• Journal of Information Display
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.160-164
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• 2010

Organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) have shown superior characteristics and are expected to dominate the nextgeneration flat-panel displays. Active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) displays, however, have stringent demands on the performance of the backplane. In this paper, the development of thin-film transistors (TFTs) based on indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) on both Gen 1 and 6 glasses, and their decent characteristics, which meet the AMOLED requirements, are shown. Further, several display prototypes (e.g., 2.4" AMOLED, 2.4" transparent AMOLED, and 32" AMLCD) using IGZO TFTs are demonstrated to confirm that they can indeed be strong candidates for the next-generation TFT technology not only of AMOLED but also of AMLCD (active-matrix liquid crystal display).

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.100-101
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• 2012

The plasma damage free and room temperature processedthin film deposition technology is essential for realization of various next generation organic microelectronic devices such as flexible AMOLED display, flexible OLED lighting, and organic photovoltaic cells because characteristics of fragile organic materials in the plasma process and low glass transition temperatures (Tg) of polymer substrate. In case of directly deposition of metal oxide thin films (including transparent conductive oxide (TCO) and amorphous oxide semiconductor (AOS)) on the organic layers, plasma damages against to the organic materials is fatal. This damage is believed to be originated mainly from high energy energetic particles during the sputtering process such as negative oxygen ions, reflected neutrals by reflection of plasma background gas at the target surface, sputtered atoms, bulk plasma ions, and secondary electrons. To solve this problem, we developed the NBAS (Neutral Beam Assisted Sputtering) process as a plasma damage free and room temperature processed sputtering technology. As a result, electro-optical properties of NBAS processed ITO thin film showed resistivity of $4.0{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}m$ and high transmittance (>90% at 550 nm) with nano- crystalline structure at room temperature process. Furthermore, in the experiment result of directly deposition of TCO top anode on the inverted structure OLED cell, it is verified that NBAS TCO deposition process does not damages to the underlying organic layers. In case of deposition of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) thin film on the plastic polymer substrate, the room temperature processed sputtering coating of high quality TCO thin film is required. During the sputtering process with higher density plasma, the energetic particles contribute self supplying of activation & crystallization energy without any additional heating and post-annealing and forminga high quality TCO thin film. However, negative oxygen ions which generated from sputteringtarget surface by electron attachment are accelerated to high energy by induced cathode self-bias. Thus the high energy negative oxygen ions can lead to critical physical bombardment damages to forming oxide thin film and this effect does not recover in room temperature process without post thermal annealing. To salve the inherent limitation of plasma sputtering, we have been developed the Magnetic Field Shielded Sputtering (MFSS) process as the high quality oxide thin film deposition process at room temperature. The MFSS process is effectively eliminate or suppress the negative oxygen ions bombardment damage by the plasma limiter which composed permanent magnet array. As a result, electro-optical properties of MFSS processed ITO thin film (resistivity $3.9{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$, transmittance 95% at 550 nm) have approachedthose of a high temperature DC magnetron sputtering (DMS) ITO thin film were. Also, AOS (a-IGZO) TFTs fabricated by MFSS process without higher temperature post annealing showed very comparable electrical performance with those by DMS process with $400^{\circ}C$ post annealing. They are important to note that the bombardment of a negative oxygen ion which is accelerated by dc self-bias during rf sputtering could degrade the electrical performance of ITO electrodes and a-IGZO TFTs. Finally, we found that reduction of damage from the high energy negative oxygen ions bombardment drives improvement of crystalline structure in the ITO thin film and suppression of the sub-gab states in a-IGZO semiconductor thin film. For realization of organic flexible electronic devices based on plastic substrates, gas barrier coatings are required to prevent the permeation of water and oxygen because organic materials are highly susceptible to water and oxygen. In particular, high efficiency flexible AMOLEDs needs an extremely low water vapor transition rate (WVTR) of $1{\times}10^{-6}gm^{-2}day^{-1}$. The key factor in high quality inorganic gas barrier formation for achieving the very low WVTR required (under ${\sim}10^{-6}gm^{-2}day^{-1}$) is the suppression of nano-sized defect sites and gas diffusion pathways among the grain boundaries. For formation of high quality single inorganic gas barrier layer, we developed high density nano-structured Al2O3 single gas barrier layer usinga NBAS process. The NBAS process can continuously change crystalline structures from an amorphous phase to a nano- crystalline phase with various grain sizes in a single inorganic thin film. As a result, the water vapor transmission rates (WVTR) of the NBAS processed $Al_2O_3$ gas barrier film have improved order of magnitude compared with that of conventional $Al_2O_3$ layers made by the RF magnetron sputteringprocess under the same sputtering conditions; the WVTR of the NBAS processed $Al_2O_3$ gas barrier film was about $5{\times}10^{-6}g/m^2/day$ by just single layer.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.60.1-60.1
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• 2011

