TiSiOx gate dielectrics produced by reactive sputtering for high performance InGaZnO thin film transistors

High dielectric constant TiSiOx thin films are produced by reactive sputtering under different oxygen partial pressure ratio (P_O2) from 15% to 30%. All the TiSiOx films show an excellent transmittance value of almost 95%. The TiSiOx film has a low leakage current density by optimizing oxygen partial pressure, and the leakage current density of TiSiOx film under P_O2 of 20% is 4.88×10⁻⁷ A/cm² at electrical field strength of 2 MV/cm. Meanwhile, their associated InGaZnO thin-film transistors (IGZO-TFTs) with different P_O2 TiSiOx thin films as gate insulators are fabricated. IGZO-TFTs under P_O2 of 20% shows an optimized electrical performance, and the threshold voltage, sub-threshold swing, field effect mobility and I_on/I_off ratio of this device are 2.22 V, 0.33 V/decade, 29.3 cm²/V s and 5.03×10⁷, respectively. Moreover, the density of states (DOS) is calculated by temperature-dependent field-effect measurement. The enhancements of electrical performance and temperature stability are attributed to better active/insulator interface and smaller DOS.     

High-performance pentacene field-effect transistors using Al2O3 gate dielectrics prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD)

High-performance pentacene field-effect transistors have been fabricated using Al₂O₃ as a gate dielectric material grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD). Hole mobility values of 1.5 ± 0.2 cm²/V s and 0.9 ± 0.1 cm²/V s were obtained when using heavily n-doped silicon (n⁺-Si) and ITO-coated glass as gate electrodes, respectively. These transistors were operated in enhancement mode with a zero turn-on voltage and exhibited a low threshold voltage (< −10 V) as well as a low sub-threshold slope (<1 V/decade) and an on/off current ratio larger than 10⁶. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of pentacene films on Al₂O₃ treated with octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) revealed well-ordered island formation, and X-ray diffraction patterns showed characteristics of a “thin film” phase. Low surface trap density and high capacitance density of Al₂O₃ gate insulators also contributed to the high performance of pentacene field-effect transistors.     

Evaporated iron disulfide thin films with sulfurated annealing treatments

FeS₂ thin films were grown on a glass substrate using a physical vapor deposition technique at room temperature. Subsequently, the thin films were annealed in two different atmospheres: vacuum and vacuum-sulfur. In the vacuum-sulfur atmosphere a graphite box was used as sulfur container and the films were sulfurated successfully at 200–350 ºC. It was found that annealing in a vacuum-sulfur atmosphere was indispensable in order to obtain polycrystalline FeS₂ thin films. The polycrystalline nature and pure phase were determined by XRD and Raman techniques and the electrical properties by the Hall effect. Using the sulfurating technique, the n-type semiconductor was prepared at 200–350 °C and a p-type at 500 °C. The carrier concentrations were between 1.19×10²⁰ and 2.1×10²⁰ cm⁻³. The mobility was 9.96–5.25 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ and the resistivity was 6.31×10⁻² to 1.089×10⁻² Ω cm. The results obtained from EDS showed that the films prepared in the vacuum-sulfur atmosphere were close to stoichiometric and that the indirect band gap varied between 1.03 and 0.945 eV.     

Properties of fluorine-doped SnO2 thin films by a green sol–gel method

Fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) films were fabricated on a glass substrate by a green sol–gel dip-coating process. Non-toxic SnF₂ was used as fluorine source to replace toxic HF or NH₄F. Effect of SnF₂ content, 0–10 mol%, on structure, electrical resistivity, and optical transmittance of the films were investigated using X-ray diffraction, Hall effect measurements, and UV–vis spectra. Structural analysis revealed that the films are polycrystalline with a tetragonal crystal structure. Grain size varies from 43 to 21 nm with increasing fluorine concentration, which in fact critically impacts resultant electrical and optical properties. The 500 °C-annealed FTO film containing 6 mol% SnF₂ shows the lowest electrical resistivity 7.0×10⁻⁴ Ω cm, carrier concentration 1.1×10²¹ cm⁻³, Hall mobility 8.1 cm²V⁻¹ s⁻¹, optical transmittance 90.1% and optical band-gap 3.91 eV. The 6 mol% SnF₂ added film has the highest figure of merit 2.43×10⁻² Ω⁻¹ which is four times higher than that of un-doped FTO films. Because of the promising electrical and optical properties, F-doped thin films prepared by this green process are well-suited for use in all aspects of transparent conducting oxide.     

