Materials Research Bulletin 139 (2021) 111252

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Materials Research Bulletin

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Effects of crystalline structure of IGZO thin films on the electrical and

photo-stability of metal-oxide thin-film transistors
Youngjin Kang a, Woobin Lee b, Jaeyoung Kim b, Kyobin Keum a, Seung-Han Kang c,
Jeong-Wan Jo d, Sung Kyu Park c, **, Yong-Hoon Kim a, b, *
a
School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea
b
SKKU Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology (SAINT), Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea
c
School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06980, Republic of Korea
d
Electrical Engineering Division, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0FA, United Kingdom

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In this paper, we investigated the effects of crystalline structure of indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (IGZO) thin films
Metal oxides on the electrical and photo-stability of metal-oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs). It was found that the TFTs with c-
Thin-film transistors axis aligned crystalline (CAAC) IGZO channels exhibited enhanced stability under various combinations of
c-Axis aligned crystalline
electrical, temperature, and light-stressed conditions compared to those with amorphous (a) and nanocrystalline
IGZO
Photo-stability
(nc) IGZO channels. From various electrical and spectroscopic studies, it is suggested that the low deep-level
defects in CAAC-IGZO channels allowed high electrical performance and enhanced stability. Meanwhile, the
a- and nc-IGZO TFTs showed relatively poor stability owing to the higher levels of deep-level defects in the
channel layers. To explain the origin of the enhanced light-stability in CAAC-IGZO TFTs, we investigated the
transient photo-response characteristics and it was found that the low activation energy for recombination and/
or neutralization of photo-generated carriers was responsible for the enhanced stability.

1. Introduction
Recently, metal-oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs) have gained sig­
nificant interest in active-matrix electronics owing to their high carrier
mobility, low off-state current, good uniformity, and large-area scal­
ability [1,2]. Especially, amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide
(a-IGZO) TFTs have received much attention, particularly in organic
light-emitting diode displays, for their high electron mobility and good
electrical stability over the conventional a-Si:H TFTs [3]. In terms of bias
stability, the a-IGZO TFTs exhibit relatively good stability under both
positive and negative gate-bias stress conditions, showing small or
negligible threshold voltage (VTH) shift [4]. However, with the combi­
nation of light and negative gate-bias, the a-IGZO TFTs typically show
considerable negative VTH shift [5]. Such VTH instability under negative
gate-bias illumination stress (NBIS) condition in a-IGZO TFTs is attrib­
uted to the trapping of photo-generated holes by the deep-level states in
a-IGZO film and subsequent injection into the defect states of gate
dielectric [6]. Since a-IGZO films have substantial number deep-level
states which are related with the structural defects such as oxygen va­
cancies [6,7], it is inevitable that a-IGZO TFTs experience considerable
negative VTH shift during the NBIS. Another critical issue frequently
observed in a-IGZO TFTs is the persistent photoconductance (PPC) ef­
fect, by which the increased conductivity persists over a long period time
even when the light is turned off [8]. This indeed can cause a serious
problem in operating the device, such that a considerable variation in
the output current and/or negative VTH shift can occur when the device
is exposed to light repeatedly. It is understood that the PPC effect is also
related with the oxygen vacancies which are present in the IGZO layer
[9], and therefore, the a-IGZO TFTs typically show the PPC effect.
Since most of these light-induced instabilities are associated with the
structural and coordination defects in the oxide channel layer, much
efforts have been carried out to reduce the defects and enhance the
stability by using crystalline oxide channel layers [6,10,11]. For
instance, Tsubuku et al. reported highly reliable c-axis aligned crystal­
line (CAAC) IGZO-based TFTs with low oxygen vacancies and defect
levels [6]. Also, Park et al. demonstrated crystalline IGZO TFTs annealed

