Electrical Performance Enhancement of Fully Solution-processed Amorphous In-Zn-O Thin-Film Transistor via Argon Plasma Treatment
Authors: Hanifah Umu , Bermundo Juan Paolo , Uenuma Mutsunori , Uraoka Yukiharu 
Published: November 2022

Amorphous oxide semiconductors are intensively studied nowadays due to its excellent material characteristics, such as high mobility, high optical transparency, large area uniformity, and low processing temperature which enable flexible device application [1]. Solution approach is a promising method over conventional vacuum process, because of its simplicity and versatility with high material utilization which can minimize fabrication cost [2]. To optimize for application in flexible substrates, reduction of process temperatures to <400oC is an important requirement. Plasma treatment can be used to modify thin-film properties and device characteristics by modulating carrier concentration and density of oxygen vacancies [3]. Argon plasma treatment can improve reliability, as carbon concentration on the surface can be reduced, and oxidation enhancement on the surface can be achieved. This research aims to study the effect of plasma treatment on the stability of fully solution processed amorphous Indium Zinc Oxide (a-IZO) thin-film transistor (TFT).
Our fully solution processed a-IZO TFTs were fabricated with a self-aligned top gate structure at a maximum fabrication temperature of 300oC. Initially, IZO precursor was spin-coated on Si/SiO2 substrate. Then, fluorinated-polysilsesquioxane (F-PSQ) was deposited with a thickness of ~200 nm which act as a gate-insulator, followed by an IZO layer to be transformed as conducting electrode after treatment. Self-aligned patterning, gate etching, and gate insulator etching were then performed. Lastly, Argon plasma treatment is performed via inductively coupled plasma (ICP), using reactive ion etching SAMCO 10-ip equipment for 5 seconds at room temperature with an ICP power, bias power, and working pressure of 300 W, 100 W, and 5 Pa, respectively. The Argon flow rate was also varied at 100, 75, and 50 sccm. The IZO TFT without plasma treatment was denoted as-fabricated sample. After plasma treatment, exposed IZO layers transform as source/drain and gate. TFT structure before and after plasma treatment can be seen in Fig. 1.
Film surface morphology was studied using atomic force microscopy. As Argon concentration increased, the exposed IZO surface became rougher. We also checked the transfer characteristics, performed cyclic measurement, and bias stress tests. Transfer characteristics of TFTs with 90µm width and 10µm length were examined at several drain voltages (Vd = 0.1 V, 5.0 V, and 9.9 V) by a semiconductor parameter analyzer. Transfer curves for as-fabricated and after Ar-75 plasma treatment are shown in Fig 1. As-fabricated sample shows poor switching characteristics because of inactivated source/drain and gate electrodes. After plasma treatment, TFTs show superb characteristics which possibly happened because of changes in the metal-oxide bond formation which increased the conductivity in exposed area. The mobility significantly increased to 31.12 cm2/Vs, with a Vth= -0.3 V and subthreshold swing of 0.28 V/dec for Ar-75 sccm. TFT yield was evaluated by measuring 8 TFTs for each sample. Average mobility for Ar-50, Ar-75, and Ar-100 is 20.30 cm2/Vs, 22.93 cm2/Vs, and 19.88 cm2/Vs, respectively. The mobility increase corresponded to the thin-film quality improvement caused by change in VO and surface roughness [4]. However, excessive Argon gas flow also tend to make samples more conductive.
To investigate device stability, positive bias stress (PBS, stress V
g= 10 V) and negative bias stress (NBS, stress V
g= -10 V) was performed for 2,000s. Lower on-current for all samples were observed as bias stress duration increased. A threshold voltage shift (∆Vth) for Ar-50, Ar-75, and Ar-100 of 0.2 V, -0.3 V, and 0.6 V, respectively after PBS, and 1.4 V, 2.9 V, and 0.7 V, respectively after NBS was observed. We expect that improvement via plasma treatment is due to two main factors. First, ion bombardment caused surface improvement and activated the electrode. Second, the chemical reaction induced by plasma treatment changed the metal-oxide bonds formation [5-6]. Thus, fully solution-processed a-IZO TFT with high mobility up to 31.12 cm2/Vs was achieved by Ar-75 plasma treatment, which also led to better stability under bias stress. These results show that performance enhancement of fully-solution processed a-IZO TFT by plasma treatment has a large potential for future low-temperature flexible device applications.
Acknowledgment:
This research was supported by JSPS Kakenhi Grant no. 22K14291. The authors thank Nissan Chemical Corporation for providing the IZO precursor solution.

References:

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[2] W. Xu, et al., ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 10 (31), 25878 (2018)
[3] W. S. Liu, et al., Semicond. Sci. Technol. 36, 045007 (2021)
[4] W. S. Liu, et al., Membranes 12, 49 (2022)
[5] J. S. Park, et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 262106 (2007)
[6] Z.W. Shang, et al., J Mater Sci. 56, 6286 (2021)

Figure 1