High Performance Amorphous IGZO Thin-Film Transistor Based on Alumina Ceramic

• Main Authors: Lei Zhang, Qianqian Guo, Qiulin Tan, Zhihong Fan, Jijun Xiong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2019-01-01
• Series: IEEE Access
• Subjects: Al₂O₃ ceramic; a-IGZO; TFT; high temperature
• Online Access: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8937545/

Ceramic materials are high-temperature resistant materials with promising prospects. In some applications, semiconductor devices need to be integrated with a ceramic substrate. Herein, we report on the stable operation of an Al₂O₃ ceramic-based amorphous-Indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) thinfilm transistor (TFT) at room temperature up to 523 K. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to characterize the a-IGZO film. A mixed solution was printed on the surface of an insulating layer of alumina. After the combustion reaction, the metal electrode was printed on the surface of a-IGZO to obtain a TFT. The ION/IOFF ratio was 6.04 × 10⁶ at 293 K, and it was maintained at 1.44 × 10⁵ at 523 K. It was demonstrated that the parameters of a-IGZO TFTs such as the subthreshold swing (SS), _gm and μ_sat changed at different temperatures. As such, they can be used as building blocks for integrated circuits that can operate at high temperatures. The fabrication of TFT-based inverters, NAND and NOR gate circuits facilitate the exploration of the possibility of more complex digital circuits that operate at high temperatures, based on hybrid circuit design.