• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.15-20
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• 2007

Low temperature processed ZnO-TFTs on glass below $270^{\circ}C$ for plastic substrate applications were fabricated and their electrical properties were investigated. Films in ZnO-TFTs with bottom gate configuration were made by RF magnetron sputtering system except for $SiO_2$ gate oxide deposited by ICP-CVD. ZnO channel films were grown on glass with various Ar and $O_2$ flow ratios. All of the fabricated ZnO-TFTs showed perfectly the enhancement mode operation, a high optical transmittance of above 80% in visible ranges of the spectrum. In the ZnO-TFTs with pure Ar process, the field effect mobility, threshold voltage, and on/off ratio were measured to be $1.2\;cm^2/Vs$, 8.5 V, and $5{\times}10^5$, respectively. These characteristic values are much higher than those of the ZnO-TFTs of which ZnO channel layers were processed with additional $O_2$ gas. In addition, ZnO-TFT with pure Af process showed smaller swing voltage of 1.86v/decade compared to those with $Ar+O_2$ process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.40-40
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• 2008

$InGaZnO_4$ based thin film transistors (TFTs) are of interest for large area and low cost electronics. The TFTs have strong potential for application in flat panel displays and portable electronics due to their high field effect mobility, high on/off current ratios, and high optical transparency. The application of such room temperature processed transistors, however, is often limited by the operation voltage and long-tenn stability. Therefore, attaining an optimum thickness is necessary. We investigated the thickness dependence of a room temperature grown $MgO_{0.3}BST_{0.7}$ composite gate dielectric and an $InGaZnO_4$ (IGZO) active semiconductor on the electrical characteristics of thin film transistors fabricated on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate. The TFT characteristics were changed markedly with variation of the gate dielectric and semiconductor thickness. The optimum gate dielectric and active semiconductor thickness were 300 nm and 30 nm, respectively. The TFT showed low operating voltage of less than 4 V, field effect mobility of 21.34 cm2/$V{\cdot}s$, an on/off ratio of $8.27\times10^6$, threshold voltage of 2.2 V, and a subthreshold swing of 0.42 V/dec.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.217-217
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• 2016

The amorphous InGaZnO (a-IGZO) is widely accepted as a promising channel material for thin-film transistor (TFT) applications owing to their outstanding electrical properties [1, 2]. However, a-IGZO TFTs have still suffered from their bias instability with illumination [1-4]. Up to now, many researchers have studied the sub-gap density of states (DOS) as the root cause of instability. It is well known that defect states can influence on the performances and stabilities of a-IGZO TFTs. The defects states should be closely related with the deposition condition, including sputtering power, and pressure. Nevertheless, it has not been reported how these defects are created during conventional RF magnetron sputtering. In general, during conventional RF magnetron sputtering process, negative oxygen ions (NOIs) can be generated by electron attachment in oxygen atom near target surface and then accelerated up to few hundreds eV by a self-bias; at this time, the high energy bombardment of NOIs induce defects in oxide thin films. Recently, we have reported that the properties of IGZO thin films are strongly related with effects of NOIs which are generated during the sputtering process [5]. From our previous results, the electrical characteristics and the chemical bonding states of a-IGZO thin films were depended with the bombardment energy of NOIs. And also, we suggest that the deep sub-gap states in a-IGZO as well as thin film properties would be influenced by the bombardment of high energetic NOIs during the sputtering process.In this study, we will introduce our novel technology named as Magnetic Field Shielded Sputtering (MFSS) process to prevent the NOIs bombardment effects and present how much to be improved the properties of a-IGZO thin film by this new deposition method. We deposited a-IGZO thin films by MFSS on SiO2/p-Si and glass substrate at various process conditions, after which we investigated the morphology, optical and electrical properties of the a-IGZO thin films.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.364-364
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• 2012