In0.75Ga0.25As channel layers with record mobility exceeding 12,000 cm2/Vs for use in high-κ dielectric NMOSFETs

In_0.75Ga_0.25As channel layers with a record mobility exceeding 12,000 cm²/Vs for use in high-κ dielectric NMOSFETs have been fabricated. The device structures which have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy on 3″ semi-insulating InP substrate comprise a 10 nm strained In_0.75Ga_0.25As channel layer and a high-κ oxide based dielectric layer (κ ≅ 20). Electron mobilities of 12,033 and 7,042 cm²/Vs have been measured for sheet carrier concentrations n_s of 2.5 × 10¹² and 6 × 10¹² cm⁻², respectively.     

A study on phase transformation of SnOx thin films prepared by reactive magnetron sputtering

In the paper, SnO_x thin films were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering from a tin target in O₂ containing working gas. The evolution from Sn-containing SnO to tetravalent SnO₂ films was investigated. The films could be classified into three groups according to their optical band gaps, which are E_g<2.5 eV, E_g=3.0–3.3 eV and E_g>3.7 eV. The electric measurements show that high conductivity can be obtained much easier in SnO₂ than in SnO films. A high electron mobility of 15.7 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹, a carrier concentration of 1.43×10²⁰ cm⁻³ and a resistivity of 2.8×10⁻³ Ω cm have been achieved in amorphous SnO₂ films. Films with the optical band gap of 3.0–3.3 eV remain amorphous though the substrate temperature is as high as 300 °C, which implies that °btaining high mobility in p-type SnO is more challenging in contrast to n-type SnO₂ films.     

Laser-induced forward transfer of polythiophene-based derivatives for fully polymeric thin film transistors

Polymeric thin-film transistors (pTFTs) have been fabricated by pulsed-laser printing of semiconductor and conductor polythiophene-based derivatives. Thin solid layers of semiconducting poly(3,3′″ didodecylquaterthiophene) (PQT-12) have been transferred by a laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) technique on Si/SiO₂ receiver substrates. Optimization of the transfer conditions and of the pixels morphologies has been realized. A marked improvement in the quality of the pixels has been observed, in terms of morphology and structure, by reducing the environmental pressure to 90 mbar during LIFT. Subsequently, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) has also been laser-printed and used as source/drain electrodes in the transistor configuration. Functional polymeric transistors have been obtained with high field-effect mobility up to 2 × 10⁻² cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ together with current modulation of 10⁴.     

Very facile fabrication of aligned organic nanowires based high-performance top-gate transistors on flexible,transparent substrate

Aligned single-crystalline organic nanowires (NWs) show promising applications in flexible and stretchable electronics, while the use of pre-existing aligned techniques and well-developed photolithography techniques are impeded by the large incompatibility with organic materials and flexible substrates. In this work, aligned copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) organic NWs were grown on flexible and transparent poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) substrate via a grating-assisted growth approach. Furthermore, a simple yet efficient etching-assisted transfer printing (ETP) method was used to achieve CuPc NW array-based flexible top-gate organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) with a high mobility up to 2.0 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹, a small operating voltage within ±10 V, a high on/off ratio >10⁴, and excellent bend stability with bending radius down to 3 mm. It is expected that the high-performance organic NW array-based top-gate OFETs with exceeding bend stability will have important applications in future flexible electronics.     

Solution-processable ambipolar organic field-effect transistor based on Co-planar bisphthalocyaninato copper

