential hydrogenation of LTPS would seriously deteriorate AOS TFTs by increasing the population of channel defects and carriers. Hydrogen (H) diffusion barriers were comparatively investigated to reduce the H content in amorphous indium–gallium–zinc oxide (a–IGZO). Moreover, the intrinsic H–resistance of a–IGZO was impressively enhanced by plasma treatments, such as fluorine and nitrous oxide. Enabled by the suppressed H conflict, a novel AOS/LTPS integration structure was tested by directly stacking the H–resistant a–IGZO on poly–Si TFT, dubbed metal–oxide–on–Si (MOOS). The noticeably shrunken layout footprint could support much higher resolution and pixel density for next–generation displays, especially AR and VR displays. Compared to the conventional LTPO circuits, the more compact MOOS circuits exhibited similar characteristics.

Analysis of Nitrogen-Doping Effect on Sub-Gap Density of States in a-IGZO TFTs by TCAD Simulation

In this work, the impact of nitrogen doping (N-doping) on the distribution of sub-gap states in amorphous InGaZnO (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) is qualitatively analyzed by technology computer-aided design (TCAD) simulation. According to the experimental characteristics, the numerical simulation results reveal that the interface trap states, bulk tail states, and deep-level sub-gap defect states originating from oxygen-vacancy- (V_o) related defects can be suppressed by an appropriate amount of N dopant. Correspondingly, the electrical properties and reliability of the a-IGZO TFTs are dramatically enhanced. In contrast, it is observed that the interfacial and deep-level sub-gap defects are increased when the a-IGZO TFT is doped with excess nitrogen, which results in the degeneration of the device’s performance and reliability. Moreover, it is found that tail-distributed acceptor-like N-related defects have been induced by excess N-doping, which is supported by the additional subthreshold slope degradation in the a-IGZO TFT.

Improving Device Characteristics of Dual-Gate IGZO Thin-Film Transistors with Ar-O2 Mixed Plasma Treatment and Rapid Thermal Annealing

In this study, high-performance indium-gallium-zinc oxide thin-film transistors (IGZO TFTs) with a dual-gate (DG) structure were manufactured using plasma treatment and rapid thermal annealing (RTA). Atomic force microscopy measurements showed that the surface roughness decreased upon increasing the O2 ratio from 16% to 33% in the argon-oxygen plasma treatment mixture. Hall measurement results showed that both the thin-film resistivity and carrier Hall mobility of the Ar-O2 plasma-treated IGZO thin films increased with the reduction of the carrier concentration caused by the decrease in the oxygen vacancy density; this was also verified using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. IGZO thin films treated with Ar-O2 plasma were used as channel layers for fabricating DG TFT devices. These DG IGZO TFT devices were subjected to RTA at 100 °C-300 °C for improving the device characteristics; the field-effect mobility, subthreshold swing, and ION/IOFF current ratio of the 33% O2 plasma-treated DG TFT devices improved to 58.8 cm2/V·s, 0.12 V/decade, and 5.46 × 108, respectively. Long-term device stability reliability tests of the DG IGZO TFTs revealed that the threshold voltage was highly stable.

Role ofin-situhydrogen plasma treatment on gate bias stability and performance of a-IGZO thin-film transistors

This work investigates the effect of anin situhydrogen plasma treatment on gate bias stability and performance of amorphous InGaZnO thin-film transistors (TFTs) deposited by using atmospheric-pressure PECVD. The H₂plasma-treateda-IGZO channel has shown significant improvement in bias stress induced instability with a minuscule threshold voltage shift (ΔV_th) of 0.31 and -0.17 V under positive gate bias stress (PBS) and negative gate bias stress (NBS), respectively. With the aid of the energy band diagram, the proposed work demonstrates the formation of negative species O₂^-and positive species H₂O⁺in the backchannel under PBS and NBS in addition to ionized oxygen vacancy (V_o) defects ata-IGZO/ZrO₂interfaces are the reason for gate bias instability which could be effectively suppressed within situH₂plasma treatment. From the experimental result, it is observed that the electrical performance such as field-effect mobility (μ_FE), on-off current ratio (I_on/I_off), and subthreshold swing improved significantly byin situH₂plasma treatment with passivation of interface trap density and bulk trap defects.

