The Effect of Zirconium Doping on Solution-Processed Indium Oxide Thin Films Measured by a Novel Nondestructive Testing Method (Microwave Photoconductivity Decay)

Abstract

Solution-processed indium oxide is an ideal transparent semiconductor material with wide band gap. Zirconium is an element characterized by a strong binding ability to oxygen which can inhibit the formation of oxygen vacancies and reduce the surface defect state. In this paper, zirconium doped indium oxide (InxZryO) thin films were prepared by the solution method, with indium oxide being doped with zirconium in order to tune the relative number of oxygen vacancies. The influence of the Zr doping concentration and the post-annealed temperature on the properties of the InxZryO thin films was investigated. The results show that the doping process improves the crystallinity and relative density of the obtained films. A novel nondestructive method named microwave photoconductivity decay (μ-PCD) was used to evaluate the quality of InxZryO thin films by simply measuring their response under laser irradiation. The relative number of oxygen vacancies and the minority carrier concentration achieved minimum values at 10 at.% Zr doping concentration. Furthermore, InxZryO thin films with optimal properties from an electrical point of view were obtained at 10 at.% Zr doping concentration, annealed at 400 °C. Characterized by an average transmittance above 90% in the visible range, the obtained InxZryO thin films can be used as active layer materials in the fabrication of high-performance thin film transistor (TFT) devices.

Application of Amorphous Zirconium-Yttrium-Aluminum-Magnesium-Oxide Thin Film with a High Relative Dielectric Constant Prepared by Spin-Coating

“…In order to confirm the chemical reactions that may occur in the system and analyze the effects of the products on the properties of the film, we performed a test through a thermalgravimetric (TG) analyzer, and the results are shown in Figure 6 . There is an obvious mass loss from 25 °C to 75 °C, and we inferred that this is probably because of the quick evaporation of the solvent, as shown in previous studies [ 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ]. The boiling point of EGME is around 125 °C, but the temperature fell in the test, which may be caused by the multiple solutes in the system.…”

Zirconium-Aluminum-Oxide Dielectric Layer with High Dielectric and Relatively Low Leakage Prepared by Spin-Coating and the Application in Thin-Film Transistor

“…The curves of the mixed precursor with different ratios are similar. An endothermic peak is observed at around 135 • C [31], which is related to the evaporation of the solution, corresponding to the weight loss from the TG curve. In Figure 1a, the exothermic peak located at about 150 • C can be explained by the bonding of metal and oxygen, where a grid metal-oxide-structure was formed.…”

Bias Stress Stability of Solution-Processed Nano Indium Oxide Thin Film Transistor

“…In our previous studies, it was found that In 2 O 3 thin films crystallized only at temperatures above 400 °C [ 17 ]. Therefore, we only studied the crystallization of In 2 O 3 thin films at 200–300 °C in this work.…”

“…At present, metal oxide semiconductors are mainly fabricated by vacuum deposition methods, which have strict environmental requirements and relatively high manufacturing cost [ 10 , 11 ]. In contrast, solution-processed deposition offers the advantages of a simple process, high-throughput, high material utilization rate, and easy control of chemical components, which provides the possibility for large-area preparation of metal oxide semiconductor [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. The preparation of metal oxides by the solution method usually requires annealing, which promotes the formation of (M–O–M) structure and the densification of film [ 18 ].…”