• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.170-170
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• 2010

Thin-film transistors (TFT) have become the key components of electronic and optoelectronic devices. Most conventional thin-film field-effect transistors in display applications use an amorphous or polycrystal Si:H layer as the channel. This silicon layers are opaque in the visible range and severely restrict the amount of light detected by the observer due to its bandgap energy smaller than the visible light. Therefore, Si:H TFT devices reduce the efficiency of light transmittance and brightness. One method to increase the efficiency is to use the transparent oxides for the channel, electrode, and gate insulator. The development of transparent oxides for the components of thin-film field-effect transistors and the room-temperature fabrication with low voltage operations of the devices can offer the flexibility in designing the devices and contribute to the progress of next generation display technologies based on transparent displays and flexible displays. In this thesis, I report on the dc performance of transparent thin-film transistors using amorphous indium tin zinc oxides for an active layer. $SiO_2$ was employed as the gate dielectric oxide. The amorphous indium tin zinc oxides were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering. The carrier concentration of amorphous indium tin zinc oxides was controlled by oxygen pressure in the sputtering ambient. Devices are realized that display a threshold voltage of 4.17V and an on/off ration of ${\sim}10^9$ operated as an n-type enhancement mode with saturation mobility with $15.8\;cm^2/Vs$. In conclusion, the fabrication and characterization of thin-film transistors using amorphous indium tin zinc oxides for an active layer were reported. The devices were fabricated at room temperature by RF magnetron sputtering. The operation of the devices was an n-type enhancement mode with good saturation characteristics.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.93-94
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• 2009

The influences of $O_2$ partial pressure on electrical properties of transparent semiconducting indium zinc tin oxide thin films deposited at room temperature by magnetron sputtering have been investigated. The experimental results show that by varying the $O_2$ partial pressure during deposition, electron mobilities of IZTO thin film can be controlled between 7 and $25\;cm^2/Vs$. For conducting films, the carrier concentration and resistivity are ${\sim}\;10^{21}\;cm^{-3}$ and ${\sim}\;10^{-4}\;{\Omega}\;cm$, respectively. Concerning semiconducting films, under 12% $O_2$ partial fraction, the electron concentration is $10^{18}\;cm^{-3}$, showing the promising candidate for the application of transparent thin film transistors.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.1402-1405
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• 2006

Using a indium zinc oxide (IZO) alloy target with a ratio of 90:10 in wt%, highly transparent conducting oxide (TCO) thin films are prepared on polyethersulfone (PES) substrates by lowfrequency (LF) magnetron sputtering system. These films have amorphous structures with excellent electrical stability, surface uniformity and high optical transmittance. Experiments were carried out as a function of applied voltage. At optimal deposition conditions, thin films of IZO with a sheet resistance of 29 ohm/sq. and an optical transmission of over 82 % in the visible spectrum range were achieved. The IZO thin films fabricated by this method do not require substrate heating during the film preparation or any additional post-deposition annealing treatment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.95-95
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• 2011

비정질 산화물 반도체(Amorphous oxide semiconductors: AOSs)는 대면적화에도 불구하고 높은 이동도를 가지고, 상온에서도 제작할 수 있고, 투명 플렉시블 디스플레이 소자에 사용할 수 있기 때문에 최근 들어 각광받고 있는 연구 분야이다. 본 연구에서는 스퍼터링을 이용하여 활성층을 Amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide(a-IGZO)로 증착할 시에 스퍼터의 파워와 챔버내의 Ar/O2 비율을 다르게 했을 때 소자에 미치는 영향을 MIS구조를 이용하여 분석했다. 또한 같은 조건의 a-IGZO 활성층을 사용한 박막트랜지스터(TFT) 소자의 절연막의 종류를 바꿔가며 제작했을때의 소자의 특성 변화에 대해서도 분석하였다. 먼저 60 nm 두께의 a-IGZO층을 Heavily doped된 N형 실리콘 기판위에 스퍼터링 파워와 가스 분압비를 달리하여 증착하였다. 그 후 30 nm두께의 SiO2, Al2O3, SiNx 절연막을 증착하고, 마지막으로 열 증발 증착장비(Thermal Evaporator)를 이용하여 Al 전극을 150nm 증착하였다. 소자의 전기적 특성 분석은 HP4145와 Boonton 720을 사용하여 I-V와 C-V를 측정하였다. 위의 실험으로부터 스퍼터에서의 증착 rf파워가 증가할수록 a-IGZO 박막 트랜지스터에서의 캐리어 이동도가 감소하는 것을 볼 수 있었고, 챔버내의 가스분압비와 소자의 절연막의 종류가 변하면 a-IGZO 박막 트랜지스터의 전기적 특성이 변하는 것을 볼 수 있었다. 이러한 캐리어 이동도의 감소와 전기적 특성의 변화의 이유는 a-IGZO 활성층의 bulk trap과 절연막, 활성층 사이의 interface trap에 의한 것으로 보여진다.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.546-549
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• 2009

In this paper, we investigated the effects of different source/drain (S/D) electrode materials in thin film transistors (TFTs) based on indium-gallium-zinc oxide (IGZO) semiconductor. A transfer length and effective resistances between S/D electrodes and amorphous IGZO thin-film transistors were examined. Intrinsic TFT parameters were extracted by the transmission line method (TLM) using a series of TFTs with different channel lengths measured at a low drain voltage. The TFTs fabricated with Cu S/D electrodes showed the lowest contact resistance and transfer length indicating good ohmic characteristics, and good transfer characteristics with a field-effect mobility (${\mu}_{FE}$) of 10.0 $cm^2$/Vs.

