Tae Sang Kim

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.

Bottom-Gate Gallium Indium Zinc Oxide Thin-Film Transistor Array for High-Resolution AMOLED Display

The fabrication process and the characteristics of bottom-gate Ga2O3-In2O3-ZnO (GIZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) are reported in detail. Experimental results show that oxygen supply during the deposition of GIZO active layer and silicon oxide passivation layer controls the threshold voltage of the TFT. The field-effect mobility and the threshold voltage of the GIZO TFT fabricated under the optimum process conditions are 2.6 cm2/V ldr s and 3.8 V, respectively. A 4-in QVGA active-matrix organic light-emitting diode display driven by the GIZO TFTs without any compensation circuit in the pixel is successfully demonstrated.

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.

Anion control as a strategy to achieve high-mobility and high-stability oxide thin-film transistors

Ultra-definition, large-area displays with three-dimensional visual effects represent megatrend in the current/future display industry. On the hardware level, such a “dream” display requires faster pixel switching and higher driving current, which in turn necessitate thin-film transistors (TFTs) with high mobility. Amorphous oxide semiconductors (AOS) such as In-Ga-Zn-O are poised to enable such TFTs, but the trade-off between device performance and stability under illumination critically limits their usability, which is related to the hampered electron-hole recombination caused by the oxygen vacancies. Here we have improved the illumination stability by substituting oxygen with nitrogen in ZnO, which may deactivate oxygen vacancies by raising valence bands above the defect levels. Indeed, the stability under illumination and electrical bias is superior to that of previous AOS-based TFTs. By achieving both mobility and stability, it is highly expected that the present ZnON TFTs will be extensively deployed in next-generation flat-panel displays.

The influence of SiOx and SiNx passivation on the negative bias stability of Hf-In-Zn-O thin film transistors under illumination

The stability of hafnium indium zinc oxide thin film transistors under negative bias stress with simultaneous exposure to white light was evaluated. Two different inverted staggered bottom gate devices, each with a silicon oxide and a silicon nitride passivation, were compared. The latter exhibits higher field effect mobility but inferior subthreshold swing, and undergoes more severe shifts in threshold voltage (VT) during negative bias illumination stress. The time evolution of VT fits the stretched exponential equation, which implies that hydrogen incorporation during the nitride growth has generated bulk defects within the semiconductor and/or at the semiconductor/gate dielectric interface.

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.

Density of States-Based Design of Metal Oxide Thin-Film Transistors for High Mobility and Superior Photostability

A novel method to design metal oxide thin-film transistor (TFT) devices with high performance and high photostability for next-generation flat-panel displays is reported. Here, we developed bilayer metal oxide TFTs, where the front channel consists of indium-zinc-oxide (IZO) and the back channel material on top of it is hafnium-indium-zinc-oxide (HIZO). Density-of-states (DOS)-based modeling and device simulation were performed in order to determine the optimum thickness ratio within the IZO/HIZO stack that results in the best balance between device performance and stability. As a result, respective values of 5 and 40 nm for the IZO and HIZO layers were determined. The TFT devices that were fabricated accordingly exhibited mobility values up to 48 cm(2)/(V s), which is much elevated compared to pure HIZO TFTs (∼13 cm(2)/(V s)) but comparable to pure IZO TFTs (∼59 cm(2)/(V s)). Also, the stability of the bilayer device (-1.18 V) was significantly enhanced compared to the pure IZO device (-9.08 V). Our methodology based on the subgap DOS model and simulation provides an effective way to enhance the device stability while retaining a relatively high mobility, which makes the corresponding devices suitable for ultradefinition, large-area, and high-frame-rate display applications.

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.

Nanocrystalline ZnON; high mobility and low band gap semiconductor material for high performance switch transistor and image sensor application.

Interest in oxide semiconductors stems from benefits, primarily their ease of process, relatively high mobility (0.3–10 cm2/vs), and wide-bandgap. However, for practical future electronic devices, the channel mobility should be further increased over 50 cm2/vs and wide-bandgap is not suitable for photo/image sensor applications. The incorporation of nitrogen into ZnO semiconductor can be tailored to increase channel mobility, enhance the optical absorption for whole visible light and form uniform micro-structure, satisfying the desirable attributes essential for high performance transistor and visible light photo-sensors on large area platform. Here, we present electronic, optical and microstructural properties of ZnON, a composite of Zn3N2 and ZnO. Well-optimized ZnON material presents high mobility exceeding 100 cm2V−1s−1, the band-gap of 1.3 eV and nanocrystalline structure with multiphase. We found that mobility, microstructure, electronic structure, band-gap and trap properties of ZnON are varied with nitrogen concentration in ZnO. Accordingly, the performance of ZnON-based device can be adjustable to meet the requisite of both switch device and image-sensor potentials. These results demonstrate how device and material attributes of ZnON can be optimized for new device strategies in display technology and we expect the ZnON will be applicable to a wide range of imaging/display devices.

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.