Fully Printed Top-Gate Metal–Oxide Thin-Film Transistors Based on Scandium-Zirconium-Oxide Dielectric

Abstract

The fully inkjet-printed top-gate metal-oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs) with excellent electrical performance are realized with the gate dielectric layer of scandium zirconium oxide (Sc <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sub> Zr <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</sub> ). It is found that adding of nitrate-based scandium oxide (ScO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</sub> ) precursor into the chloride ligand-based zirconium oxide (ZrO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</sub> ) precursor will reduce the corrosivity of the mixed solution, and the incorporation of Zr ions into ScOx will suppress the hydrogen-ion migration and eliminate the acceptor-like traps in pure ScO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</sub> . The fully printed indium gallium oxide (InGaO) TFTs based on Sc <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sub> Zr <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sub> Ox dielectric exhibited an average mobility of 10.8 cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> V <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> · s <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> , a highest mobility of 12.9 cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> · V <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> · s <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> , negligible hysteresis, and excellent stability under both the negative and positive bias stresses. In addition, a resistor-loaded inverter was fabricated using a fully printed InGaO TFT, which exhibited the full swing characteristics and a maximum gain of 5 at 2 V.