Lingyan Liang

Microstructural, optical, and electrical properties of SnO thin films prepared on quartz via a two-step method.

A simple, cost-effective, two-step method was proposed for preparing single-phase SnO polycrystalline thin films on quartz. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis demonstrated that the annealed films were consisted of polycrystalline alpha-SnO phase without preferred orientation, and chemical composition analysis of the single phase in nature was analyzed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Transmittance spectra in UV-vis-IR range indicated that the average transmittance of both the as-deposited and the annealed SnO thin films was up to 70%. The optical band gap decreased from 3.20 to 2.77 eV after the annealing process, which was attributed to the crystalline size related quantum size effect. Photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of the annealed film showed only a weak peak at 585 nm, and no intrinsic optical transition emission was observed. Moreover, the p-type conductivity of SnO film was confirmed through Hall effect measurement, with Hall mobility of 1.4 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) and hole concentration of 2.8 x 10(16) cm(-3).

Structural, Chemical, Optical, and Electrical Evolution of SnOx Films Deposited by Reactive rf Magnetron Sputtering

In this paper, SnO(x) films were produced by reactive radio frequency magnetron sputtering under various oxygen partial pressure (P(O)) in conjunction with a thermal annealing at 200 °C afterwards. The obtained SnO(x) films were systematically studied by means of various techniques, including X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometry, and Hall-effect measurement. The structural, chemical, and electrical evolution of the SnO(x) films was found to experience three stages: polycrystalline SnO phase dominated section with p-type conduction at P(O) ≤ 9.9%; amorphous SnO(2) phase dominated area at P(O) ≥ 12.3%, exhibiting n-type characteristics; and conductivity dilemma area in between the above mentioned sections, featuring the coexistence of SnO and SnO(2) phases with compatible and opposite contribution to the conductivity. The polycrystalline to amorphous film structure transition was ascribed to the enhanced crystallization temperature due to the perturbed structural disorder by incorporating Sn(4+) into the SnO matrix. The inversion from p-type to n-type conduction with P(O) variation is believed to result from the competition between the donor and acceptor generation process, i.e., the n-type behavior would be present if the donor effect is overwhelming, and vice versa. In addition, with increasing P(O), the refractive index decreased from 3.0 to 1.8 and the band gaps increased from 1.5 to 3.5 eV, respectively.

Ambipolar inverters using SnO thin-film transistors with balanced electron and hole mobilities

Ambipolar thin film transistors have attracted increasing research interests due to their promising applications in complementary logic circuits and the dissipative charge transporting devices. Here, we report the fabrication of an ambipolar transistor using tin mono-oxide (SnO) as a channel, which possesses balanced electron and hole field-effect mobilities. A complementary metal oxide semiconductor-like inverter using the SnO dual operation transistors is demonstrated with a maximum gain up to 30 and long-term air stability. Such logic device configuration would simplify the circuit design and fabrication process, offering more opportunities for designing and constructing oxide-based logic circuits.

The structural, optical and electrical properties of Y-doped SnO thin films and their p-type TFT application

Unintentionally doped and Y-doped SnO thin films were prepared and characterized by x-ray diffraction, spectroscopic ellipsometry, and Hall-effect measurements. SnO-based thin-film transistors were also fabricated and investigated. Preferred (0 0 l) grain orientation present in the undoped films is alleviated by Y doping, inducing the deterioration of crystallinity as well as the decrease in Hall-effect and saturation field-effect mobilities. However, both the films and the transistor devices always possess p-type characteristics in this study. As the Y content increases, the optical band gap, the real part of the dielectric constant of the films and the on/off current ratio of the devices increase. Moreover, the threshold voltage was observed to shift towards the positive direction as more yttrium content is introduced. These results give evidence that the yttrium element is incorporated into the SnO lattice successfully and higher hole concentration can be generated.

Mechanism for resistive switching in chalcogenide-based electrochemical metallization memory cells

It has been reported that in chalcogenide-based electrochemical metallization (ECM) memory cells (e.g., As2S3:Ag, GeS:Cu, and Ag2S), the metal filament grows from the cathode (e.g., Pt and W) towards the anode (e.g., Cu and Ag), whereas filament growth along the opposite direction has been observed in oxide-based ECM cells (e.g., ZnO, ZrO2, and SiO2). The growth direction difference has been ascribed to a high ion diffusion coefficient in chalcogenides in comparison with oxides. In this paper, upon analysis of OFF state I–V characteristics of ZnS-based ECM cells, we find that the metal filament grows from the anode towards the cathode and the filament rupture and rejuvenation occur at the cathodic interface, similar to the case of oxide-based ECM cells. It is inferred that in ECM cells based on the chalcogenides such as As2S3:Ag, GeS:Cu, and Ag2S, the filament growth from the cathode towards the anode is due to the existence of an abundance of ready-made mobile metal ions in the chalcogenides rather than ...

