Illumination interface stability of aging-diffusion-modulated high performance InZnO/DyOx transistors and exploration in digital circuits

doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2021.01.066

Abstract

Abstract:

In current study, the rare-reported solution-driven DyO_x films have been prepared to act as the dielectric layer of high performance InZnO/DyO_x thin film transistors (TFTs). Annealing temperature dependent thermal decomposition, morphology, crystallization behavior, and chemical compositions of DyO_x and InZnO films have been investigated respectively. Results have demonstrated that air-annealed InZnO/DyO_x TFTs possess the improved electrical performance, including ultrahigh on/off current ratio of 1 × 10⁹, larger saturation mobility of 12.6 cm² V^-1 s^-1 and negligible hysteresis after 10 d aging diffusion in the relative humidity (RH) of 40 % air ambient, which has been explored by the variable range-hopping (VRH) percolation model and energy band theory. The distinct illumination bias stability can be attributed to the generated various interface defects and concluded that the white light illuminated TFT behaves the higher stability with the smaller threshold voltage shift of 0.25 V. To confirm its feasible application in digital circuit, a resistor-loaded inverter based on InZnO/DyO_x TFTs has been constructed. A high gain of 10.1 and good dynamic response behavior have been detected at a low operating voltage of 2 V. As a result, it can be inferred that diffusion-induced enhanced carrier transporting mechanism is an economical and effective method to optimize the electrical performance of solution-derived InZnO/DyO_x TFTs, indicating its potential application prospects in flexible transparent electronics with low power consumption.

Key words: Dysprosium oxide (DyOx), Thin film transistors (TFTs), Aging-diffusion, Inverter, Illumination bias stability

Bing Yang, Gang He, Qian Gao, Wenhao Wang, Yongchun Zhang, Yufeng Xia, Xiaofen Xu, Leini Wang, Miao Zhang. Illumination interface stability of aging-diffusion-modulated high performance InZnO/DyO_x transistors and exploration in digital circuits[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2021, 87: 143-154.

Figures/Tables 13

Fig. 1. (a) The TG results of DyOx and InZnO xerogel with a heating rate of 5 °C min-1. (b) Optical transmittances of DyOx thin films annealed at different temperatures. The inset demonstrates the Tauc plots of the DyOx thin films. (c) Optical transmittances of InZnO thin films annealed at different temperatures. The inset demonstrates the Tauc plots of the InZnO thin films.

Fig. 2. AFM images of DyOx thin films annealed at different temperatures.

Fig. 3. XRD patterns of the DyOx and InZnO as functions of annealing temperatures.

Fig. 4. XPS spectra of (a) O 1s and (c) Dy 3d peaks for DyOx thin films as a function of annealing temperature. (b) Semiquantitative analyses of the oxygen component for the corresponding DyOx thin films.

Fig. 5. XPS spectra of (a) O 1s, (b) In 3d, and (c) Zn 2p peaks for InZnO thin films as a function of annealing temperature.

Fig. 6. (a) Areal capacitance of the DyOx thin films annealed at different temperatures. The inset demonstrates annealing temperature and frequency dependent dielectric constant of the DyOx thin films. (b) Leakage current density of the DyOx thin films annealed at various temperatures. (c) Schottky emission (SE) plots for 510 °C-annealed Al/DyOx/P-Si MOS capacitor for gate injection.

Fig. 7. Electronic transporting pathways and energy band change of aging diffusion bottom-gate and top-contact architecture TFTs.

Fig. 8. (a) Transfer characteristics of the InZnO/DyOx TFTs as a function of annealing temperature of InZnO layer without aging. (b) Transfer characteristics of the 500 °C-annealed InZnO/DyOx TFTs aged for 0, 3, 6, 9, 10 d. (c) Transfer characteristics of the InZnO/DyOx TFTs as a function of annealing temperature of InZnO layer aged for 10 d, including the transfer characteristics of the 500 °C-annealed InZnO/DyOx TFTs aged for 20 d. (d) Transfer characteristics of 500 °C- annealed InZnO/DyOx TFTs as a function of relative humidity aged for 10 d.

Table 1 Electrical parameters of InZnO/DyOx TFTs at various annealing processing and aging conditions.

Samples	μ_sat (cm² V^-1 s¹)	I_on/I_off	V_TH (V)	SS (V dec^-1)	N_S^max (cm^-2)
420 °C InZnO/510 °C DyO_x	1.0	2.68 × 10⁴	2.32	0.125	2.57 × 10¹²
460 °C InZnO/510 °C DyO_x	5.94	4.10 × 10⁵	1.67	0.09	1.2 × 10¹²
500 °C InZnO/510 °C DyO_x	11.8	4.66 × 10⁷	1.57	0.075	6.3 × 10¹¹
420 °C InZnO/510 °C DyO_x for 10 d aging	1.26	2.17 × 10⁶	1.92	0.104	1.75 × 10¹²
460 °C InZnO/510 °C DyO_x for 10 d aging	5.14	5.30 × 10⁶	0.81	0.086	1.04 × 10¹²
500 °C InZnO/510 °C DyO_x for 10 d aging	12.6	1.0 × 10⁹	0.68	0.071	4.5 × 10¹¹
500 °C InZnO/510 °C DyO_x for 20 d aging	15.7	2.5 × 10⁶	0.56	0.087	1.08 × 10¹²
500 °C -InZnO/ HfAlO_x [30]	9.5	∼10⁵	1.16	0.183	4.06 × 10¹²
500 °C- InZnO/ HfO_x [31]	9.1	1.5 × 10⁷	0.44	0.09	1.58 × 10¹²

Fig. 9. (a) The resistor-loaded inverter structure and voltage transfer characteristic (VTC) curves with InZnO/DyOx TFT. (b) Voltage gain of the inverter at various VDD values. (c) Voltage gain and the transition width of the inverter at various VDD values. (d) Dynamic switching behavior of the inverter under AC square waves at 1 Hz.

Fig. 10. The PBS results in the (a) darkness and the PIBS results illuminating under (b) the white LEDs, (c) green light and (d) ultraviolet radiation, respectively.

Fig. 11. The energy band diagrams of the PBS under the (a) darkness and the PIBS under the (b) white LEDs, (c) green light and (d) ultraviolet radiation, respectively.

Fig. 12. (a) The comparison of transfer characteristics in darkness and various illuminations after PBS and PBIS. (b) The comparison of extracted subthreshold slope in darkness and various illuminations after PBS and PBIS.

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