Thermal-assisted brush printing of water-based In-Ga-Zn oxide transistors

Abstract

As an environment-friendly technique, the water-based solution process has attracted numerous attention. Due to the ability to fabricate oxide semiconductor films for transistors with acceptable electric properties at relatively low temperatures (~200 °C lower compared with organic solvent), it has great potential in future display technology, and various correlation technologies are keeping emerging. Here, an efficient and facile water route thermal-assisted brush printing is demonstrated, which can be applied to fabricate the semiconductor layer of indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) by the solution process. The synergistic effects of thermal-annealing and brush printing on the film formation process were comprehensively investigated, implying the synergistic effects induce the acceleration of the evaporation of the precursor solvent and promotes the lower surface roughness of as-prepared thin-film, resulting in improved transistor properties. Mechanically, the proposed film-forming model of thermal-assisted brush printing is also elaborated, which is expected to be a general guideline for the solution processing of metal-oxide semiconductor thin-films.