Aqueous Solution-Deposited Gallium Oxide Dielectric for Low-Temperature, Low-Operating-Voltage Indium Oxide Thin-Film Transistors: A Facile Route to Green Oxide Electronics

We reported a novel aqueous route to fabricate Ga2O3 dielectric at low temperature. The formation and properties of Ga2O3 were investigated by a wide range of characterization techniques, revealing that Ga2O3 films could effectively block leakage current even after annealing in air at 200 °C. Furthermore, all aqueous solution-processed In2O3/Ga2O3 TFTs fabricated at 200 and 250 °C showed mobilities of 1.0 and 4.1 cm2 V(-1) s(-1), on/off current ratio of ∼10(5), low operating voltages of 4 V, and negligible hysteresis. Our study represents a significant step toward the development of low-cost, low-temperature, and large-area green oxide electronics.

Substrate biasing effect on the physical properties of reactive RF-magnetron-sputtered aluminum oxide dielectric films on ITO glasses.

High dielectric constant (high-k) Al2O3 thin films were prepared on ITO glasses by reactive RF-magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The effect of substrate bias on the subband structural, morphological, electrode/Al2O3 interfacial and electrical properties of the Al2O3 films is systematically investigated. An optical method based on spectroscopic ellipsometry measurement and modeling is adopted to probe the subband electronic structure, which facilitates us to vividly understand the band-tail and deep-level (4.8-5.0 eV above the valence band maximum) trap states. Well-selected substrate biases can suppress both the trap states due to promoted migration of sputtered particles, which optimizes the leakage current density, breakdown strength, and quadratic voltage coefficient of capacitance. Moreover, high porosity in the unbiased Al2O3 film is considered to induce the absorption of atmospheric moisture and the consequent occurrence of electrolysis reactions at electrode/Al2O3 interface, as a result ruining the electrical properties.

High-performance transparent thin-film transistor based on Y2O3/In2O3 with low interface traps

High-performance Y2O3/In2O3-based transparent thin-film transistors were processed featuring low thermal budget. The device shows a field-effect mobility of 43.5 cm2 V−1 s−1, a subthreshold swing of 0.28 V/decade, and an on/off current ratio of 108. These results are attributed to the high dielectric constant of Y2O3 and unique electronic structure of In2O3. Furthermore, the cubic phases of crystalline Y2O3 and In2O3 films have the identical crystal structure with a small lattice mismatch, which provides a well-defined dielectric/semiconductor interface for the optimal performance.

Improvement of Phase Stability and Accurate Determination of Optical Constants of SnO Thin Films by Using Al2O3 Capping Layer

In this letter, it is proposed that the usage of Al(2)O(3) capping layer can tremendously improve the phase stability of SnO thin films, which allows the accurate determination of the optical constants of the SnO films without the perturbation arising from impurity phases. For the SnO films, the refraction index and extinction coefficient are significantly influenced by the crystallinity. The nondirect optical bandgap of the amorphous SnO films is determined to be 2.27 eV, whereas two nondirect optical transitions are observed in the polycrystalline SnO films and the corresponding gap energies are estimated to be 0.50 and 2.45 eV, respectively.

Semiconducting ZnSnN2 thin films for Si/ZnSnN2 p-n junctions

ZnSnN2 is regarded as a promising photovoltaic absorber candidate due to earth-abundance, non-toxicity, and high absorption coefficient. However, it is still a great challenge to synthesize ZnSnN2 films with a low electron concentration, in order to promote the applications of ZnSnN2 as the core active layer in optoelectronic devices. In this work, polycrystalline and high resistance ZnSnN2 films were fabricated by magnetron sputtering technique, then semiconducting films were achieved after post-annealing, and finally Si/ZnSnN2 p-n junctions were constructed. The electron concentration and Hall mobility were enhanced from 2.77 × 1017 to 6.78 × 1017 cm−3 and from 0.37 to 2.07 cm2 V−1 s−1, corresponding to the annealing temperature from 200 to 350 °C. After annealing at 300 °C, the p-n junction exhibited the optimum rectifying characteristics, with a forward-to-reverse ratio over 103. The achievement of this ZnSnN2-based p-n junction makes an opening step forward to realize the practical application of the...