OxideOxide-based Electric Devices : Flexible Transparent Thin Film Transistors

Yu-Lin Wang

Department of Materials Science and Engineering , University of Florida

Background

Flexible displays are attractive for portable devices such as cell phone, PDA, laptop, e-book and wearable due to their lightweight, low power consumption, and being bendable.

Soldiers can use flexible display computers on the battlefield for communication and information access.

Flexible display

Currently, these display either use a-Si TFTs or organic TFTs (OTFTs) in the active matrix arrays. To get a high resolution display, high mobility TFTs are necessary. However, a-Si TFTs or OTFTs cannot fit this application.

Material Comparisons
Which material is a better choice for the transparent and flexible display?

IZO : Indium znic oxide

Advantages of the IZO Thin Film Transistors

1. High transparency : available for transparent TFTs 2. Room temperature process : available for plastics substrate 3. Can be used as electrodes, or channel layers : by adjusting O2 ratio 4. High field effect mobility : 10 ~ 50 cm2V-1S-1 5. Large area deposition : By sputtering machine 6. Rapid Process 7. Low cost

Conduction behavior of transparent conductive oxides (TCOs)

Post-transition metal oxide (n 4) Ex. Indium oxide, or Tin oxide

Si

Hosono et. al., Nature, 432, 488 (2004)

Requirements for TCOs in flexible transparent TFTs applications

Good conductivity Bandgap energy Eg> 3 ev High mobility Room temperature deposited film Amorphous film Controllable carrier concentration Non-toxic elements Good reliability Cheap processing

Various conductive oxides

TFTs on flexible substrates

Currently, most TFTs use -Si or organic TFTs (OTFTs). Two methods are used to fabricate these TFTs on flexible substrates.

1. Directly deposit film on flexible substrates (plastics) and fabricate TFTs. 2. Fabricate TFTs on hard substrate (glass) and then transfer the TFTs to flexible substrates (plastics).

InGaZnO TFTs on PET

PET : polyethylene terephthalate

Threshold voltage 1.3V On/Off ratio > 105

Sub-threshold voltage swing ~0.24 V/decade Field effect mobility ~10 cm2V-1S-1 gm ~0.03 mS/mm
Hosono et. al., Jpn, J. Appl. Phys., 45, 4303 (2006)

IZO Film : Oxygen Ratio Dependence

125W-ZnO 150W-In2O3 5 mTorr chamber pressure Carrier concentration Carrier mobility Resistivity
60 50 40

Carrier Concentration (cm )

1x10 1x10 1x10 1x10 1x10 1x10

-3

23

Carrier Mobility (cm /V-sec.)

Resistivity (ohm-cm)

21

19

30
17

20
15

10
13

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 % O2 in O2 + Ar [%]

By choosing different oxygen ratio, we can choose what carrier concentration we need

Depletion mode TFTs

Plan to do Channel : IZO or IGZO or SIZO Gate dielectrics : SiO2, SiNx, Sc2O3

Fabricated Channel : IZO Gate dielectrics : SiO2, SiNx

Process sequences

Enhancement mode TFTs

Plan to do Channel : IZO or IGZO or SIZO Gate dielectrics : SiO2, SiNx, Sc2O3

Fabricated Channel : IZO Gate dielectrics : SiO2

Large Area Depletion Mode TFTs

Gate Source
Ti 20nm Au 80nm SiO2 SiO2 50nm IZO 50 nm Glass Substrate Au 80nm Pt 20nm

Drain
Ti 20nm Au 80nm SiO2

IZO film : Carrier concentration ~1018 cm-3 Gate Width/Length =100um / 36um G

S D

Large Area Depletion Mode TFT Performance

Gate W/L: 100 Qm / 36 Qm Drain-Source Current (mA)
0.25

Vg= 0V
0.20 0.15 0.10 0.05 0.00 0 1 2 3 4 Drain-Source Voltage (V) 5

Step= -1V

Large Area TFT Performance

Gate W/L: 100 Qm / 36 Qm 0.8 Drain-Source Current (A )
1/2

0.014 0.7 0.012 0.010 0.008 0.006 0.004 0.002 0.000 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 0.6

I ds

0.5 0.4

gm

0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0

Gate Voltage (V)

Threshold voltage -6.5V Max. Transconductance 0.55 mS/mm On/Off ratio > 105 Field effect mobility 4.5 cm2V-1S-1

Extr. Transconductance (mS/mm)

Gate Dielectric Leakage

Gate
5x10
-10

/ : 100 Qm X 36 Qm

Gate ielectric: i 2 50 m rre t ( )

4x10 3x10 2x10 1x10
-10

-10

-10

Gate

-10

0 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3

Gate

oltage ( )

Gate leakage current ~ 10-10 A

Small Gate length Depletion Mode TFTs

Au 80nm Au 80nm Ti 20nm Pt 20nm SiNx 12.5nm IZO 50nm Au 80nm Ti 20nm

Glass

IZO film : Carrier concentration ~1018 cm-3 Gate W/L =200um / 1um Gate dielectric : SiNx 12.5 nm

Small Gate le gth De letio Mode TFT Performa ce

Gate
1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 0

200 Qm/1 Qm g 0V

rre t (m )

Ste

-0.5V

Drai -So rce

1 2 3 4 Drai -So rce Voltage (V)

Small Gate le gth F Performa ce

Gate
1/2

200 Qm/1Qm 10 8

0.05 0.04 0.03 0.02 0.01 0.00 -6

I ds

Drai -So rce

2 0 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 Gate Voltage (V)

Threshold voltage -2.5V On/Off ratio > 105

Max. Transconductance 7.5 mS/mm Field effect mobility 14.5 cm2V-1S-1

Extr. ra sco

gm

cta ce (mS/mm)

rre t (

Small Gate Le gt s : C t-off freq e cy a axim m Oscillatio req e cy

S-parameters
12 10
21

Gai ( B)

8 6 4 2

21

fmax

fT 180 MHz fmax 155 MHz Sufficient for display applications

0 10

100 req e cy ( Hz)

Small Gate length Enhancement Mode TFTs

IZO film : Carrier concentration ~1x1016 cm-3 Gate W/L =100um / 1um Gate dielectric : SiO2 100 nm

Enhancement Mode TFT : Ids vs. Vds

Enhancement Mode TFT Performance

Threshold voltage 0.5V On/Off ratio ~ 105 Max. Transconductance ~10 mS/mm Sub-threshold voltage swing ~0.135 V/decade

Summary
Very high performance depletion mode and enhancement mode TFTs were achieved on glass substrates. Very good frequency response from a depletion mode TFT which is very sufficient for display applications. IZO and IGZO will be used as channel layers to fabricate depletion mode and enhancement mode TFTs and ring oscillators on glass and flexible transparent substrate (PET). The SiO2-In2O3-ZnO system and N2 plasma incorporated IZO film will be grown to get a better controllability of the carrier concentration.