Characterisation and stability of MESFETs fabricated on amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide.

Abstract

Indium-Gallium-Zinc-Oxide (a-IGZO) is an amorphous oxide semiconductor that has been attracting increasing attention for use in flat panel display and optoelectronic applications. This is largely due to IGZO’s high mobility at low processing temperatures. In this thesis, IGZO films were successfully grown on polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) substrates by RF magnetron sputtering at room temperature. These films were flexible, transparent and had a good Hall mobility (5-12 cm2/Vs). High quality metal oxide Schottky contacts were fabricated on these as-grown IGZO/PEN films with on-off rectification ratios of up to 108. These were then used as the gate contacts in transparent metal semiconductor field effect transistors (MESFETs). The performance and device stability of these IGZO/PEN MESFETs were investigated via a series of stress tests in both dark conditions and under illumination at different wavelengths in the visible spectrum. During constant voltage stress testing under illumination, the threshold voltage shifted by -0.54 V and 0.38 V for negative and positive gate biasing, respectively. These shifts proved reversible when devices were left in dark conditions for extended periods of time. The effect of persistent photoconductivity after exposure to different illumination sources was examined, with three potential passivation coatings to reduce this unwanted effect explored. Transparent IGZO/PEN MESFETs with an absolute transmission of up to 75% were achieved with the use of ITO ohmic contacts. These devices survived mechanical bending down to a radius of 7 mm with negligible variation in on-current and threshold voltage. This allows for the possibility of incorporating their use in future applications such as flexible transparent electronics