Oxide Semiconductor Thin‐Film Transistors: A Review of Recent Advances
TL;DR: The recent progress in n- and p-type oxide based thin-film transistors (TFT) is reviewed, with special emphasis on solution-processed andp-type, and the major milestones already achieved with this emerging and very promising technology are summarizeed.
Abstract: Transparent electronics is today one of the most advanced topics for a wide range of device applications. The key components are wide bandgap semiconductors, where oxides of different origins play an important role, not only as passive component but also as active component, similar to what is observed in conventional semiconductors like silicon. Transparent electronics has gained special attention during the last few years and is today established as one of the most promising technologies for leading the next generation of flat panel display due to its excellent electronic performance. In this paper the recent progress in n- and p-type oxide based thin-film transistors (TFT) is reviewed, with special emphasis on solution-processed and p-type, and the major milestones already achieved with this emerging and very promising technology are summarizeed. After a short introduction where the main advantages of these semiconductors are presented, as well as the industry expectations, the beautiful history of TFTs is revisited, including the main landmarks in the last 80 years, finishing by referring to some papers that have played an important role in shaping transparent electronics. Then, an overview is presented of state of the art n-type TFTs processed by physical vapour deposition methods, and finally one of the most exciting, promising, and low cost but powerful technologies is discussed: solution-processed oxide TFTs. Moreover, a more detailed focus analysis will be given concerning p-type oxide TFTs, mainly centred on two of the most promising semiconductor candidates: copper oxide and tin oxide. The most recent data related to the production of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices based on n- and p-type oxide TFT is also be presented. The last topic of this review is devoted to some emerging applications, finalizing with the main conclusions. Related work that originated at CENIMAT|I3N during the last six years is included in more detail, which has led to the fabrication of high performance n- and p-type oxide transistors as well as the fabrication of CMOS devices with and on paper.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the excellent hydrogen barrier properties of the atomic layer-deposition-grown Al2O3 (ALD Al 2O3) are first reported for improving the stability of amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs).
Abstract: In this study, the excellent hydrogen barrier properties of the atomic-layer-deposition-grown Al2O3 (ALD Al2O3) are first reported for improving the stability of amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs). Chemical species in Al2O3 were artificially modulated during the ALD process using different oxidants, such as H2O and O3 (H2O-Al2O3 and O3-Al2O3, respectively). When hydrogen was incorporated into the H2O-Al2O3-passivated TFT, a large negative shift in Vth (ca. -12 V) was observed. In contrast, when hydrogen was incorporated into the O3-Al2O3-passivated TFT, there was a negligible shift in Vth (ca. -0.66 V), which indicates that the O3-Al2O3 has a remarkable hydrogen barrier property. We presented a mechanism for trapping hydrogen in a O3-Al2O3 via various chemical and electrical analyses and revealed that hydrogen molecules were trapped by C-O bonds in the O3-Al2O3, preventing the inflow of hydrogen to the a-IGZO. Additionally, to minimize the deterioration of the pristine device that occurs after a barrier deposition, a bi-layered hydrogen barrier by stacking H2O- and O3-Al2O3 is adopted. Such a barrier can provide ultrastable performance without degradation. Therefore, we envisioned that the excellent hydrogen barrier suggested in this paper can provide the possibility of improving the stability of devices in various fields by effectively blocking hydrogen inflows.
10 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a Schottky barrier is formed between the room-temperature sputtered amorphous indium-tin-zinc-oxide/indium-gallium,zincoxide bilayer and platinum, and a highly resistive, self-aligned junction termination region is implemented at only 280 °C.
Abstract: A Schottky diode based on amorphous wide bandgap oxide semiconductor is experimentally demonstrated with reasonable performance. The Schottky barrier is formed between the room-temperature sputtered amorphous indium-tin-zinc-oxide/indium-gallium-zinc-oxide bilayer and platinum, and a highly-resistive, self-aligned junction termination region is implemented at only 280 °C. Due to such low-temperature process, oxide-based Schottky diode is very attractive in terms of low manufacturing cost and back-end-of-line (BEOL) integration compatibility. The proposed Schottky diode has an ideality factor of 1.2 and a high rectification ratio of $1\times 10^{9}$ at ±1.5 V. The extracted specific ON -resistance is 7.8 $\text{m}\Omega \cdot $ mm2, and the breakdown voltage is 26.4 V. With approximately the same Baliga’s figure-of-merit as that of the single-crystal silicon counterparts, the proposed Schottky diode is therefore promising for power electronic applications.