평판 디스플레이 분야에 투명 비정질 산화물 반도체는 박막 트렌지스터(Thin film transistor; TFT)소자의 채널층으로 사용할 수 있다. 투명 비정질 산화물 반도체 IGZO (In-Ga-Zn-O)는 다른 비정질 재료에 비해 높은 전하 이동도를 가지기 때문에 우수한 성능의 TFT소자를 제작할 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 RF magnetron sputtering법으로 corning 1737 유리기판 위에 RF 파워의 변화에 따라 증착한 IGZO박막의 광학적 전기적 특성 변화를 연구하였다. 박막 증착 조건은 초기 압력 $2.0{\times}10^{-6}Torr$, 증착 압력 $2.0{\times}10^{-2}Torr$, 반응가스 Ar 25 sccm, 증착 온도는 실온으로 고정하였으며, 공정변수로 RF 파워를 25 w, 50 w, 75 w, 100 w로 변화시키며, IGZO 타겟은 $In_2O_3$, $Ga_2O_3$, ZnO 분말을 각각 1 : 1 : 2mol% 조성비로 혼합하여 소결한 타겟을 사용하였다. 표면분석(AFM)결과 RF 파워가 증가함에 따라 거칠기가 증가하였으며, XRD 분석결과 Bragg's 법칙을 만족하는 피크가 나타나지 않는 비정질 구조임을 확인할 수 있었다. 가시광 영역에서 (450~700 nm) 25 w일 때 85% 이상을 확인하였고, RF 파워가 증가할수록 밴드갭이 감소하는 것을 확인하였다. RF 파워가 100 w인 경우 carrier 밀도는 $7.7{\times}10^{19}cm^{-3}$, Mobility $8.42cm^2V-s$, Resistivity $9.45{\times}10^{-3}{\Omega}-cm$로 투명 전도막의 특성을 보였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2014.10a
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• pp.769-772
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• 2014

The device reliability in amorphous InGaZnO under NBS(Negative Bias Stress) and hot carrier stress with different gate overlap has been characterized. Amorphous InGaZnO thin film transistor has been measured. and is channel $width=104{\mu}m$, $length=10{\mu}m$ with gate overlap $length=0,1,2,3{\mu}m$. The device reliability has been analyzed by I-V characteristics. From the experiment results, threshold voltage variation has been increased with increasing of the gate overlap length after hot carrier stress. Also, threshold voltage variation has been decreased and Hump Effect has been observed later with increasing of the gate overlap length after NBS.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.18.2-18.2
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• 2010

For the past a few years, we have intensively researched the printable inorganic conductors and ZnO-based amorphous oxide semiconductors (AOSs) for thin-film transistors. For printable conductor materials, we have focused on the aqueous Ag and Cu ink which possess a variety of advantages, comparing with the conventional metal inks based on organic solvent system. The aqueous Ag ink was designed to achieve the long-term dispersion stability using a specific polymer which can act as a dispersant and capping agent, and the aqueous Cu ink was carefully formulated to endow the oxidation stability in air and even aqueous solvent system. The both inks were successfully printed onto either polymer or glass substrate, exhibiting the superior conductivity comparable to that of bulk one. For printable ZnO-based AOSs, we have researched the noble way to resolve the critical problem, a high processing-temperature above $400^{\circ}C$, and recently discovered that Ga doping in ZnO-based AOSs promotes the formation of oxide lattice structures with oxygen vacancies at low annealing-temperatures, which is essential for acceptable thin-film transistor performance. The mobility dependence on annealing temperature and AOS composition was analyzed, and the chemical role of Ga are clarified, as are requirements for solution-processed, low-temperature annealed AOSs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.276-276
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• 2014

High-performance, fully-transparent, and top-gated oxide thin-film transistor (TFT) was successfully fabricated with Ta2O5 high-k gate dielectric on a glass substrate. Through a self-passivation with the gate dielectric and top electrode, the top-gated oxide TFT was not affected from H2O and O2 causing the electrical instability. Heat-treated InSnO (ITO) was used as the top and source/drain electrode with a low resistance and a transparent property in visible region. A InGaZnO (IGZO) thin-film was used as a active channel with a broad optical bandgap of 3.72 eV and transparent property. In addition, using a X-ray diffraction, amorphous phase of IGZO thin-film was observed until it was heat-treated at 500 oC. The fabricated device was demonstrated that an applied electric field efficiently controlled electron transfer in the IGZO active channel using the Ta2O5 gate dielectric. With the transparent ITO electrodes and IGZO active channel, the fabricated oxide TFT on a glass substrate showed optical transparency and high carrier mobility. These results expected that the top-gated oxide TFT with the high-k gate dielectric accelerates the realization of presence of fully-transparent electronics.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.1-7
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• 2023

