Fully solution-induced high performance indium oxide thin film transistors with ZrO x high-k gate dielectrics.

Abstract

Solution based deposition has been recently considered as a viable option for low-cost flexible electronics. In this context, research efforts have been increasingly focused on the development of suitable solution-processed materials for oxide based transistors. In this work, we report a fully solution synthesis route, using 2-methoxyethanol as solvent, for the preparation of In2O3 thin films and ZrOx gate dielectrics, as well as the fabrication of In2O3-based TFTs. To verify the possible applications of ZrOx thin films as the gate dielectric in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) electronics, fully solution-induced In2O3 TFTs based on ZrO2 dielectrics have been integrated and investigated. The devices, with an optimized annealing temperature of 300 °C, have demonstrated high electrical performance and operational stability at a low voltage of 2 V, including a high μsat of 4.42 cm2 V−1 s−1, low threshold voltage of 0.31 V, threshold voltage shift of 0.15 V under positive bias stress for 7200 s, and large Ion/Ioff of 7.5 × 107, respectively. The as-fabricated In2O3/ZrOx TFTs enable fully solution-derived oxide TFTs for potential application in portable and low-power consumption electronics.