* Corresponding author at: School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea.
** Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: skpark@cau.ac.kr (S.K. Park), yhkim76@skku.edu (Y.-H. Kim).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.materresbull.2021.111252
Received 19 September 2020; Received in revised form 21 December 2020; Accepted 31 January 2021
Available online 13 February 2021
0025-5408/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Y. Kang et al.
at high temperature (up to 1000 ◦ C) exhibiting high stability under NBIS
conditions [10]. Furthermore, crystalline indium-tin-zinc-oxide TFTs
annealed at 800 ◦ C were also reported showing enhanced stability under
NBIS [11]. Clearly, these previous results show that improving the
crystallinity of the oxide channel layer and reducing the deep-level de­
fects have a significant impact on enhancing the stability under light
illumination stress conditions.
Depending on the deposition and the post-treatment conditions, the
crystalline structure of sputtered IGZO films can be controlled from
amorphous (a) to nanocrystalline (nc) and CAAC structures [12]. Due to
their structural dissimilarity, the distributions and the number of
deep-level defect states in the bandgap and the relevant bias-, temper­
ature- and light-induced stabilities can be varied. In this perspective, to
attain highly reliable IGZO TFTs using sputtering, it is crucial to find the
relationship between the crystalline structure of IGZO channel layer and
their operational stabilities. Thus, in this paper, we investigated the
effects of crystalline structure of IGZO channel layer on the device
performance and the operational stabilities of IGZO TFTs, particularly
focused on the light-induced instability. The crystalline structure of
sputtered IGZO channel layer was controlled by adjusting the deposition
and the post-treatment conditions. As a result, IGZO films with a-, nc-
and CAAC structures could be obtained. Using these films as channel
layers, IGZO TFTs were fabricated and their electrical properties and
various operational stabilities were evaluated. It was determined that
the CAAC-IGZO TFTs having low oxygen vacancy-related defects
exhibited high electrical performance as well as stability under various
gate-, temperature-, and light-stressed conditions. Meanwhile, the
nc-IGZO TFTs with high oxygen vacancy-related defects showed inferior
electrical properties and stability. Based on the results, we suggest that
the deep-level defects play a critical role in the device performance as
well as the operational stability.
2. Material and methods
The amorphous (a-), nanocrystalline (nc-) and c-axis aligned crys­
talline (CAAC)-IGZO films were deposited using an RF-magnetron
sputtering system. The In:Ga:Zn ratio of the sputtering target was
1:1:1 and the deposition parameters such as deposition temperature and
working pressure, and the post-annealing temperature was varied to
obtain different crystalline structures (Table 1). The crystalline structure
and microstructure of IGZO films were analyzed by using a high-
resolution transmission electron microscope (JEOL, JEM-2100 F). The
surface morphology of the IGZO films were observed by using a field-
emission scanning electron microscope (JEOL, JSM-7600 F). The crys­
talline structure of IGZO films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction
(Malvern Panalytical, Empyrean). The atomic binding states of the films
were analyzed by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS; Thermo
Fisher Scientific, ESCALAB 250) with an Al Kα (1486.6 eV) X-ray source
(12 kV, 3 mA). In the XPS data analysis, the spectra were first calibrated
for a carbon C1s excitation at binding energy of 285 eV.
For the fabrication of IGZO TFTs, a p++ Si wafer having 200 nm-thick
SiO2 gate dielectric was used. Here, the SiO2 film served as the gate
dielectric layer. On the SiO2, each IGZO film was deposited by sputtering
process and then patterned using photolithography and wet etching.
Afterward, Al source/drain electrodes were deposited using thermal
evaporation and patterned by using a lift-off process. The TFTs had
Table 1
Sputtering deposition parameters for a-IGZO, nc-IGZO, and CAAC-IGZO films.
Parameters a-IGZO nc-IGZO CAAC-IGZO
RF Power (W) 200 200 200
Ar:O2 ratio 14:6 14:6 14:6
Deposition pressure (mTorr) 5 9 3 Using the a-IGZO, nc-IGZO, and CAAC-IGZO as the channel layer,
Deposition temperature (℃) 200 450 400