Large-size, organic light-emitting device (OLED) panels based on highly reliable gate driver circuits integrated using InGaZnO thin film transistors (TFTs) were developed to achieve ultra-high resolution TVs. These large-size OLED panels were driven by using a novel gate driver circuit not only for displaying images but also for sensing TFT characteristics for external compensation. Regardless of the negative threshold voltage of the TFTs, the proposed gate driver circuit in OLED panels functioned precisely, resulting from a decrease in the leakage current. The falling time of the circuit is approximately 0.9 ㎲, which is fast enough to drive 8K resolution OLED displays at 120 Hz. 120 Hz is most commonly used as the operating voltage because images consisting of 120 frames per second can be quickly shown on the display panel without any image sticking. The reliability tests showed that the lifetime of the proposed integrated gate driver is at least 100,000 h.

• Electronic Materials Letters
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.749-754
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• 2018

Previous studies have reported on the mechanical robustness and chemical stability of flexible amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) on plastic substrates both in flat and curved states. In this study, we investigate how the polyimide (PI) substrate affects hydrogen concentration in the a-IGZO layer, which subsequently influences the device performance and stability under bias-temperature-stress. Hydrogen increases the carrier concentration in the active layer, but it also electrically deactivates intrinsic defects depending on its concentration. The influence of hydrogen varies between the TFTs fabricated on a glass substrate to those on a PI substrate. Hydrogen concentration is 5% lower in devices on a PI substrate after annealing, which increases the hysteresis characteristics from 0.22 to 0.55 V and also the threshold voltage shift under positive bias temperature stress by 2 ${\times}$ compared to the devices on a glass substrate. Hence, the analysis and control of hydrogen flux is crucial to maintaining good device performance and stability of a-IGZO TFTs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.301-301
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• 2012

Amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O (a-IGZO)는 광학적으로 투명하고 높은 전자이동도를 가지고 있어서 차세대 thin-film-transistor의 channel layer 물질로 각광받고 있다. 이러한 a-IGZO를 TFT channel layer로 사용하기 위해서는 소스 드레인 전극물질과 IGZO박막의 계면에서 ohmic contact을 만드는 것도 중요하다. 하지만 산화물 반도체의 특성상 금속물질을 증착시킬 때 산화금속계면을 형성하기 때문에 ohmic contact이 형성되기 어려운 것으로 알려져 있다. Au는 보통 전극물질로 많이 사용되는데, 이는 전기전도도가 매우 높고, 독특한 산화환원반응 특성을 보이지만, 화학반응을 잘 일으키지 않는 안정성을 가지는 성질에 기인한다. 본 연구진은 Au가 a-IGZO에 증착 시에 일어나는 표면의 화학적 상태변화를 이해하기 위해 방사광을 이용한 고분해능 광전자 분광법을 이용하여 표면변화를 분석하였다. Au는 (Au 4f) 증착 초기엔 약간의 gold oxide가 함께 형성되지만, 주로 metal gold의 형태로 존재하였다. In 3d, Ga 3d, O 1s, Zn 3d 각각의 스펙트럼에서는 Au 증착으로 인해 낮은 결합에너지에 새로운 state가 나타났다. 한편, In은 상대적으로 다른 원소들에 비해 Au와 좀 더 결합을 잘 하는 것으로 나타났는데 이는, In 5s 전자궤도가 전도메커니즘에서 중요한 역할을 하기 때문에, In-Au의 상대적인 강한 결합은 a-IGZO의 전기적 특성 변화에 기여할 수 있음을 의미한다.