10 citations
TL;DR: In this article, SnO2-gated thin-film transistors were used as a gate electrode to replace indium tin oxide (ITO) in thin-filtered transistors and circuits for the first time.
Abstract: Atomic-layer-deposited SnO2 is used as a gate electrode to replace indium tin oxide (ITO) in thin-film transistors and circuits for the first time. The SnO2 films deposited at 200 °C show low electrical resistivity of ≈3.1 × 10−3 Ω cm with ≈93% transparency in most of the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Thin-film transistors fabricated with SnO2 gates show excellent transistor properties including saturation mobility of 15.3 cm2 V−1 s−1, a low subthreshold swing of ≈130 mV dec−1, a high on/off ratio of ≈109, and an excellent electrical stability under constant-voltage stressing conditions to the gate terminal. Moreover, the SnO2-gated thin-film transistors show excellent electrical characteristics when used in electronic circuits such as negative channel metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS) inverters and ring oscillators. The NMOS inverters exhibit a low propagation stage delay of ≈150 ns with high DC voltage gain of ≈382. A high oscillation frequency of ≈303 kHz is obtained from the output sinusoidal signal of the 11-stage NMOS inverter-based ring oscillators. These results show that SnO2 can effectively replace ITO in transparent electronics and sensor applications.
10 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a 1-dimensional IGZO FET was fabricated on a flexible polyimide wire substrate for electronic textiles (e-textiles) and a resistive-load inverter was implemented by connecting the 1-D FET to an external load resistor.
Abstract: Amorphous InGaZnO (IGZO) is a promising semiconducting material to replace amorphous and polycrystalline Si. IGZO-based field-effect transistors (FET) can be versatile platforms for various electronic or optoelectronic applications. Here, we report on a one-dimensional (1-D) IGZO FET fabricated on a flexible polyimide wire substrate for electronic textiles (e-textiles). This flexible 1-D IGZO FET shows a high mobility of 18.18 cm2/Vs with a relatively good on/off current ratio of 104 at operating voltages below 5 V. Furthermore, a resistive-load inverter is implemented by connecting the 1-D IGZO FET to an external load resistor. Such an inverter exhibits obvious voltage switching characteristics, verifying the potential it is being a basic building block for an e-textile circuit system.
10 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a high-speed ring oscillator (RO) with amorphous Indium-Gallium-Zinc-Oxide Thin-film transistors (a-IGZO TFTs) is presented.
Abstract: This paper presents a high-speed ring oscillator (RO) with amorphous Indium-Gallium-Zinc-Oxide Thin-film transistors (a-IGZO TFTs). The proposed RO reduces the delay of a single stage inverter using intermediate signals generated within the RO, hence, improving the speed. To validate the proposed idea, two conventional ROs (with diode-load load inverter and bootstrapped pseudo-CMOS inverter) and the proposed RO were fabricated at a temperature ≤ 180°C. Measured results of the proposed RO have shown a frequency and power-delay-product (PDP) of 173.2 kHz and 0.7 nJ at a supply voltage of 6V. Further, it shows approximately 155% (44%) increase in frequency and 14% (24.5%) decrease in PDP compared to diode-load inverter (bootstrapped pseudo-CMOS inverter) based ROs. Therefore, the proposed RO finds applications in low-voltage and high speed designs for timing signal generation.
10 citations
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TL;DR: A novel semiconducting material is proposed—namely, a transparent amorphous oxide semiconductor from the In-Ga-Zn-O system (a-IGZO)—for the active channel in transparent thin-film transistors (TTFTs), which are fabricated on polyethylene terephthalate sheets and exhibit saturation mobilities and device characteristics are stable during repetitive bending of the TTFT sheet.
Abstract: Transparent electronic devices formed on flexible substrates are expected to meet emerging technological demands where silicon-based electronics cannot provide a solution. Examples of active flexible applications include paper displays and wearable computers1. So far, mainly flexible devices based on hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H)2,3,4,5 and organic semiconductors2,6,7,8,9,10 have been investigated. However, the performance of these devices has been insufficient for use as transistors in practical computers and current-driven organic light-emitting diode displays. Fabricating high-performance devices is challenging, owing to a trade-off between processing temperature and device performance. Here, we propose to solve this problem by using a novel semiconducting material—namely, a transparent amorphous oxide semiconductor from the In-Ga-Zn-O system (a-IGZO)—for the active channel in transparent thin-film transistors (TTFTs). The a-IGZO is deposited on polyethylene terephthalate at room temperature and exhibits Hall effect mobilities exceeding 10 cm2 V-1 s-1, which is an order of magnitude larger than for hydrogenated amorphous silicon. TTFTs fabricated on polyethylene terephthalate sheets exhibit saturation mobilities of 6–9 cm2 V-1 s-1, and device characteristics are stable during repetitive bending of the TTFT sheet.
