2024

Vol.31 No.2

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  • Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
  • Volume 30(3); 2023
  • Article

Review

Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society 2023;30(3):56-63. Published online: Nov, 9, 2023

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DOI : doi.org/10.6117/kmeps.2023.30.3.056

Enhancing Electrical Properties of Sol-Gel Processed IGZO Thin-Film Transistors through Nitrogen Atmosphere Electron Beam Irradiation

  • Jeeho Park1 , Young-Seok Song1 , Sukang Bae2,3†, and Tae-Wook Kim1,2†
    1 Department of Flexible and Printable Electronics, LANL‐JBNU Engineering Institute‐Korea, Jeonbuk National University, 567 Baekje-daero, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju 54896, Republic of Korea, 2 Department of JBNU-KIST Industry-Academia Convergence Research, Jeonbuk National University, 567 Baekje-daero, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju 54896, Republic of Korea, 3 Functional Composite Materials Research Center, Institute of Advanced Composite Materials, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Jeollabuk-do 55324, Republic of Korea
Corresponding author E-mail: sbae@kist.re.kr, twk@jbnu.ac.kr
Abstract

In this paper, we studied the effect of electron beam irradiation on sol-gel indium-gallium-zinc oxide (IGZO) thin films under air and nitrogen atmosphere and carried out the electrical characterization of the s ol-gel IGZO thin film transistors (TFTs). To investigate the optical properties, crystalline structure and chemical state of the sol-gel IGZO thin films after electron beam irradiation, UV-Visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were carried out. The sol-gel IGZO thin films exhibited over 80% transmittance in the visible range. The XRD analysis confirmed the amorphous nature of the sol-gel IGZO films regardless of electron beam irradiation. When electron beam irradiation was conducted in a nitrogen (N2) atmosphere, we observed an increased proportion of peaks related to M-O bonding contributed to the improved quality of the thin films. Sol-gel IGZO TFTs subjected to electron beam exposure in a nitrogen atmosphere exhibited enhanced electrical characteristics in terms of on/off ratio and electron mobility. In addition, the electrical parameters of the transistor (on/off ratio, threshold voltage, electron mobility, subthreshold swing) remained relatively stable over time, indicating that the electron beam exposure process in a nitrogen atmosphere could enhance the reliability of IGZO-based thin-film transistors in the fabrication of sol-gel processed TFTs.

Keywords Indium-Gallium-Zinc Oxide (IGZO), Thin-film transistors (TFTs), electron beam irradiation (EBI), Sol-gel, Electrical characteristics

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