Impact of the Source/Drain Electrode Process on the Mobility-Threshold Trade-Off for InSnZnO Thin-Film Transistors

Abstract

In this work, the source/drain (S/D) electrode process is considered to have a great impact on the mobility (μFE)–threshold (Vth) trade-off for high-mobility amorphous oxide semiconductor (AOS) thin-film transistors. High-mobility AOS materials have worse oxygen-fixation ability compared to InGaZnO. In this work, we show that this is the case for the Mo S/D electrode process on InSnZnO channels and has a great impact on the mobility-threshold trade-off. Oxygen vacancy gradients are observed in the depth profile X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis on InSnZnO after Mo S/D deposition and show a bigger change in oxygen vacancies (VO) between the surface and inner layers and thicker compared to InGaZnO. This leads to an obvious negative shift in Vth or even no switching characteristic. Postprocessing such as oxygen-plasma treatment can make Vth positive but degrade the μFE. In situ replenishing oxygen via adopting ITO S/D electrodes deposited in an oxygen-containing atmosphere facilitates the achievement of excellent overall electrical characteristics, with μFE up to 87.1 cm2/Vs, Vth ∼ −0.64 V, and Ion/Ioff ∼ 2.3 × 108.