Proposition of deposition and bias conditions for optimal signal-to-noise-ratio in resistor- and FET-type gas sensors

In the field of gas sensor studies, most researchers are focusing on improving the response of the sensors to detect a low concentration of gas. However, factors that make a large response, such as abundant or strong adsorption sites, also work as a source of noise, resulting in a trade-off between response and noise. Thus, the response alone cannot fully evaluate the performance of sensors, and the signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) should additionally be considered to design gas sensors with optimal performance. In this regard, thin-film-type sensing materials are good candidates thanks to their moderate response and noise level. In this paper, we investigate the effects of radio frequency (RF) sputtering power for deposition of sensing materials on the SNR of resistor- and field-effect transistor (FET)-type gas sensors fabricated on the same Si wafer. In the case of resistor-type gas sensors, the deposition conditions that improve the response also worsen the noise either by increasing the scattering at the bulk or damaging the interface of the sensing material. Among resistor-type gas sensors with sensing materials deposited with different RF powers, a sensor with low noise shows the largest SNR despite its small response. However, the noise of FET-type gas sensors is not affected by changes in RF power and thus there is no trade-off between response and noise. The results reveal different noise sources depending on the deposition conditions of the sensing material, and provide design guidelines for resistor- and FET-type gas sensors considering noise for optimal performance.

Impact of hydrogen dopant incorporation on InGaZnO, ZnO and In2O3 thin film transistors

Hydrogen (H) dopants’ role and active defects inside n-type metal oxide semiconductors (MOXs) are comprehensively studied via continuous H plasma treatment.

Influence of N2/O2 Partial Pressure Ratio during Channel Layer Deposition on the Temperature and Light Stability of a-InGaZnO TFTs

The electrical characteristics of amorphous InGaZnO (a-IGZO) thin film transistors (TFTs) deposited with different N2/O2 partial pressure ratios (PN/O) are investigated. It is found that the device with 20% PN/O exhibits enhanced electrical stability after positive-bias-stress temperature (PBST) and negative-bias-stress illumination (NBSI), presenting decreased threshold voltage drift (ΔVth). Compared to the N-free TFT, the average effective interface barrier energy (Eτ) of the TFT with 20% PN/O is increased from 0.37 eV to 0.57 eV during the bias-stress process, which agrees with the suppressed ΔVth from 3.0 V to 1.12 V after the PBS at T = 70 °C. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis revealed that the enhanced stability of the a-IGZO TFT with 20% PN/O should be ascribed to the control of oxygen vacancy defects at the interfacial region.

Trap-Assisted Enhanced Bias Illumination Stability of Oxide Thin Film Transistor by Praseodymium Doping

Praseodymium-doped indium zinc oxide (PrIZO) has been employed as the channel layer of thin-film transistors (TFTs). The TFTs with Pr doping exhibited a remarkable suppression of the light-induced instability. A negligible photo-response and remarkable enhancement in negative gate bias stress under illumination (NBIS) were achieved in the PrIZO-TFTs. Meanwhile, the PrIZO-TFTs showed reasonable characteristics with a high-field-effect mobility of 26.3 cm²/V s, SS value of 0.28 V/decade, and I_on/ I_off ratio of 10⁸. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, microwave photoconductivity decay, and photoluminescence spectra were employed to analyze the effects of the Pr concentrations on the performance of PrIZO-TFTs. We disclosed that acceptor-like trap states induced by Pr ions might lead to the suppression of photo-induced carrier in conduction band, which is a new strategy for improving illumination stability of amorphous oxide semiconductors. Finally, a prototype of fully transparent AMOLED display was successfully fabricated to demonstrate the potential of Pr-doping TFTs applied in transparent devices.

Role of Hydrogen in Active Layer of Oxide-Semiconductor-Based Thin Film Transistors

Hydrogen in oxide systems plays a very important role in determining the major physical characteristics of such systems. In this study, we investigated the effect of hydrogen in oxide host systems for various oxygen environments that acted as amorphous oxide semiconductors. The oxygen environment in the sample was controlled by the oxygen gas partial pressure in the radio-frequency-sputtering process. It was confirmed that the hydrogen introduced by the passivation layer not only acted as a “killer” of oxygen deficiencies but also as the “creator” of the defects depending on the density of oxide states. Even if hydrogen is not injected, its role can change owing to unintentionally injected hydrogen, which leads to conflicting results. We discuss herein the correlation with hydrogen in the oxide semiconductor with excess or lack of oxygen through device simulation and elemental analysis.