Post-annealing temperature (℃) 400 450 500
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Materials Research Bulletin 139 (2021) 111252
channel length and width of 20 and 200 μm, respectively. The electrical
measurement and the stability tests for IGZO TFTs were carried out
using a semiconductor parameter analyzer (Agilent 4155C).
3. Results and discussion
The microstructure of sputter deposited IGZO films rely on various
process parameters such as sputtering power density, substrate tem­
perature, and deposition pressure [12]. By optimizing the process pa­
rameters such as deposition temperature and working pressure, a-, nc-
and CAAC-IGZO films were obtained as shown in Fig. 1a. Fig. 1a shows
the high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HR-TEM) images
and corresponding fast Fourier transformation (FFT) patterns of a-IGZO,
nc-IGZO and CAAC-IGZO films. As displayed, no lattice structures were
observed in a-IGZO film, while the nc-IGZO and CAAC-IGZO films
possessed distinctive crystalline lattice structures. Particularly, from the
FFT patterns, it was determined that the nc-IGZO film had grains with
multiple crystal orientations, whereas the CAAC-IGZO film had c-axis
oriented crystalline structures showing (009) diffraction spots. Here, no
distinctive features were observed in a-IGZO film, while the nc-IGZO
and CAAC-IGZO films had granular-like surface morphologies. To
further verify the crystalline structure of the IGZO films, X-ray diffrac­
tion (XRD) patterns were obtained as shown in Fig. 1b. The a-IGZO and
nc-IGZO films showed no specific diffraction peaks while the
CAAC-IGZO film showed a peak centered at ~30.05◦ which corresponds
to the (009) planes of the IGZO crystal [13]. Here, it is to note that the
nc-IGZO film shows no detectable peaks in the XRD spectra which can be
attributed to the small grain size as well as randomly oriented crystal
domains. To further verify the crystalline ordering in the CAAC-IGZO
film, cross-sectional bright-field (BF) HR-TEM and plane-view HR-TEM
images were taken as shown in Fig. 1c and d, respectively. As seen in the
BF image, the CAAC-IGZO film had a layered structure with preferential
orientation of c-axis aligned normal to the substrate. Also, the distance
between (Ga,Zn)O planes was about 0.7 nm (indicated by a white arrow)
which is similar to that of single crystalline IGZO [14]. However, as
noticed in the BF image, the CAAC-IGZO film possessed partially
disordered phase close to the bottom SiO2 layer within around 5 nm
from the interface. The presence of this initial disordered structure has
been observed in CAAC-IGZO film grown on SiO2 [15], possibly owing
to the diffusion of Si atoms from the SiO2 film. Due to this disordered
phase, the density of states at the deep level can be increased [16],
causing a degradation in the light-induced bias stability [17]. In the
plane-view TEM image (Fig. 1d), a specific feature of CAAC-IGZO film
can be also observed which is composed of multiples nano-size grains. As
shown in the inset of Fig. 1d, the FFT carried out along the neighbored
grains (yellow dotted line) indicates that the in-plane orientations of
neighboring grains are not in parallel, suggesting the polycrystalline
nature in the in-plane direction which is the artifacts of its growth
mechanism [18]. Nonetheless, the microstructure analyses revealed that
the CAAC-IGZO film had distinctive microstructures apart from the a-
and nc-IGZO films, with the c-axis preferentially oriented normal to the
substrate. In addition, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis
was performed to investigate the atomic binding states in IGZO films.
Fig. 1e-g show the O1 s spectra obtained from a-IGZO, nc-IGZO, and
CAAC-IGZO films. Here, the O1 s spectra were deconvoluted into three
main peaks related to metal-oxygen (M–O), oxygen vacancies (Ovac),
and metal-hydroxide (M–OH) binding states. As shown in Fig. 1h,
a-IGZO and CAAC-IGZO films exhibited relatively higher portions of
M–O binding states (75.8% for a-IGZO and 75.5% for CAAC-IGZO)
compared to that of nc-IGZO film (71.2%). The lower portion of M–O
binding states in nc-IGZO film is attributed to relatively higher defect
states related to the oxygen vacancies (13.1%) compared to those of
a-IGZO and CAAC-IGZO films.
bottom-gate staggered TFTs were fabricated as shown in the inset of
Fig. 2a. The TFTs had channel length and width of 20 and 200 μm,
Y. Kang et al. Materials Research Bulletin 139 (2021) 111252

