• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.301.2-301.2
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• 2016

Metal-oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs) have gained a considerable interest in transparent electronics owing to their high optical transparency and outstanding electrical performance even in an amorphous state. Also, these metal-oxide materials can be solution-processed at a low temperature by using deep ultraviolet (DUV) induced photochemical activation allowing facile integration on flexible substrates [1]. In addition, high-dielectric constant (k) inorganic gate dielectrics are also of a great interest as a key element to lower the operating voltage and as well as the formation of coherent interface with the oxide semiconductors, which may lead to a considerable improvement in the TFT performance. In this study, we investigated the electrical properties of solution-processed high-k strontium-doped AlOx (Sr-AlOx) gate dielectrics. Using the Sr-AlOx as a gate dielectric, indium-gallium-zinc oxide (IGZO) TFTs were fabricated and their electrical properties are analyzed. We demonstrate IGZO TFTs with a 10-nm-thick Sr-AlOx gate dielectric which can be operated at a low voltage (~5 V).

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.154-154
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• 2012

Flexible complementary inverters based on thin-film transistors (TFTs) are important because they have low power consumption and high voltage gain compared to single type circuits. We have manufactured flexible complementary inverters using pentacene and amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) for the p-channel and n-channel, respectively. The circuits were fabricated on polyimide (PI) substrate. Firstly, a thin poly-4-vinyl phenol (PVP) layer was spin coated on PI substrate to make a smooth surface with rms surface roughness of 0.3 nm, which was required to grow high quality IGZO layers. Then, Ni gate electrode was deposited on the PVP layer by e-beam evaporator. 400-nm-thick PVP and 20-nm-thick ALD Al2O3 dielectric was deposited in sequence as a double gate dielectric layer for high flexibility and low leakage current. Then, IGZO and pentacene semiconductor layers were deposited by rf sputter and thermal evaporator, respectively, using shadow masks. Finally, Al and Au source/drain electrodes of 70 nm were respectively deposited on each semiconductor layer using shadow masks by thermal evaporator. The characteristics of TFTs and inverters were evaluated at different bending radii. The applied strain led to change in voltage transfer characteristics of complementary inverters as well as source-drain saturation current, field effect mobility and threshold voltage of TFTs. The switching threshold voltage of fabricated inverters was decreased with increasing bending radius, which is related to change in parameters of TFTs. Throughout the bending experiments, relationship between circuit performance and TFT characteristics under mechanical deformation could be elucidated.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.11-16
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• 2016

The conduction behavior and electron concentration change in a-IGZO thin-films according to the RTA (rapid thermal annealing) were studied. The electrical characteristics of TFTs (thin-film-transistors) annealed by different temperatures were measured. The sheet resistance, electron concentration, and oxygen vacancy of a-IGZO film were measured by the four-point-probe-measurement, hall-effect-measurement, and XPS analysis. The RTA process increased the driving current of IGZO TFTs but the VTH shifted to the negative direction at the same time. When the RTA temperature is higher than $250^{\circ}C$, the leakage current at off-state increased significantly. This is attributed to the increase of oxygen vacancy resulting in the increase of electron concentration. We demonstrate that the RTA is a promising process to adjust the VTH of TFT because the RTA process can easily modify the electron concentration and control the conductivity of IGZO film with short process time.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.8-8
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• 2009

Thin-film transistors (TFTs) were fabricated using amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) channels by rf-magnetron sputtering at room temperature. We have studied the effect of oxygen partial pressure on the threshold voltage($V_{th}$) of a-IGZO TFTs. Interestingly, the $V_{th}$ value of the oxide TFTs are slightly shifted in the positive direction due to increasing $O_2$ ratio from 1.2 to 1.8%. The device performance is significantly affected by varying $O_2$ ratio, which is closely related with oxygen vacancies provide the needed free carriers for electrical conduction.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.166-166
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• 2010

