Bonwon Koo

A molecular design principle of lyotropic liquid-crystalline conjugated polymers with directed alignment capability for plastic electronics

Conjugated polymers with a one-dimensional p-orbital overlap exhibit optoelectronic anisotropy. Their unique anisotropic properties can be fully realized in device applications only when the conjugated chains are aligned. Here, we report a molecular design principle of conjugated polymers to achieve concentration-regulated chain planarization, self-assembly, liquid-crystal-like good mobility and non-interdigitated side chains. As a consequence of these intra- and intermolecular attributes, chain alignment along an applied flow field occurs. This liquid-crystalline conjugated polymer was realized by incorporating intramolecular sulphur-fluorine interactions and bulky side chains linked to a tetrahedral carbon having a large form factor. By optimizing the polymer concentration and the flow field, we could achieve a high dichroic ratio of 16.67 in emission from conducting conjugated polymer films. Two-dimensional grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction was performed to analyse a well-defined conjugated polymer alignment. Thin-film transistors built on highly aligned conjugated polymer films showed more than three orders of magnitude faster carrier mobility along the conjugated polymer alignment direction than the perpendicular direction.

Effects of hydroxyl groups in polymeric dielectrics on organic transistor performance

Polymeric dielectrics having different ratios of hydroxyl groups were intentionally synthesized to investigate the effect of hydroxyl groups on the electrical properties of pentacene-based organic thin film transistors (OTFTs). Large hysteresis usually observed in OTFT devices was confirmed to be strongly related to the hydroxyl bonds existing inside of polymeric dielectrics and could be reduced by substituting with cinnamoyl groups. Although the hydroxyl groups deteriorate the capacitance-voltage characteristics and gate leakage current densities, exceptionally high hole mobility (5.5cm2V−1s−1) could be obtained by increasing the number of hydroxyl groups, which was not caused by the improvement of pentacene crystallinity but related to the interface characteristics.

The effect of moisture on the photon-enhanced negative bias thermal instability in Ga–In–Zn–O thin film transistors

We investigated the impact of photon irradiation on the stability of gallium-indium-zinc oxide (GIZO) thin film transistors. The application of light on the negative bias temperature stress (NBTS) accelerated the negative displacement of the threshold voltage (Vth). This phenomenon can be attributed to the trapping of the photon-induced carriers into the gate dielectric/channel interface or the gate dielectric bulk. Interestingly, the negative Vth shift under photon-enhanced NBTS condition worsened in relatively humid environments. It is suggested that moisture is a significant parameter that induces the degradation of bias-stressed GIZO transistors.

The impact of gate dielectric materials on the light-induced bias instability in Hf–In–Zn–O thin film transistor

This study examined the effect of gate dielectric materials on the light-induced bias instability of Hf–In–Zn–O (HIZO) transistor. The HfOx and SiNx gated devices suffered from a huge negative threshold voltage (Vth) shift (>11 V) during the application of negative-bias-thermal illumination stress for 3 h. In contrast, the HIZO transistor exhibited much better stability (<2.0 V) in terms of Vth movement under identical stress conditions. Based on the experimental results, we propose a plausible degradation model for the trapping of the photocreated hole carrier either at the channel/gate dielectric or dielectric bulk layer.

High Electrical Performance of Wet-Processed Indium Zinc Oxide Thin-Film Transistors

We developed thin-film transistors (TFTs) that use solution-processed amorphous indium zinc oxide for the channels in an all-photolithographic process. The transistors, which operate in depletion mode, have excellent transfer characteristics, including saturation mobility of 6.57 cm2/ V·s, threshold voltages of - 0.30 V, turn-on voltages of -1.50 V, on/off ratios of 109, and inverse subthreshold slopes of 0.15 V/dec. We measured the time, temperature, gate voltage, and drain-voltage dependence of the threshold voltage shift, which was 2.16 V under stress conditions. This is nearly the same as that of conventional amorphous silicon TFTs.

The Impact of Device Configuration on the Photon-Enhanced Negative Bias Thermal Instability of GaInZnO Thin Film Transistors

We investigated the effect of device configuration on the light-induced negative bias thermal instability of gallium indium zinc oxide transistors. The V th of back-channel-etch (BCE)-type transistors shifted by ―3.5 V, and the subthreshold gate swing (SS) increased from 0.88 to 1.38 V/decade after negative bias illumination temperature stress for 3 h. However, etch-stopper-type devices exhibited small V th shifts of ―0.8 V without degradation in the SS value. It is believed that the inferior instability of the BCE device is associated with the formation of an interfacial molybdenum (Mo) oxychloride layer, which occurs in the course of dry etching Mo using Cl 2 /O 2 for source/drain patterning.

Characteristics of Double-Gate Ga–In–Zn–O Thin-Film Transistor

A Ga-In-Zn-O thin-film transistor with double-gate structure is reported. Enhancement-mode operation that is essential to the constitution of a low-power digital circuitry is easily achieved when the upper and lower gate electrodes are tied together. The saturation mobility and the subthreshold swing are improved from 3.65 cm2/(V·s) and 0.44 V/dec to 18.9 cm2/(V·s) and 0.14 V/dec, respectively, compared with the single-gate structure. We can modulate the threshold voltage of either gate by adjusting the bias on the other gate.

Influence of Illumination on the Negative-Bias Stability of Transparent Hafnium–Indium–Zinc Oxide Thin-Film Transistors

The stability of transparent hafnium-indium-zinc oxide (HIZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) was investigated under negative-bias stress conditions. TFTs that incorporate transparent electrode materials such as indium-tin oxide or indium-zinc oxide were studied, and the bias stress experiments showed that transparent TFTs undergo severe degradation (negative shift in threshold voltage VT) with simultaneous exposure to white light, in comparison with the results obtained in dark. The time evolution of VT indicates that the deterioration under illumination occurs mainly by the trapping of photogenerated carriers near the HIZO/dielectric interface.

The impact of SiNx gate insulators on amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide thin film transistors under bias-temperature-illumination stress

The threshold voltage instability (Vth) in indium-gallium-zinc oxide thin film transistor was investigated with disparate SiNx gate insulators under bias-temperature-illumination stress. As SiNx film stress became more tensile, the negative shift in Vth decreased significantly from −14.34 to −6.37 V. The compressive films exhibit a nitrogen-rich phase, higher hydrogen contents, and higher N–H bonds than tensile films. This suggests that the higher N–H related traps may play a dominant role in the degradation of the devices, which may provide and/or generate charge trapping sites in interfaces and/or SiNx insulators. It is anticipated that the appropriate optimization of gate insulator properties will help to improve device reliability.

Highly Stable Double-Gate Ga–In–Zn–O Thin-Film Transistor

We report the electrical stability of double-gate (DG) Ga-In-Zn-O thin-film transistors (TFTs). The threshold voltage (<i>VT</i>) shift of the DG TFT after 3 h of positive-bias temperature stress (<i>V</i>_GS = + 20 V, <i>V</i>_DS = + 0.1 V, and Temperature = 60°C) is as small as +2.7 V, while that of a conventional single-gate (SG) TFT is +6.6 V. The results of negative-bias temperature stress [(NBTS); <i>V</i>_GS = - 20 V, <i>V</i>_DS = + 10 V, and Temperature = 60°C] are more dramatic: The <i>VT</i> shift of the DG TFT is only +0.1 V, whereas that of the SG TFT is -9.1 V. With backlight illumination, the <i>VT</i> shift of the SG TFT under the same NBTS becomes severe ( -11.1 V). However, it remains as small as -0.7 V for the DG TFT.