A soluble binuclear phthalocyaninato copper (II) complex, Cu₂[Pc(COOC₈H₁₇)₆]₂ (1), with planar molecular structure and extended conjugation system, has been designed and synthesized. By fusing two phthalocyanine rings side by side and introducing electron withdrawing groups at periphery positions, the energy levels of HOMO and LUMO have been tuned successfully into the range of an air-stable ambipolar organic semiconductor required as revealed by the electrochemical studies. With the help of a solution-based quasi-Langmuir–Shäfer (QLS) method, thin solid films of this compound were fabricated and organic field effect transistors (OFETs) based on these QLS thin solid films were constructed. Because of the promising electrochemical properties as well as the high ordered packing structure of the molecules in the thin solid films, the OFETs performed excellent ambipolar operating properties, with the electron and hole mobility in air as high as 1.7 × 10⁻¹ and 2.3 × 10⁻⁴ cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹, respectively. For comparison purpose, mononuclear compound Cu[Pc(COOC₈H₁₇)₈] (2) was comparatively studied. The QLS thin solid films of this compound possess similar ordered structure with that of Cu₂[Pc(COOC₈H₁₇)₆]₂ (1), but the OFETs based on the thin solid films of this compound can only show n-type properties under nitrogen atmosphere with an extremely small electron mobility of 1.6 × 10⁻⁴ cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹. This result suggests that extension on the conjugation system of an aromatic compound with multiple electron withdrawing groups can tune the molecule into an air stable ambipolar organic semiconductor.     

Substrate temperature effect on structural,optical and electrical properties of vacuum evaporated SnO2 thin films

Tin oxide (SnO₂) thin films were deposited on glass substrates by thermal evaporation at different substrate temperatures. Increasing substrate temperature (T_s) from 250 to 450 °C reduced resistivity of SnO₂ thin films from 18×10⁻⁴ to 4×10⁻⁴▒ Ω ▒cm. Further increase of temperature up to 550 °C had no effect on the resistivity. For films prepared at 450 °C, high transparency (91.5%) over the visible wavelength region of spectrum was obtained. Refractive index and porosity of the layers were also calculated. A direct band gap at different substrate temperatures is in the range of 3.55−3.77 eV. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results suggested that all films were amorphous in structure at lower substrate temperatures, while crystalline SnO₂ films were obtained at higher temperatures. Scanning electron microscopy images showed that the grain size and crystallinity of films depend on the substrate temperature. SnO₂ films prepared at 550 °C have a very smooth surface with an RMS roughness of 0.38 nm.     

Self-catalyzed molecular beam epitaxy growth and their optoelectronic properties of vertical GaAs nanowires on Si(111)

Self-assembled GaAs nanowires were grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on un-pretreated Si(111) substrates under different As₄/Ga flux ratios (V/III ratios). It has been found that the fraction of vertical wires would be nearly 100% when the As₄/Ga ratio arrives 90. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and micro-photoluminescence (PL) spectra results have indicated that the GaAs nanowires grown under a larger V/III ratio (90) have a pure ZB structure. Field-effect transistors (FET) based on single nanowire were fabricated with GaAs nanowires grown under the larger V/III ratio (90). The characteristics of the FET reveal a hole concentration of 3.919×10¹⁷ cm⁻³ and a hole mobility of 0.417 cm² V⁻¹s⁻¹. Photodetectors based on single nanowire and multiple nanowires structure with a metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) electrode configuration have been proposed and demonstrated. All the photodetectors operating at room temperature exhibit good photoconductive performance, excellent stability, reproducibility and superior peak responsivity (87.67 A/W under 5 V for single nanowire photodetector).     

Flexible nonvolatile organic ferroelectric memory transistors fabricated on polydimethylsiloxane elastomer

The flexible organic ferroelectric nonvolatile memory thin film transistors (OFMTs) were fabricated on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer substrates, in which an organic ferroelectric poly(vinylidene-trifluoroethylene) and an organic semiconducting poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-co-bithiophene) layers were used as gate insulator and active channel, respectively. The carrier mobility, on/off ratio, and subthreshold swing of the OFMTs fabricated on PDMS showed 5 × 10⁻² cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹, 7.5 × 10³, and 2.5 V/decade, respectively. These obtained values did not markedly change when the substrate was bent with a radius of curvature of 0.6 cm. The memory on/off ratio was initially obtained to be 1.5 × 10³ and maintained to be 20 even after a lapse of 2000 s. The fabricated OFMTs exhibited sufficiently encouraging device characteristics even on the PDMS elastomer to realize mechanically stretchable nonvolatile memory devices.     

