Improvement of Electrical Characteristics and Stability of Amorphous Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide Thin Film Transistors Using Nitrocellulose Passivation Layer

In this research, nitrocellulose is proposed as a new material for the passivation layers of amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide thin film transistors (a-IGZO TFTs). The a-IGZO TFTs with nitrocellulose passivation layers (NC-PVLs) demonstrate improved electrical characteristics and stability. The a-IGZO TFTs with NC-PVLs exhibit improvements in field-effect mobility (μ_FE) from 11.72 ± 1.14 to 20.68 ± 1.94 cm²/(V s), threshold voltage (<i>V</i>_th) from 1.85 ± 1.19 to 0.56 ± 0.35 V, and on/off current ratio (<i>I</i>_on/off) from (5.31 ± 2.19) × 10⁷ to (4.79 ± 1.54) × 10⁸ compared to a-IGZO TFTs without PVLs, respectively. The <i>V</i>_th shifts of a-IGZO TFTs without PVLs, with poly­(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) PVLs, and with NC-PVLs under positive bias stress (PBS) test for 10,000 s represented 5.08, 3.94, and 2.35 V, respectively. These improvements were induced by nitrogen diffusion from NC-PVLs to a-IGZO TFTs. The lone-pair electrons of diffused nitrogen attract weakly bonded oxygen serving as defect sites in a-IGZO TFTs. Consequently, the electrical characteristics are improved by an increase of carrier concentration in a-IGZO TFTs, and a decrease of defects in the back channel layer. Also, NC-PVLs have an excellent property as a barrier against ambient gases. Therefore, the NC-PVL is a promising passivation layer for next-generation display devices that simultaneously can improve electrical characteristics and stability against ambient gases

Silicon Cations Intermixed Indium Zinc Oxide Interface for High-Performance Thin-Film Transistors Using a Solution Process

Solution-processed amorphous metal-oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs) utilizing an intermixed interface between a metal-oxide semiconductor and a dielectric layer are proposed. In-depth physical characterizations are carried out to verify the existence of the intermixed interface that is inevitably formed by interdiffusion of cations originated from a thermal process. In particular, when indium zinc oxide (IZO) semiconductor and silicon dioxide (SiO₂) dielectric layer are in contact and thermally processed, a Si⁴⁺ intermixed IZO (Si/IZO) interface is created. On the basis of this concept, a high-performance Si/IZO TFT having both a field-effect mobility exceeding 10 cm² V^–1 s^–1 and a on/off current ratio over 10⁷ is successfully demonstrated