Fig. 1. (a) Cross-sectional HR-TEM images and corresponding fast Fourier transform (FFT) patterns of a-IGZO, nc-IGZO and CAAC-IGZO films. (b) X-ray diffraction
(XRD) patterns of a-IGZO, nc-IGZO and CAAC-IGZO films. The peak centered at ~30.05◦ corresponds to the (009) planes of IGZO crystal. (c) Cross-sectional bright-
field, and (d) plane-view HR-TEM images of CAAC-IGZO film. The inset in (d) shows the FFT pattern along the yellow dotted line. (e-g) O1 s spectra of a-IGZO, nc-
IGZO and CAAC-IGZO films. (h) The areal portions of M-O, Ovac, and M− OH binding states in a-IGZO, nc-IGZO and CAAC-IGZO films (For interpretation of the
references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article).

respectively. Fig. 2a–c and d–f show the transfer and output charac­
teristics of corresponding IGZO TFTs, respectively. Table 1 summarizes
the statistical data for saturation field-effect mobility, subthreshold
slope (SS), and VTH of the devices. The saturation field-effect mobility
was calculated using the following equation,
W
I D = μC i (VGS − VTH )2 (1)
2L
where, ID is the drain current, μ is the mobility, Ci is the areal capaci­
tance of the gate dielectric, VGS is the gate voltage. The average field-
effect mobility of a-IGZO, nc-IGZO, and CAAC-IGZO TFTs were 3.21,
1.29, and 3.19 cm2/Vs, respectively (Table 2). The relatively lower
mobility of nc-IGZO TFTs can be attributed to the presence of grain
boundaries and oxygen vacancy-related defects which can act as the
energy barriers in electron transport [19] and scattering centers [20],
respectively. Although the CAAC-IGZO channel layer also consists of
grain boundaries in the in-plane direction as shown in Fig. 1d, the
layered structure of CAAC-IGZO and less defects may diminish such
effect and allow higher mobility compared to nc-IGZO TFTs. Also, in the
case of VTH, the a-IGZO TFTs had relatively low VTH of -4.8 V, while the
nc- and CAAC-IGZO TFTs had VTH values of -8.5 V and -7.7 V, respec­
tively. The more negative VTH observed in crystalline IGZO TFTs can be
attributed to the higher carrier concentration in crystalline IGZO
channel, since the crystalline film has lower levels of defects existing
near the valence band [21]. For the SS characteristics, the TFTs had
values in the range of 0.133− 0.201 V/dec, with the CAAC-IGZO TFTs

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Y. Kang et al. Materials Research Bulletin 139 (2021) 111252

Fig. 2. (a-c) Transfer, and (d-f) output characteristics of a-IGZO, nc-IGZO and CAAC-IGZO TFTs. The channel length and width of the devices were 20 and 200 μm,
respectively. In the transfer curves, the arrows indicate the direction of gate biasing.

