The role of third cation doping on phase stability, carrier transport and carrier suppression in amorphous oxide semiconductors

Authors

Austin Reed, School of Engineering & Computer Science
Chandon Stone, School of Engineering & Computer Science
Kwangdong Roh, School of Engineering and Applied Science
Han Wook Song, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science
Xingyu Wang, Purdue Polytechnic Institute
Mingyuan Liu, Purdue Polytechnic Institute
Dong Kyun Ko, Newark College of Engineering
Kwangsoo No, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Sunghwan Lee, Purdue Polytechnic Institute

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-21-2020

Abstract

Amorphous oxide semiconductors (AOSs), specifically those based on ternary cation systems such as Ga-, Si-, and Hf-doped InZnO, have emerged as promising material candidates for application in next-gen transparent electronic and optoelectronic devices. Third cation-doping is a common method used during the manufacturing of amorphous oxide thin film transistors (TFTs), primarily with the intention of suppressing carrier generation during the fabrication of the channel layer of a transistor. However, the incorporation of a third cation species has been observed to negatively affect the carrier transport properties of the thin film, as it may act as an additional scattering center and subsequently lower the carrier mobility from ~20-40 cm²V^-1s^-1of In2O3or a binary cation system (i.e., InZnO) to ~1-10 cm²V^-1s^-1. This study investigates the structural, electrical, optoelectronic, and chemical properties of the ternary cation material system, InAlZnO (IAZO). The optimized carrier mobility (Hall Effect) of Al-doped InZnO is shown to remain as high as ~25-45 cm²V^-1s^-1. Furthermore, Al incorporation in InZnO proves to enhance the amorphous phase stability under thermal stresses when compared to baseline InZnO films. Thin film transistors integrating optimized IAZO as the channel layer are shown to demonstrate promisingly high field effect mobilities (~18-20 cm²V^-1s^-1), as well as excellent drain current saturation and high drain current on/off ratios (>10⁷). The high mobility and improved amorphous phase stability suggest strong potential for IAZO incorporation in the next generation of high performance and sustainable optoelectronic devices such as transparent displays.

Identifier

85093847314 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Journal of Materials Chemistry C

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.1039/d0tc02655g

e-ISSN

20507526

ISSN

20507534

First Page

13798

Last Page

13810

Issue

39

Volume

8

Grant

20011028

Fund Ref

National Science Foundation

Recommended Citation

Reed, Austin; Stone, Chandon; Roh, Kwangdong; Song, Han Wook; Wang, Xingyu; Liu, Mingyuan; Ko, Dong Kyun; No, Kwangsoo; and Lee, Sunghwan, "The role of third cation doping on phase stability, carrier transport and carrier suppression in amorphous oxide semiconductors" (2020). Faculty Publications. 4910.
https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/fac_pubs/4910