비정질 indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO)는 thin film transistor (TFT)에 적용되는 대표적인 active layer로써 높은 이동도를 갖고, 도핑 농도의 제어가 용이하며 낮은 온도에서도 대면적에 증착할 수 있는 특성을 가지고 있다. 특히 저온에서 대면적 증착이 가능한 장점을 갖고 있어 LCD 분야뿐만 아니라 다양한 분야에서 상용화하려는 연구가 시도되고 있다. a-IGZO를 구성하는 물질 중에 이동도에 중요한 역할을 미치는 In은 대표적인 투명전극물질인 indium-tin oxide (ITO)에서 고전류 구동에 의한 확산이 널리 알려져 이에 대한 증명과 개선을 위한 연구가 진행되고 있다. 보고된 결과에 따르면 device에 지속적인 구동 전압을 가했을 때 In이 유기층로 확산되어 organic light emitting diode(OLED)의 성능을 저하시키는 것으로 알려져 있다. 따라서, a-IGZO에서도 고전류 구동에 의한 indium의 이동이 필수불가결하다고 판단된다. 본 연구에서는 a-IGZO TFT에 고전압 구동을 반복적으로 시행함으로써 발생하는 전기적 특성의 변화를 확인하였고, 동일한 소자의 전극과 채널 사이의 계면에서 In 분포를 energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS)로 관찰하여 In 분포와 전기적 특성 간의 상관관계에 대해 연구하였다.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.97-101
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• 2017

In this paper, IGZO thin film transistor (TFT) was fabricated with cross-linked Poly (4-vinylphenol) (PVP) gate dielectric for flexible, transparent display applications. The PVP is one of the candidates for low-temperature gate insulators. MIM structure was fabricated to measure the leakage current and evaluate the insulator properties according to the annealing temperature. Low leakage current ( <0.1nA/cm2 @ 1MV/cm ) was observed at $200^{\circ}C$ annealing condition and decreases much more as the annealing temperature increases. The electrical characteristics of IGZO TFT such as subthreshold swing, mobility and ON/OFF current ratio were also improved, which shows that the performance of IGZO TFTs with PVP can be enhanced by reducing the amount of incomplete crosslinking in PVP.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.293-297
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• 2010

We have studied the optical and electrical properties of a-IGZO thin films on the n-type semiconductor fabricated by RF magnetron sputtering method. The ceramic target was used in which $In_2O_3$, $Ga_2O_3$ and ZnO powder were mixed with 1:1:2 mol% ratio and furnished. The RF power was set at 25 W, 50 W, 75 W and 100 W as a variable process condition. The transmittance of the films in the visible range was above 80%, and it was 92% in the case of 25 W power. AFM analysis showed that the roughness increased as increasing RF power, and XRD showed amorphous structure of the films without any peak. The films are electrically characterized by high mobility above 10 $cm^2/V{\cdot}s$ at low RF power, high carrier concentration and low resistivity. It is required to study further finding the optimal process condition such as lowering the RF power, prolonging the deposition ratio and qualification analysis.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.239-244
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• 2017