current stress (HCS), PBS and PBTS tests were performed for each IGZO
Table 2
TFT. Fig. 3a–c show the plots of VTH shift vs. stress time (ΔVTH–t) during
Electrical properties of a-IGZO, nc-IGZO and CAAC-IGZO TFTs (averaged from
HCS, PBS, and PBTS, respectively. Corresponding transfer curves are
10 devices).
shown in Fig. 3d-l. First, in the case of HCS, all the TFTs exhibited
channel Mobility (cm2/ VTH SS (V/ on/off Dit (/cm2 relatively low variation in VTH, typically less than 2 V (Fig. 3d–f).
Vs) (V) decade) ratio eV
However, the nc-IGZO TFTs showed slightly large ΔVTH of +1.59 V
a-IGZO 3.21 − 4.8 0.196 ~1010 2.46 × compared to a- and CAAC-IGZO TFTs. In the case of PBS, the difference
1011
in VTH variation was more significant. In particular, the a- and
nc-IGZO 1.30 − 8.5 0.201 ~109 2.55 ×
1011 CAAC-IGZO TFTs exhibited relatively small ΔVTH of ~1.5 V, while a
CAAC- 3.19 − 7.7 0.133 ~1010 1.33 × larger ΔVTH of ~3 V was observed in nc-IGZO TFTs (Fig. 3g–i). The large
IGZO 1011 VTH shift in nc-IGZO TFTs can be attributed to the high interfacial trap
density and the higher number of bulk traps in the nc-IGZO channel
layer. Indeed, similar to the cause of the lower field-effect mobility in
having slightly lower value. From the SS values, the interfacial trap
nc-IGZO TFTs, the defects at the grain boundaries can play as the bulk
density (Dit) can be calculated using the following equation [22],
charge trap sites [26]. A similar trend was also observed in the PBTS
( )
SS∙log(e) C results (Fig. 3g-l). The nc-IGZO TFTs showed a large VTH shift of ~8 V
Dit = − 1 2 (2)
kT/q q while the a- and CAAC-IGZO TFTs showed smaller VTH shift of 4.56 V
and 5.29 V, respectively. Moreover, during the PBTS, a hump was
where k is the Boltzmann constant, T is the temperature, e is the base of created in the transfer curves which can be originated from to the ox­
the natural logarithm, q is the unit charge and C is the capacitance per ygen migration from back surface [27], self-heating [28], or formation
unit area. Compared to a- and nc-IGZO TFTs, the CAAC-IGZO TFTs had of a two-layer transistor by interstitial Zn formation [29]. Particularly,
relatively low interfacial trap density of 1.33 × 1011 /cm2 eV when a hump is created, the SS characteristics were significantly
One of the major issues in oxide TFT is the instabilities induced by degraded with a negative shift of VTH [30]. Interestingly, as shown in
various stresses such as gate-bias, temperature and light, as well as their Fig. 3j–k, a hump was occurred in both a-IGZO and nc-IGZO TFTs, while
multiple combinations [23]. It has been reported that the shift of VTH is in CAAC-IGZO TFTs, the hump is merely observed. From these results, it
mainly due to the trapping of charge carriers (electrons or holes) at the can be considered that the CAAC-IGZO TFTs is more stable under PBTS.
interface between gate dielectric and the oxide semiconductor [24]. For It should be noted that the slightly smaller VTH shift in a-IGZO TFTs
instance, under positive-gate-bias stress (PBS) condition, electrons can compared to CAAC-IGZO TFTs can be attributed to the hump creation
be trapped at the IGZO/gate dielectric interface causing a positive VTH and subsequent negative VTH shift effect.
shift. Also, in the case of positive-gate-bias temperature stress (PBTS), Concentrating on the a-IGZO and CAAC-IGZO TFTs, the instability
the electron trapping at the oxygen-related traps can cause significant under NBIS condition was further investigated. In the NBIS condition,
VTH shift and abnormal transfer behaviors [25]. To investigate the in­ the combination of light illumination and negative gate-bias typically
fluence of crystalline structure on various stressed conditions, high induces a negative VTH shift, mainly due to the injection of photo-

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Y. Kang et al. Materials Research Bulletin 139 (2021) 111252

Fig. 3. The variation of threshold voltage as a function of stress time (ΔVTH – t) for (a) HCS (ID = 10 μA), (b) PBS (VGS=+20 V), and (c) PBTS (VGS=+20 V,
temperature = 60 ◦ C) tests, respectively. The evolution of transfer characteristics during (d-f) HCS, (g-i) PBS, and (j-l) PBTS tests for a-, nc- and CAAC-IGZO TFTs.

