Microwave-Assisted Annealing Method for Low-Temperature Fabrication of Amorphous Indium-Gallium-Zinc Oxide Thin-Film Transistors

Jong Woo Kim, Seong Geon Park, Min Kyu Yang, Byeong Kwon Ju

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Compared with conventional silicon-based semiconductors, amorphous oxide semiconductors present several advantages, including the possibility of room-temperature fabrication, excellent uniformity, high transmittance, and high electron mobility. Notably, the application of oxide semiconductors to flexible electronic devices requires a low-temperature fabrication process. However, for the realization of semiconductor characteristics and stable products, the fabrication process requires annealing at temperatures of 300 °C or higher. To address this, a low-temperature microwave annealing method, which improves the electrical characteristics of a transistor and reduces the production time compared with the conventional annealing method, is presented herein. Microwave annealing is a well-known method of annealing that minimizes the heat energy transferred to a substrate via instantaneous heat transfer through the vibrations of the lattice in the material during microwave irradiation and is suitable as a low-temperature annealing method. In this study, we evaluate the electrical characteristics of devices subjected to conventional annealing at 200 °C and 300 °C for 1 h and microwave annealing at 200 °C for 10 min. For the device subjected to microwave annealing at 200 °C for 10 min, the threshold voltage, current on/off ratio, subthreshold swing, and saturation mobility are 13.9 V, 1.14 × 105, 3.05 V/dec, and 4.23 cm2/V (Formula presented.) s, respectively. These characteristic results are far superior to the characteristic results of the device subjected to conventional annealing at 200 °C for 1 h and are equivalent to those of the device treated at 300 °C for 1 h. Thus, this study develops a more effective annealing method, which facilitates low-temperature fabrication in a reduced period.

Original languageEnglish
Article number3094
JournalElectronics (Switzerland)
Volume11
Issue number19
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022 Oct

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This study was supported by the Sahmyook University Research Fund (2020).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors.

Keywords

  • amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide
  • defect states
  • low-temperature process
  • microwave annealing
  • thermal annealing

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Control and Systems Engineering
  • Signal Processing
  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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