Effect of threshold voltage instability on field effect mobility in thin film transistors deduced from constant current measurements

Abstract

The field effect (FE) mobility of thin film transistors is normally extracted using static measurement methods, which inherently rely on the assumption that the device remains stable during the measurement duration. However, these devices, particularly those based on emerging materials, can show large instability during the measurement, typically exhibiting hysteresis in the static characteristics. This letter looks at the effect of threshold voltage shift in FE mobility extracted using the conventional method, and introduces an alternative and more accurate technique of measuring device characteristics. The technique decouples the effect of transient phenomena, thus permitting extraction of the true device FE mobility, which turns out to be either over or underestimated depending on the magnitude and direction of threshold voltage shift.