generated holes at the deep-level states in the IGZO channel and sub­
sequent injection into the defect states of gate dielectric [6]. Thus, the
injected holes can play as the positive charges, causing the VTH shift.
Since a-IGZO films have substantial number deep-level states which are
related to the oxygen vacancy defects [31], a-IGZO TFTs typically show
a large negative VTH shift during NBIS. In contrast, crystalline oxide
semiconductors can have less deep-level states, therefore, it is reason­
able to expect that the CAAC-IGZO TFTs would exhibit better NBIS
stability. To compare the NBIS stability of a-IGZO and CAAC-IGZO TFTs,
the VTH variation under NBIS condition were evaluated (VGS = − 20 V,
white light intensity = ~13 mW/cm2, stress time = 10 ks). Fig. 4a shows
the corresponding VTH shift under NBIS. The a-IGZO TFTs showed a
large ΔVTH of − 6.05 V after 10 ks of stress, while the CAAC-IGZO TFTs
showed a relatively small ΔVTH of − 1.98 V (Fig. 4b–c). Particularly, in
CAAC-IGZO TFTs, the VTH shift was saturated after around 60 s of stress
and showed negligible shift afterwards. On the other hand, the a-IGZO
TFTs exhibited continuous negative VTH shift up to 10 ks. Because the
bandgap of a-IGZO and CAAC-IGZO films are similar (a-IGZO : 3.76 eV,
CAAC-IGZO : 3.71 eV), it can be considered that the numbers of
photo-generated holes injected into the defect states of SiO2 gate

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Y. Kang et al. Materials Research Bulletin 139 (2021) 111252

Fig. 4. (a) The variation of threshold voltage as a function of stress time (ΔVTH – t) during the NBIS test (VGS = − 20 V, white light intensity = ~13 mW/cm2, stress
time = 10 ks). The evolution of transfer characteristics during NBIS for (b) a-IGZO and (c) CAAC-IGZO TFTs.

dielectric are similar in both devices under identical light intensity and possessed relatively higher oxygen vacancy-related binding states (Ovac :
gate bias. Accordingly, the main cause of the large VTH shift in a-IGZO 7.84%) compared to that of CAAC-IGZO film (Ovac : 6.21%).
TFT can be attributed to the higher number of deep-level defect states in In addition to the NBIS instability, the photo-induced conductance
the channel. Particularly, as found in the XPS analysis, the a-IGZO film change and the PPC effect are another important light-induced

Fig. 5. Transient photo-response characteristics of a-IGZO and CAAC-IGZO TFTs under (a) pulsed UV light and (b) continuous UV light illumination. Photo-current
variation during light illumination for (c) a-IGZO and (d) CAAC-IGZO TFTs. The fitting was carried out using a double-exponential function. Photo-current variation
during decaying for (e) a-IGZO and (f) CAAC-IGZO TFTs.