7,301 citations
Book•
04 Jul 1990
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a characterization of the resistivity of a two-point-versus-four-point probe in terms of the number of contacts and the amount of contacts in the probe.
Abstract: Preface to Third Edition. 1 Resistivity. 1.1 Introduction. 1.2 Two-Point Versus Four-Point Probe. 1.3 Wafer Mapping. 1.4 Resistivity Profiling. 1.5 Contactless Methods. 1.6 Conductivity Type. 1.7 Strengths and Weaknesses. Appendix 1.1 Resistivity as a Function of Doping Density. Appendix 1.2 Intrinsic Carrier Density. References. Problems. Review Questions. 2 Carrier and Doping Density. 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 Capacitance-Voltage (C-V). 2.3 Current-Voltage (I-V). 2.4 Measurement Errors and Precautions. 2.5 Hall Effect. 2.6 Optical Techniques. 2.7 Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS). 2.8 Rutherford Backscattering (RBS). 2.9 Lateral Profiling. 2.10 Strengths and Weaknesses. Appendix 2.1 Parallel or Series Connection? Appendix 2.2 Circuit Conversion. References. Problems. Review Questions. 3 Contact Resistance and Schottky Barriers. 3.1 Introduction. 3.2 Metal-Semiconductor Contacts. 3.3 Contact Resistance. 3.4 Measurement Techniques. 3.5 Schottky Barrier Height. 3.6 Comparison of Methods. 3.7 Strengths and Weaknesses. Appendix 3.1 Effect of Parasitic Resistance. Appendix 3.2 Alloys for Contacts to Semiconductors. References. Problems. Review Questions. 4 Series Resistance, Channel Length and Width, and Threshold Voltage. 4.1 Introduction. 4.2 PN Junction Diodes. 4.3 Schottky Barrier Diodes. 4.4 Solar Cells. 4.5 Bipolar Junction Transistors. 4.6 MOSFETS. 4.7 MESFETS and MODFETS. 4.8 Threshold Voltage. 4.9 Pseudo MOSFET. 4.10 Strengths and Weaknesses. Appendix 4.1 Schottky Diode Current-Voltage Equation. References. Problems. Review Questions. 5 Defects. 5.1 Introduction. 5.2 Generation-Recombination Statistics. 5.3 Capacitance Measurements. 5.4 Current Measurements. 5.5 Charge Measurements. 5.6 Deep-Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS). 5.7 Thermally Stimulated Capacitance and Current. 5.8 Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy (PAS). 5.9 Strengths and Weaknesses. Appendix 5.1 Activation Energy and Capture Cross-Section. Appendix 5.2 Time Constant Extraction. Appendix 5.3 Si and GaAs Data. References. Problems. Review Questions. 6 Oxide and Interface Trapped Charges, Oxide Thickness. 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 Fixed, Oxide Trapped, and Mobile Oxide Charge. 6.3 Interface Trapped Charge. 6.4 Oxide Thickness. 6.5 Strengths and Weaknesses. Appendix 6.1 Capacitance Measurement Techniques. Appendix 6.2 Effect of Chuck Capacitance and Leakage Current. References. Problems. Review Questions. 7 Carrier Lifetimes. 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 Recombination Lifetime/Surface Recombination Velocity. 7.3 Generation Lifetime/Surface Generation Velocity. 7.4 Recombination Lifetime-Optical Measurements. 7.5 Recombination Lifetime-Electrical Measurements. 7.6 Generation Lifetime-Electrical Measurements. 7.7 Strengths and Weaknesses. Appendix 7.1 Optical Excitation. Appendix 7.2 Electrical Excitation. References. Problems. Review Questions. 8 Mobility. 8.1 Introduction. 8.2 Conductivity Mobility. 8.3 Hall Effect and Mobility. 8.4 Magnetoresistance Mobility. 8.5 Time-of-Flight Drift Mobility. 8.6 MOSFET Mobility. 8.7 Contactless Mobility. 8.8 Strengths and Weaknesses. Appendix 8.1 Semiconductor Bulk Mobilities. Appendix 8.2 Semiconductor Surface Mobilities. Appendix 8.3 Effect of Channel Frequency Response. Appendix 8.4 Effect of Interface Trapped Charge. References. Problems. Review Questions. 9 Charge-based and Probe Characterization. 9.1 Introduction. 9.2 Background. 9.3 Surface Charging. 9.4 The Kelvin Probe. 9.5 Applications. 9.6 Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM). 9.7 Strengths and Weaknesses. References. Problems. Review Questions. 10 Optical Characterization. 10.1 Introduction. 10.2 Optical Microscopy. 10.3 Ellipsometry. 10.4 Transmission. 10.5 Reflection. 10.6 Light Scattering. 10.7 Modulation Spectroscopy. 10.8 Line Width. 10.9 Photoluminescence (PL). 10.10 Raman Spectroscopy. 