Four-terminal polycrystalline Ge1−xSnx thin-film transistors using copper-induced crystallization on glass substrates and their application to enhancement/depletion inverters

Abstract

Polycrystalline germanium–tin (Ge1−xSnx) thin films with a thickness of 15 nm were grown at 500 °C using Cu-induced crystallization. The films were applied to fabricate four-terminal (4T) thin-film transistors (TFTs) on a glass substrate. The top gate (TG) was fabricated from 30 nm thick SiO2, while the bottom gate (BG) consisted of a double layer of HfO2 and SiO2 with a capacitance equivalent thickness of 16 nm. Aluminum-induced lateral metallization of the source and drain (SD) was implemented to decrease the parasitic resistance of the SD. The Ion/Ioff of the double gate approximately corresponded to 1 × 104. Furthermore, 4T poly-Ge1−xSnx TFTs operated with a field-effect mobility of 20 cm2 V−1 s−1 for the TG drive and 12 cm2 V−1 s−1 for the BG drive at a control gate voltage of 0 V in both cases. A p-channel enhancement/depletion inverter was validated based on the precise control of threshold voltage using a control gate.