We experimentally investigate the physical mechanism for asymmetrical degradation in amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) under simultaneous gate and drain bias stresses. The transfer curves exhibit an asymmetrical negative shift after the application of gate-to-source ($V_{GS}$) and drain-to-source ($V_{DS}$) bias stresses of ($V_{GS}=24V$, $V_{DS}=15.9V$) and ($V_{GS}=22V$, $V_{DS}=20V$), but the asymmetrical degradation is more significant after the bias stress ($V_{GS}$, $V_{DS}$) of (22 V, 20 V) nevertheless the vertical electric field at the source is higher under the bias stress ($V_{GS}$, $V_{DS}$) of (24 V, 15.9 V) than (22 V, 20 V). By using the modified external load resistance method, we extract the source contact resistance ($R_S$) and the voltage drop at $R_S$ ($V_{S,\;drop}$) in the fabricated a-IGZO TFT under both bias stresses. A significantly higher RS and $V_{S,\;drop}$ are extracted under the bias stress ($V_{GS}$, $V_{DS}$) of (22 V, 20V) than (24 V, 15.9 V), which implies that the high horizontal electric field across the source contact due to the large voltage drop at the reverse biased Schottky junction is the dominant physical mechanism causing the asymmetrical degradation of a-IGZO TFTs under simultaneous gate and drain bias stresses.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.258-258
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• 2016

최근 디스플레이 산업의 발전에 따라 고성능 디스플레이가 요구되며, 디스플레이의 백플레인 (backplane) TFT (thin film transistor) 구동속도를 증가시키기 위한 연구가 활발히 진행되고 있다. 트랜지스터의 구동속도를 증가시키기 위해 높은 이동도는 중요한 요소 중 하나이다. 그러나, 기존 백플레인 TFT에 주로 사용된 amorphous silicon (a-Si)은 대면적화가 용이하며 가격이 저렴하지만, 이동도가 낮다는 (< $1cm2/V{\cdot}s$) 단점이 있다. 따라서 전기적 특성이 우수한 산화물 반도체가 기존의 a-Si의 대체 물질로써 각광받고 있다. 산화물 반도체는 비정질 상태임에도 불구하고 a-Si에 비해 이동도 (> $10cm2/V{\cdot}s$)가 높고, 가시광 영역에서 투명하며 저온에서 공정이 가능하다는 장점이 있다. 하지만, 차세대 디스플레이 백플레인에서는 더 높은 이동도 (> $30cm2/V{\cdot}s$)를 가지는 TFT가 요구된다. 따라서, 본 연구에서는 차세대 디스플레이에서 요구되는 높은 이동도를 갖는 TFT를 제작하기 위하여, amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O (a-IGZO) 채널하부에 화학적으로 안정하고 전도성이 뛰어난 SnO2 채널을 얇게 형성하여 TFT를 제작하였다. 표준 RCA 세정을 통하여 p-type Si 기판을 세정한 후, 열산화 공정을 거쳐서 두께 100 nm의 SiO2 게이트 절연막을 형성하였다. 본 연구에서 제안된 적층된 채널을 형성하기 위하여 5 nm 두계의 SnO2 층을 RF 스퍼터를 이용하여 증착하였으며, 순차적으로 a-IGZO 층을 65 nm의 두께로 증착하였다. 그 후, 소스/드레인 영역은 e-beam evaporator를 이용하여 Ti와 Al을 각각 5 nm와 120 nm의 두께로 증착하였다. 후속 열처리는 퍼니스로 N2 분위기에서 $600^{\circ}C$의 온도로 30 분 동안 실시하였다. 제작된 소자에 대하여 TFT의 전달 및 출력 특성을 비교한 결과, SnO2 층을 형성한 TFT에서 더 뛰어난 전달 및 출력 특성을 나타내었으며 이동도는 $8.7cm2/V{\cdot}s$에서 $70cm2/V{\cdot}s$로 크게 향상되는 것을 확인하였다. 결과적으로, 채널층 하부에 SnO2 층을 형성하는 방법은 추후 높은 이동도를 요구하는 디스플레이 백플레인 TFT 제작에 적용이 가능할 것으로 기대된다.

