Preparation and Properties of Crystalline IGZO Thin Films

Abstract

IGZO thin films can be used as active layers of thin-film transistors and have been widely studied. However, amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) fabricated at room temperature is vulnerable in subsequent manufacturing processes, such as etching and sputtering; this limits IGZO thin film transistors’ (TFTs) use in commercial products. In this paper, we prepared a c-axis crystallized IGZO thin film by Radio Frequency (RF) sputtering at 180 °C, with a 50% O2 ratio and 110 W power. XRD images show that the crystallized film has an obvious diffraction peak near 31°, and the spacing between the crystal surfaces was calculated to be ≈0.29 nm. The HRTEM map confirmed the above results. The stability of IGZO thin films was investigated by etching them with an acid solution. The crystalline IGZO films exhibited better acid corrosion resistance, and their anticorrosion performance was 74% higher than that of amorphous IGZO (a-IGZO) films, indicating the crystalline IGZO film can provide more stable performance in applications.

Analytic bond order potential for indium gallium zinc oxide

“…3 displays a comparison between the structure obtained using the ABOP and the experimental results of single-crystal IGZO XRD data. [36][37][38] The ABOP structure shows excellent agreement with the experimental data, featuring a prominent peak near 301 that corresponds to the strongest peak of (0 0 9) of the single crystal IGZO. Additionally, the agreement is reinforced by the fact that the second and third highest peaks of (0 0 6) and (1 0 12), respectively, also match the experimental data.…”

“…The XRD data showed peaks near 40° which is far off from the experimental data. 36–38 The structure obtained from the Morse-pair potential exhibited a loss of crystallinity even after annealing at 300 K, as can be seen from Fig. 2c with no peak at all.…”

“…The crystallinity of the structures obtained by the three different potentials was analysed using virtual X-ray diffraction (XRD) data computed through LAMMPS, with Cu-Ka (1.541838 Å) chosen as the radiation wavelength for comparison with experimental results. [36][37][38] Fig. 3 displays a comparison between the structure obtained using the ABOP and the experimental results of single-crystal IGZO XRD data.…”

“…The stability of the potential function was assessed through the examination of physical parameters such as X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) data. To validate the newly developed potential, we compared phase transition results from crystalline (c-IGZO) to amorphous (a-IGZO) phases with other MD simulation, 21,34,35 experimental, [36][37][38][39] and DFT 40,41 results. The applicability of the ABOP was demonstrated by simulating sputtering processes for dynamic film growth and analyses of the optimal conditions for deposition rates and atomic ratios of the target materials to stabilize the oxygen ratio in sputter-grown IGZO films.…”

Comparative Study on the Effects of O2 Flow Rate on As-Deposited Polycrystalline IAZO Films

“…Grain boundaries ranging from 7 to 10 nm with reflections of planes (103), (103), (103), and (100) were observed in SA, SB, SC, and SD, respectively. The grain size of SC (10 nm) was relatively high, suggesting the low dislocation density. ,, The lattice spacing in these films ranged between 0.81 and 3.47 Å, indicating high crystallinity, with c -axis aligned planes perpendicular to the film stack surface. , As-deposited ZnO films are polycrystalline, while the amorphous nature of In 2 O 3 films can be attributed to the polyhedral perspective of Al–O and Zn–O bonding. The polyhedra formed by Zn–O and Al–O have a relatively small coordination number of approximately 4.…”