• Journal of Information Display
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.47-50
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• 2011

Highly stable amorphous indium.gallium.zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) were fabricated with an etchstopper and via-hole structure. The TFTs exhibited 40 $cm^2$/V s field-effect mobility and a 0.21 V/dec gate voltage swing. Gate-bias stress induced a negligible threshold voltage shift (${\Delta}V_{th}$) at room temperature. The excellent stability is attribute to the via-hole and etch-stopper structure, in which, the source/drain metal contacts the active a-IGZO layer through two via holes (one on each side), resulting in minimized damage to the a-IGZO layer during the plasma etching of the source/drain metal. The comparison of the effects of the DC and AC stress on the performance of the TFTs at $60^{\circ}C$ showed that there was a smaller ${\Delta}V_{th}$ in the AC stress compared with the DC stress for the same effective stress time, indicating that the trappin of the carriers at the active layer-gate insulator interface was the dominant degradation mechanism.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.14-17
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• 2014

In this paper, indium reduced materials for transparent conductive electrodes (TCE) were fabricated and their physical properties were evaluated. Two of materials, indium-zinc-tin oxide (IZTO) and aluminum (Al) were selected as TCE materials. In case of IZTO nanoparticles, composition ratios of In, Zn and Sn is 8:1:1 were synthesized. Size of the synthesized IZTO nanoparticles were less than 10 nm, and specific surface areas were about $90m^2/g$ indicating particle sizes are very fine. Also, the IZTO nanoparticles were well crystallized with (222) preferred orientation despite it was synthesized at the lowered temperature of $300^{\circ}C$. Composition ratios of In, Zn and Sn were very uniform in accordance with those as designed. Meanwhile, Al was deposited onto glass by sputtering in a vacuum chamber for mesh architecture. The Al was well deposited onto the glass, and no pore was observed from the Al surface. The sheet resistance of Al on glass was about $0.3{\Omega}/{\square}$ with small deviation of $0.025{\Omega}/{\square}$, and adhesion was good on the glass substrate since no pelt-off part of Al was observed by tape test. If the Al mesh is combined with ink coated layer which is consistent of IZTO nanoparticles, it is expected that the good and reliable metal mesh architecture for TCE will be formed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.208-208
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• 2010

Indium zinc tin oxide (IZTO) thin films were studied as a possible alternative to indium tin oxide (ITO) films for providing low-cost transparent conducting oxide (TCO) for thin film photovoltaic devices. IZTO films were deposited onto glass substrates at room temperature. A dc/rf magnetron co-sputtering system equipped with a ceramic target of the same composition was used to deposit TCO films. Earlier studies showed that the resistivity value of $In_{0.6}Zn_{0.2}Sn_{0.2}O_{1.5}$ (IZTO20) films could be lowered to approximately $6{\times}10^{-4}ohm{\cdot}cm$ without sacrificing optical transparency and still maintaining amorphous structure through the optimization of process variables. The growth rate was kept at about 8 nm/min while the oxygen-to-argon pressure ratio varied from 0% to 7.5%. As-deposited films were always amorphous and showed strong oxygen pressure dependence of electrical resistivity and electron concentration values. Influence of forming gas anneal (FGA) at medium temperatures was also studied and proven effective in improving electrical properties. In this study, the chemical composition of the targets and the films varied around the $In_{0.6}Zn_{0.2}Sn_{0.2}O_{1.5}$ (IZTO20). It was the main objective of this paper to investigate how off-stoichiometry affected TCO characteristics including electrical resistivity and optical transmission. In addition to the composition effect, we have also studied how film properties changed with processing variables. IZTO thin films have shown their potential as a possible alternative to ITO thin films, in such way that they could be adopted in some applications where currently ITO and IZO thin films are being used. Our experimental results are compared to those obtained for commercial ITO thin films from solar cell application view point.

• Journal of Information Display
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.165-168
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• 2010

A solution-processed multicomponent oxide, yttrium hafnium zinc oxide (YHZO), was synthesized and deposited as a gate insulator. The YHZO film annealed at $600^{\circ}C$ contained an amorphous phase based on the results of thermogravimetry, differential thermal analysis, and X-ray diffraction. The electrical characteristics of the YHZO film were analyzed by measuring the leakage current. The high dielectric constant (16.4) and high breakdown voltage (71.6 V) of the YHZO films resulted from the characteristics of $HfO_2$ and $Y_2O_3$, respectively. To examine if YHZO can be applied to thin-film transistors (TFTs), indium gallium zinc oxide TFTs with a YHZO gate insulator were also fabricated. The desirable characteristics of the YHZO films when used as a gate insulator show that the limitations of the general binary-oxide-based materials and of the conventional vacuum processes can be overcome.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.139-141
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• 2015

Contact resistance of interface between the channel layers and various S/D electrodes was investigated by transmission line method. Different electrodes such as Ti/Au, a-IZO, and multilayer of a-IGZO/Ag/a-IGZO were compared in terms of contact resistance, using the transmission line model. The a-IGZO TFTs with a-IGZO/Ag/a-IGZO of S/D electrodes showed good performance and low contact resistance due to the homo-junction with channel layer.