• Journal of Information Display
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.209-212
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• 2011

The threshold voltage shift (${\Delta}V_{th}$) under positive-voltage bias stress (PBS) of InGaZnO (IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) annealed at different temperatures in air was investigated. The dramatic degradation of the electrical performance was observed at the sample that was annealed at $700^{\circ}C$. The degradation of the saturation mobility (${\mu}_{sat}$) resulted from the diffusion of indium atoms into the interface of the IGZO/gate insulator after crystallization, and the degradation of the subthreshold slope (S-factor) was due to the increase in the interfacial and bulk trap density. In spite of the degradation of the electrical performance of the sample that was annealed at $700^{\circ}C$, it showed a smaller ${\Delta}V_{th}$ under PBS conditions for $10^4$ s than the samples that were annealed at $500^{\circ}C$, which is attributed to the nanocrystal-embedded structure. The sample that was annealed at $600^{\circ}C$ showed the best performance and the smallest ${\Delta}V_{th}$ among the fabricated samples with a ${\mu}_{sat}$ of $9.38cm^2/V$ s, an S-factor of 0.46V/decade, and a ${\Delta}V_{th}$ of 0.009V, which is due to the passivation of the defects by high thermal annealing without structural change.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.386-386
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• 2010

최근의 전자재료들은 산화물 기반의 소자들을 이용하며 이들 소자의 특징은 가시광 영역에서의 높은 투과도와 실리콘 기반의 소자에 비해서 높은 이동도를 나타낸다. 이러한 점을 활용하여 LCD, PDP, 태양전지 등으로의 응용을 위해 활발히 연구되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 비정질임에도 이동도가 $10cm^2/V{\cdot}s$ 정도로 높은 이동도를 가지고 있는 a-IGZO 박막에 대하여 RF magnetron sputtering 법을 이용, 다각도의 연구를 진행하였다. 기판은 Corning 1737 유리기판을 사용하였으며 유기 클리닝 후 즉시 챔버 내부에 장착되었다. IGZO 타겟은 $In_2O_3$, $Ga_2O_3$, ZnO 분말을 각각 1:1:2mol% 조성비로 혼합하여 소결한 타겟을 사용하였으며 AFM, SEM, XRD 투과도를 이용하여 산소의 함량과 RF power에 따른 박막의 변화를 알아보았다. 박막 증착 조건으로는 초기 압력을 $2.0{\times}10^{-6}$ Torr, 증착압력으로 $2.0{\times}10^{-2}$ Torr를 유지하였으며, Ar 과 $O_2$의 비율을 10에서 40%까지 변화시키며 시편을 제작하였다. AFM 분석결과 $O_2$가 첨가될수록 박막의 거칠기가 감소하였으며, XRD 결과 Bragg's 법칙을 만족 하지 않는 비정질 구조임을 확인할 수 있었다. 가시광선 투과 특성은 $O_2$를 첨가한 박막이 첨가하지 않은 박막보다 우수하였으며 그 평균은 85% 이상으로 양호하였다. Hall과 XPS 분석결과 산소함량이 많아질수록 박막의 특성이 절연체의 특성을 가짐을 확인하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.6-9
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• 2020

Thin film transistors (TFTs) with large-area, high mobility, and high reliability are important factors for next-generation displays. In particular, thin transistors based on IGZO oxide semiconductors are being actively researched for this application. In this study, several methods for improving the reliability of a-IGZO TFTs by applying various materials on a passivation layer are investigated. In the literature, inorganic SiO₂, TiO₂, Al₂O₃, ZTSO, and organic CYTOP have been used for passivation. In the case of Al₂O₃, excellent stability is exhibited compared to the non-passivation TFT under the conditions of negative bias illumination stress (NBIS) for 3 wavelengths (R, G, B). When CYTOP passivation, SiO₂ passivation, and non-passivation devices were compared under the same positive bias temperature stress (PBTS), the Vth shifts were 2.8 V, 3.3 V, and 4.5 V, respectively. The Vth shifts of TiO₂ passivation and non-passivation devices under the same NBTS were -2.2 V and -3.8 V, respectively. It is expected that the presented results will form the basis for further research to improve the reliability of a-IGZO TFT.