10.11 Strengths and Weaknesses. Appendix 10.1 Transmission Equations. Appendix 10.2 Absorption Coefficients and Refractive Indices for Selected Semiconductors. References. Problems. Review Questions. 11 Chemical and Physical Characterization. 11.1 Introduction. 11.2 Electron Beam Techniques. 11.3 Ion Beam Techniques. 11.4 X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Techniques. 11.5 Strengths and Weaknesses. Appendix 11.1 Selected Features of Some Analytical Techniques. References. Problems. Review Questions. 12 Reliability and Failure Analysis. 12.1 Introduction. 12.2 Failure Times and Acceleration Factors. 12.3 Distribution Functions. 12.4 Reliability Concerns. 12.5 Failure Analysis Characterization Techniques. 12.6 Strengths and Weaknesses. Appendix 12.1 Gate Currents. References. Problems. Review Questions. Appendix 1 List of Symbols. Appendix 2 Abbreviations and Acronyms. Index.
6,573 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a review of the literature in the area of alternate gate dielectrics is given, based on reported results and fundamental considerations, the pseudobinary materials systems offer large flexibility and show the most promise toward success.
Abstract: Many materials systems are currently under consideration as potential replacements for SiO2 as the gate dielectric material for sub-0.1 μm complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technology. A systematic consideration of the required properties of gate dielectrics indicates that the key guidelines for selecting an alternative gate dielectric are (a) permittivity, band gap, and band alignment to silicon, (b) thermodynamic stability, (c) film morphology, (d) interface quality, (e) compatibility with the current or expected materials to be used in processing for CMOS devices, (f) process compatibility, and (g) reliability. Many dielectrics appear favorable in some of these areas, but very few materials are promising with respect to all of these guidelines. A review of current work and literature in the area of alternate gate dielectrics is given. Based on reported results and fundamental considerations, the pseudobinary materials systems offer large flexibility and show the most promise toward success...
5,711 citations
IBM1
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present new insight into conduction mechanisms and performance characteristics, as well as opportunities for modeling properties of organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) and discuss progress in the growing field of n-type OTFTs.
Abstract: Organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) have lived to see great improvements in recent years. This review presents new insight into conduction mechanisms and performance characteristics, as well as opportunities for modeling properties of OTFTs. The shifted focus in research from novel chemical structures to fabrication technologies that optimize morphology and structural order is underscored by chapters on vacuum-deposited and solution-processed organic semiconducting films. Finally, progress in the growing field of the n-type OTFTs is discussed in ample detail. The Figure, showing a pentacene film edge on SiO2, illustrates the morphology issue.
4,804 citations
TL;DR: An outlook is presented on what will be required to drive this young photovoltaic technology towards the next major milestone, a 10% power conversion efficiency, considered by many to represent the efficiency at which OPV can be adopted in wide-spread applications.
Abstract: Solution-processed bulk-heterojunction solar cells have gained serious attention during the last few years and are becoming established as one of the future photovoltaic technologies for low-cost power production. This article reviews the highlights of the last few years, and summarizes today's state-of-the-art performance. An outlook is given on relevant future materials and technologies that have the potential to guide this young photovoltaic technology towards the magic 10% regime. A cost model supplements the technical discussions, with practical aspects any photovoltaic technology needs to fulfil, and answers to the question as to whether low module costs can compensate lower lifetimes and performances.
3,084 citations