Effect of hydrogen diffusion in an In–Ga–Zn–O thin film transistor with an aluminum oxide gate insulator on its electrical properties

Abstract

We fabricated amorphous InGaZnO thin film transistors (a-IGZO TFTs) with aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) as a gate insulator grown through atomic layer deposition (ALD) method at different deposition temperatures (<i>T</i> _dep). The Al₂O₃ gate insulator with a low <i>T</i> _dep exhibited a high amount of hydrogen in the film, and the relationship between the hydrogen content and the electrical properties of the TFTs was investigated. The device with the Al₂O₃ gate insulator having a high H content showed much better transfer parameters and reliabilities than the low H sample. This is attributed to the defect passivation effect of H in the active layer, which is diffused from the Al₂O₃ layer. In addition, according to the post-annealing temperature (<i>T</i> _post-ann), a-IGZO TFTs exhibited two unique changes of properties; the degradation in low <i>T</i> _post-ann and the enhancement in high <i>T</i> _post-ann, as explained in terms of H diffusion from the gate insulator to an active layer.