Electrical and Structure Properties of High-κ Barium Tantalite and Aluminum Oxide Interface with Zinc Oxide for Applications in Transparent Thin Film Transistors

• Main Author: Kuo, Fang-Ling
• Other Authors: Shepherd, Nigel
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: University of North Texas 2011
• Subjects: Zinc oxide; high- κ dielectric; transistors
• Online Access: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc84233/

ZnO has generated interest for flexible electronics/optoelectronic applications including transparent thin film transistors (TFTs). For this application, low temperature processes that simultaneously yield good electrical conductivity and optical transparency and that are compatible with flexible substrates such as plastic, are of paramount significance. Further, gate oxides are a critical component of TFTs, and must exhibit low leakage currents and self-healing breakdown in order to ensure optimal TFTs switching performance and reliability. Thus, the objective of this work was twofold: (1) develop an understanding of the processing-structure-property relationships of ZnO and high-κ BaTa2O6 and Al2O3 (2) understand the electronic defect structure of BaTa2O6 /ZnO and Al2O3/ZnO interfaces and develop insight to how such interfaces may impact the switching characteristics (speed and switching power) of TFTs featuring these materials. Of the ZnO films grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD), pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and magnetron sputtering at 100-200 °C, the latter method exhibited the best combination of n-type electrical conductivity and optical transparency. These determinations were made using a combination of photoluminescence, photoluminescence excitation, absorption edge and Hall measurements. Metal-insulator-semiconductor devices were then fabricated with sputtered ZnO and high-κ BaTa2O6 and Al2O3 and the interfaces of high-κ BaTa2O6 and Al2O3 with ZnO were analyzed using frequency dependent C-V and G-V measurements. The insulator films were deposited at room temperature by magnetron sputtering using optimized processing conditions. Although the Al2O3 films exhibited a lower breakdown strength and catastrophic breakdown behavior compared to BaTa2O6/ZnO interface, the Al2O3/ZnO interface was characterized by more than an order of magnitude smaller density of interface traps and interface trapped charge. The BaTa2O6 films in addition were characterized by a significantly higher concentration of fixed oxide charge. The transition from accumulation to inversion in the Al2O3 MIS structure was considerably sharper, and occurred at less than one tenth of the voltage required for the same transition in the BaTa2O6 case. The frequency dispersion effects were also noticeably more severe in the BaTa2O6 structures. XPS results suggest that acceptor-like structural defects associated with oxygen vacancies in the non-stoichiometric BaTa2O6 films are responsible for the extensive electrical trapping and poor high frequency response. The Al2O3 films were essentially stoichiometric. The results indicate that amorphous Al2O3 is better suited than BaTa2O6 as a gate oxide for transparent thin film transistor applications where low temperature processing is a prerequisite, assuming of course that the operation voltage of such devices is lower than the breakdown voltage. Also, the operation power for the devices with amorphous Al2O3 is lower than the case for devices with BaTa2O6 due to the smaller fixed oxide charges and interface trap density.