Effect of N2O Plasma Treatment on the Performance of ZnO TFTs

Postfabrication rapid thermal annealing (RTA) and subsequent nitrous oxide (N 2 O) plasma treatment improved the performance of zinc oxide (ZnO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) in terms of off current and on/off current ratio by almost 2 orders of magnitude. The off current of 2 × 10 -8 A and on/off current ratio of 3 × 10 3 obtained after RTA were improved to 10 -10 A and 10 5 , respectively, by the subsequent N 2 O plasma treatment. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of the TFT samples showed that the RTA-treated ZnO surface had more oxygen vacancies as compared to as-deposited samples, and the oxygen vacancies at the surface of RTA-treated ZnO were reduced by subsequent N 2 O plasma treatment. The reduction of oxygen vacancies at the top region of the ZnO channel is the cause of better off current and on/off current ratio of the TFTs.

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