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Top-gate In–Al–Zn–O thin film transistor based on organic poly(methyl methacrylate) dielectric layer

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Abstract

In this paper, we report a top-gate amorphous In–Al–Zn–O (a-IAZO) thin film transistor (TFT) based on dip-coated poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) dielectric layer and investigate PMMA thickness influence on a-IAZO TFT performance. A thinner PMMA gate dielectric can cumulate more charges per unit area and induce more electron carriers, resulting in increasing of on-state current of TFT. Moreover, it is found that a TFT with the thinner PMMA gate dielectric contains less trap states at a-IAZO/PMMA interface due to decreased surface roughness with thinner PMMA dielectric, which is essential for reducing the capture of electron carriers in the process of electron transport. Therefore, the on/off current ratio (Ion/off), saturated mobility (μsat) and subthreshold gate swing (SS) of device improved with the PMMA thickness decreased from 610 to 280 nm. Furthermore, experimental results show that the PMMA thickness plays an important role on controlling the threshold voltage (Vth) and adjusting the operating mode of device, thus influencing on the power dissipation. Overall, the TFT with a 390-nm-thick PMMA dielectric layer exhibits the adequate operating mode (enhancement mode) and the high electrical performance (a high μsat of 21.42 cm2/Vs, a small SS of 0.46 V/decade, a close-to-zero Vth of 0.12 V, and Ion/off of more than104).

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant number 61504031), Science and Technology Foundation of GuiZhou Province, China [Grant number LH(2014)7389], Youth’s growth Foundation of Education Department of GuiZhou Province, China [Grant number (2016)155], Special and Key Laboratory of Guizhou Provincial Higher Education for Photoelectric information Analysis and Processing, China [Grant number KY(2016)003]. We thank Prof. Q. Zhang for valuable suggestions and he guidance for this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Special and Key Laboratory of Guizhou Provincial Higher Education for Photoelectric Information Analysis and Processing, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang, 550025, People’s Republic of China

    Lan Yue, Dasen Ren & Shengyun Luo

  2. Department of Materials Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China

    Lan Yue

  3. China ZhenHua Group YongGuang Electronics Co., Ltd, Guiyang, 550018, People’s Republic of China

    Fanxin Meng

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  1. Lan Yue
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Yue, L., Meng, F., Ren, D. et al. Top-gate In–Al–Zn–O thin film transistor based on organic poly(methyl methacrylate) dielectric layer. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 30, 11976–11983 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-019-01548-x

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