6
Y. Kang et al.
instability. Specifically, apart from the silicon-based TFTs, when the
oxide semiconductors are exposed to light, the photo-induced current is
slowly recovered even after the light is turned off. This can cause serious
issues such as the output current variation and negative VTH shift. It has
been proposed that such behavior is originated from the formation of
peroxides in the oxide channel [32] or the photo-ionization of oxygen
2+
vacancies (VO → V+ O + e or VO → VO + 2e ) during the light exposure
− −
[33]. Particularly, in the case of photo-ionized oxygen vacancies, the
neutralization process requires activation energy [34]. Therefore, the
photo-generated excess electrons tend to remain in the channel layer for
extended period of time which results in persistence of high electrical
conductivity. To investigate the influence of crystalline structure on the
light instability and to determine its origin, the transient photo-response
characteristics of a-IGZO and CAAC-IGZO TFTs were analyzed. Fig. 5a
and b show the time-dependent drain current variation (ΔI) under
pulsed and continuous ultraviolet (UV) light illumination, respectively.
Regardless of the input light type, the CAAC-IGZO TFTs showed rela­
tively weak response to the light compared to the a-IGZO TFTs. Partic­
ularly, in the case of pulse UV condition, the photo-generated current
(Iph(t)=I(t)-I0) after 10 pulses were ~33 μA for a-IGZO TFT and ~0.3 μA
for CAAC-IGZO TFT. Also, under continuous UV light, the ΔI were ~100
μA and ~57 μA, respectively. These clearly indicate that in the
CAAC-IGZO TFTs, the photo-current generation can be effectively sup­
pressed showing better stability against the light illumination.
Interestingly, even after a long period of light irradiation (60 s), the
photo-current did not fully saturated especially in the case of a-IGZO
TFTs. This slow response to light irradiation indicates the presence of
activation energy (Ei) for recombination or neutralization of photo-
generated carriers [35]. Since the holes are strongly localized in
typical n-type oxide semiconductors [36], it is considered that the
activation energy is associated with the photo-generated electrons. To
investigate the relationship between the crystalline structure and the
activation energy, the transient photo-response characteristics were
analyzed. In the case of current rising under light illumination, the
photo-current (ΔI) can be fitted to a double-exponential function as
shown below [35],
( )
Iph (t) = ID,0 ∙ A∙e− t/τ1 + B∙e− t/τ2 (3)
where A and B are pre-exponential factors, t is the time, τ1 and τ2 are the
time constants. Here, the time constants τi are related with the activation
energy Ei by the following equation [35],
1
τi = eEi /kB T (4)
υ
where ν is the attempt-to-escape frequency, kB is the Boltzmann con­
stant, and T is the temperature. As shown Fig. 5c and e, the τ1 and τ2
values of a-IGZO TFTs were comparably larger than those of the CAAC-
IGZO TFTs (a-IGZO : τ1 = 3.09 s, τ2 = 32.6 s, CAAC-IGZO : τ1 = 2.14 s, τ2
= 21.2 s). Assuming that the ν values are identical in both cases, this
suggests that the activation energies are relatively higher in a-IGZO TFTs
showing slower current saturation under UV illumination. Similarly, the
decaying of photo-current can be fitted to a stretched exponential
equation [35],
ID (t) = ID,0 ∙e− (t/τ3 )β
(5)
where τ3 is the relaxation time constant and β is the stretching exponent.
Here, the relaxation time constant τ3 indicates how fast the photo-
current decays over time. For instance, the device with large τ3 value
exhibits slow current decaying or strong PPC effect due to high activa­
tion energy. As shown in Fig. 5d and f, the extracted τ3 values from a-
IGZO and CAAC-IGZO TFTs were 14.0 s and 11.5 s, respectively,
showing that the activation energy for recombination and/or neutrali­
zation of photo-generated carriers is relatively higher in a-IGZO TFTs. In
other words, the CAAC-IGZO TFTs have weaker PPC effect and better
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Materials Research Bulletin 139 (2021) 111252
stability under continuous UV light illumination. In overall, it is shown
that under various light-induced stress conditions including NBIS and
pulsed/continuous light illumination, the CAAC-IGZO TFTs showed
higher stability compared to a-IGZO TFTs which can be attributed to the
lower level of deep-level defect states as well as lower activation energy
for recombination and/or neutralization of photo-generated electrons.
4. Conclusion
Here, we demonstrated high-performance and reliable oxide TFTs
using sputter deposited CAAC-IGZO channels. Compared to a- and nc-
IGZO TFTs, the CAAC-IGZO TFTs exhibited enhanced stability under
various combinations of electrical, temperature, and light-stressed en­
vironments particularly under light-induced stress conditions. It was
determined that, from various electrical, structural and spectroscopic
analyses, the low deep-level defects in CAAC-IGZO channels which are
associated with the oxygen vacancy, allowed improved stability in
CAAC-IGZO TFTs. Furthermore, concerning the origin of the enhanced
light-stability in CAAC-IGZO TFTs, the transient photo-response analysis
revealed that the CAAC-IGZO film had lower activation energy for
recombination and/or neutralization of photo-generated carriers, lead­
ing to fast saturation and decaying of photo-generated current.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Youngjin Kang: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing - original
draft. Woobin Lee: Conceptualization, Investigation, Visualization.
Jaeyoung Kim: Investigation, Methodology. Kyobin Keum: Method­
ology. Seung-Han Kang: Investigation. Jeong-Wan Jo: Investigation.
Sung Kyu Park: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation,
Writing - original draft. Yong-Hoon Kim: Conceptualization, Method­
ology, Investigation, Writing - original draft, Visualization.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of
Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea Government (Ministry of Science
and ICT)(No. NRF-2017R1E1A1A01077189 and NRF-
2019M3F3A1A02071601) and by the Technology Innovation Program
(20012617, Core technology development of CMOS device fabrication
using nonsilicon semiconductor thin film transistors for high resolution
large area display) funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy
(MOTIE, Korea).
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