Properties of fluorine-doped tin oxide films prepared by an improved sol-gel process

Fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) films were prepared by an improved sol-gel process, in which FTO films were deposited on glass substrates using evaporation method, with the precursors prepared by the conventional sol-gel method. The coating and sintering processes were combined in the evaporation method, with the advantage of reduced probability of films cracking and simplified preparation process. The effects of F-doping contents and structure of films on properties of films were analyzed. The results showed the performance index (Φ_TC=3.535×10⁻³ Ω⁻¹ cm) of the film was maximum with surface resistance (R_sh) of 14.7 Ω cm⁻¹, average transmittance (T) of 74.4% when F/Sn=14 mol%, the reaction temperature of the sol was 50 °C, and the evaporation temperature was 600 °C in muffle furnace, and the film has densification pyramid morphology and SnO_2−xF_x polycrystalline structure with tetragonal rutile phase. Compared with the commercial FTO films (Φ_TC=3.9×10⁻³ Ω⁻¹ cm, R_sh=27.4 Ω cm⁻¹, T=80%) produced by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, the Φ_TC value of FTO films prepared by an improved sol-gel process is close to them, the electrical properties are higher, and the optical properties are lower.     

The effect of external stress on the electrical characteristics of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

The electrical characteristics of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors under the application of uniform in-plane tensile and compressive stress were measured. The results demonstrate the change of the drain–source I_ds–V_ds characteristics as a function of the external stress. The output current at V_ds = 10 V increases linearly with the stress with the slope about 3 × 10⁻⁶ A MPa⁻¹. It is associated with the piezoelectric effect and kink effect. Moreover, the magnitude of the kink effect is found to be affected by the stress. It displays a linear changing trend with the slope of 3.3 × 10⁻⁴ mS MPa⁻¹ within the stress level. The energy band structure is suggested to be responsible for the dependence of the kink effect on the stress.     

Chemically deposited ZnS thin film as potential X-ray radiation sensor

In this article X-ray radiation sensitivity of ZnS thin film prepared by a chemical bath deposition technique has been reported. The films were prepared under 0.10, 0.15 and 0.20 molarity (M). Characterization reports show that the 0.20 M film has the best quality than the other low molarity films. I-V characteristics of the films were studied under dark condition and observed that the film prepared at 0.20 M has an electrical conductivity of 2.06×10⁻⁶ (Ω cm)⁻¹ which is about 10 times greater than the other lower molarity films. Further, the I-V characteristic of this film has studied under UV and X-ray radiations. The current under X-ray radiation is found to be significantly higher than that under the UV radiation. At a fix bias voltage of 1.0 V, the conductivity under UV radiation is found to be 3.26×10⁻⁶ (Ω cm)⁻¹ whereas that under the X-ray is 4.13×10⁻⁵ (Ω cm)⁻¹. The sensitivity under X-ray radiation is significantly greater than that under the UV radiation. This analysis suggests that the ZnS thin film which is used as a UV radiation sensor can also be used as a potential X-ray radiation sensor.     

The effect of temperature on the growth and properties of green light-emitting In0.5Ga0.5N films prepared by reactive sputtering with single cermet target

We have grown In_0.5Ga_0.5N films on SiO₂/Si (100) substrate at 100–400 °C for 90 min by rf reactive sputtering with single cermet target. The target was made by hot pressing the mixture of metallic indium, gallium and ceramic gallium nitride powder. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements indicated that In_0.5Ga_0.5N films had wurtzite structure and showed the preferential (1 0 -1 0) diffraction. Both SEM and AFM showed that In_0.5Ga_0.5N films were smooth and had small roughness of 0.6 nm. Optical properties were measured by photoluminescence (PL) spectra from room temperature to low temperature of 20 K. The 2.28 eV green emission was achieved at room temperature for all our InGaN films. The electrical properties of In_0.5Ga_0.5N films on a SiO₂/Si (100) substrate were measured by the Hall measurement at room temperature. InGaN films showed the electron concentration of 1.51×10²⁰–1.90×10²⁰ cm⁻³ and mobility of 5.94–10.5 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹. Alloying of InN and GaN was confirmed for the sputtered InGaN.     