Recently, TFTs based on amorphous oxide semiconductors (AOSs) such as ZnO, InZnO, ZnSnO, GaZnO, TiOx, InGaZnO(IGZO), SnGaZnO, etc. have been attracting a grate deal of attention as potential alternatives to existing TFT technology to meet emerging technological demands where Si-based or organic electronics cannot provide a solution. Since, in 2003, Masuda et al. and Nomura et al. have reported on transparent TFTs using ZnO and IGZO as active layers, respectively, much efforts have been devoted to develop oxide TFTs using aforementioned amorphous oxide semiconductors as their active layers. In this thesis, I report on the performance of thin-film transistors using amorphous indium gallium zinc oxides for an active channel layer at room temperature. $SiO_2$ was employed as the gate dielectric oxide. The amorphous indium gallium zinc oxides were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering. The carrier concentration of amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide was controlled by oxygen pressure in the sputtering ambient. Devices are realized that display a threshold voltage of 1.5V and an on/off ration of > $10^9$ operated as an n-type enhancement mode with saturation mobility with $9.06\;cm^2/V{\cdot}s$. The devices show optical transmittance above 80% in the visible range. In conclusion, the fabrication and characterization of thin-film transistors using amorphous indium gallium zinc oxides for an active channel layer were reported. The operation of the devices was an n-type enhancement mode with good saturation characteristics.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.187-187
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• 2012

Solution-processed metal-alloy oxides such as indium zinc oxide (IZO), indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) has been extensively researched due to their high electron mobility, environmental stability, optical transparency, and solution-processibility. In spite of their excellent material properties, however, there remains a challenging problem for utilizing IZO or IGZO in electronic devices: the supply shortage of indium (In). The cost of indium is high, what is more, indium is becoming more expensive and scarce and thus strategically important. Therefore, developing an alternative route to improve carrier mobility of solution-processable ZnO is critical and essential. Here, we introduce a simple route to achieve high-performance and low-temperature solution-processed ZnO thin film transistors (TFTs) by employing alkali-metal doping such as Li, Na, K or Rb. Li-doped ZnO TFTs exhibited excellent device performance with a field-effect mobility of $7.3cm^2{\cdot}V-1{\cdot}s-1$ and an on/off current ratio of more than 107. Also, in case of higher drain voltage operation (VD=60V), the field effect mobility increased up to $11.45cm^2{\cdot}V-1{\cdot}s-1$. These all alkali metal doped ZnO TFTs were fabricated at maximum process temperature as low as $300^{\circ}C$. Moreover, low-voltage operating ZnO TFTs was fabricated with the ion gel gate dielectrics. The ultra high capacitance of the ion gel gate dielectrics allowed high on-current operation at low voltage. These devices also showed excellent operational stability.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.119-122
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• 2008

In this paper, we describe the current status and issues of the oxide thin-film transistors (OTFTs), which attract much attention as an emerging new backplane technology replacing conventional silicon-based TFTs technologies. First, the unique benefits of OTFTs will be presented as a backplane for large-sized AMOLED including note-book PC, second TV and HD-TV. And then, the state-of-the-art transistor performance and uniformity characteristics of OTFTs will be highlighted. The obtained a-IGZO TFTs exhibited the field-effect mobility of $18\;cm^2/Vs$, threshold voltage of 1.8 V, on/off ratio of $10^9$, and subthreshold gate swing of 0.28 V/decade. In addition, the world largest-sized 12.1-inch WXGA active-matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) display is demonstrated using indium-gallium-zinc oxide (IGZO) TFTs.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.615-620
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• 2020

Oxide semiconductor, represented by a-IGZO, has been commercialized in the market as active layer of TFTs of display backplanes due to its various advantages over a-Si. a-IGZO can be deposited at room temperature by RF magnetron sputtering process; however, additional thermal annealing above 300℃ is required to obtain good semiconducting properties and stability. These temperature are too high for common flexible substrates like PET, PEN, and PI. In this work, effects of microwave annealing time on IGZO thin film and associated thin-film transistors are demonstrated. As the microwave annealing time increases, the electrical properties of a-IGZO TFT improve to a degree similar to that during thermal annealing. Optimal microwave annealed IGZO TFT exhibits mobility, SS, V_th, and V_H of 6.45 ㎠/Vs, 0.17 V/dec, 1.53 V, and 0.47 V, respectively. PBS and NBS stability tests confirm that microwave annealing can effectively improve the interface between the dielectric and the active layer.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.9
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• pp.693-696
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• 2011

Recently, amorphous oxide semiconductors (AOSs) based thin-film transistors (TFTs) have received considerable attention for application in the next generation displays industry. The research trends of AOSs based TFTs investigation have focused on the high device performance. The electrical properties of the TFTs are influenced by trap density. In particular, the threshold voltage ($V_{th}$) and subthreshold swing (SS) essentially depend on the semiconductor/gate-insulator interface trap. In this article, we investigated the effects of Ar plasma-treated $SiO_2$ insulator on the interfacial property and the device performances of amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) TFTs. We report on the improvement in interfacial characteristics between a-IGZO channel layer and gate insulator depending on Ar power in plasma process, since the change of treatment power could result in different plasma damage on the interface.