Interface states in polyfluorene-based metal–insulator–semiconductor devices

Hybrid metal–insulator–semiconductor structures based on ethyl-hexyl substituted polyfluorene (PF2/6) as the active polymer semiconductor were fabricated on a highly doped p-Si substrate with Al₂O₃ as the insulating oxide layer. We present detailed frequency-dependent capacitance–voltage (C–V) and conductance–voltage characteristics of the semiconductor/insulator interface. PF2/6 undergoes a transition to an ordered crystalline phase upon thermal cycling from its nematic-liquid crystalline phase, confirmed by our atomic force microscope images. Thermal cycling of the PF2/6 films significantly improves the quality of the (PF2/6)/Al₂O₃ interface, which is identified as a reduced hysteresis in the C–V curve and a decreased interface state density (D_it) from ∼3.9 × 10¹² eV⁻¹ cm⁻² to ∼3.3 × 10¹¹ eV⁻¹ cm⁻² at the flat-band voltage. Interface states give rise to energy levels that are confined to the polymer/insulator interface. A conductance loss peak, observed due to the capture and emission of carriers by the interface states, fits very well with a single time constant model from which the D_it values are inferred.     

Effects of RTA temperatures on conductivity and micro-structures of boron-doped silicon nanocrystals in Si-rich oxide thin films

In this work, the B-doped Si rich oxide (SRO) thin films were deposited and then annealed using rapid thermal annealing (RTA) to form SiO₂-matrix silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs). The effects of the RTA temperatures on the structural properties, conduction mechanisms and electrical properties of B-doped SRO thin films (BSF) were investigated systematically using Hall measurements, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Results showed that the crystalline fraction of annealed BSF increased from 41.3% to 62.8%, the conductivity was increased from 4.48×10⁻³ S/cm to 0.16 s/cm, the carrier concentration was increased from 8.74×10¹⁷ cm⁻³ to 4.9×10¹⁸ cm⁻³ and the carrier mobility was increased from 0.032 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ to 0.2 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ when the RTA temperatures increased from 1050 °C to 1150 °C. In addition, the fluctuation induced tunneling (FIT) theory was applicable to the conduction mechanisms of SiO₂-matrix boron-doped Si-NC thin films.     

ZrO2 insulator modified by a thin Al2O3 film to enhance the performance of InGaZnO thin-film transistor

A high-performance InGaZnO (IGZO) thin-film transistor (TFT) with ZrO₂–Al₂O₃ bilayer gate insulator is fabricated. Compared to IGZO-TFT with ZrO₂ single gate insulator, its electrical characteristics are significantly improved, specifically, enhancement of I_on/I_off ratios by one order of magnitude, increase of the field-effect mobility (from 9.8 to 14 cm²/Vs), reduction of the subthreshold swing from 0.46 to 0.33 V/dec, the maximum density of surface states at the channel-insulator interface decreased from 4.3 × 10¹² to 2.5 × 10¹² cm⁻². The performance enhancements are attributed to the suppression of leakage current, smoother surface morphology, and suppression of charge trapping by using Al₂O₃ films to modify the high-k ZrO₂ dielectric.     

Investigations on phosphorus doped amorphous/nanocrystalline silicon films deposited by a filtered cathodic vacuum arc technique in the presence of hydrogen gas

Phosphorus doped amorphous/nanocrystalline silicon (a-Si:H/nc-Si:H) thin films have been deposited by a filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) technique in the presence of hydrogen gas at different substrate temperatures (T_s) ranging from room temperature (RT) to 350 °C. The films have been characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, dark conductivity (σ_D), activation energy (ΔE), optical band gap (E_g) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy. The XRD patterns show that RT grown film is amorphous in nature but high temperature (225 and 350 °C) deposited films exhibit nanocrystalline structure with (111) and (220) crystal orientations. The crystallite size of higher temperature grown silicon film evaluated was between 13 and 25 nm. Raman spectra reveal the amorphous nature of the film deposited at RT, whereas higher temperature deposited films show crystalline nature. The crystalline volume fraction of the silicon film deposited at higher temperatures (225 and 350 °C) was estimated to be 58 and 72%. With the increase of T_s, the bonding configuration changes from mono-hydride to di-hydride as revealed by the FTIR spectra. The values of σ_D, ΔE and E_g of silicon films deposited at different T_s were found to be in the range of 5.37×10⁻⁴–1.04 Ω⁻¹ cm⁻¹, 0.05–0.45 eV and 1.42–1.83 eV, respectively. Photoconduction of 3.5% has also been observed in n-type nc-Si:H films with the response and recovery times of 9 and 12 s, respectively. A n-type nc-Si:H/p-type c-Si heterojunction diode was fabricated which showed the diode quality factor between 1.6 and 1.8.