Review of recent progresses on flexible oxide semiconductor thin film transistors based on atomic layer deposition processes

The current article is a review of recent progress and major trends in the field of flexible oxide thin film transistors（TFTs）, fabricating with atomic layer deposition（ALD） processes. The ALD process offers accurate controlling of film thickness and composition as well as ability of achieving excellent uniformity over large areas at relatively low temperatures. First, an introduction is provided on what is the definition of ALD, the difference among other vacuum deposition techniques, and the brief key factors of ALD on flexible devices. Second, considering functional layers in flexible oxide TFT, the ALD process on polymer substrates may improve device performances such as mobility and stability, adopting as buffer layers over the polymer substrate, gate insulators, and active layers. Third, this review consists of the evaluation methods of flexible oxide TFTs under various mechanical stress conditions. The bending radius and repetition cycles are mostly considering for conventional flexible devices. It summarizes how the device has been degraded/changed under various stress types（directions）. The last part of this review suggests a potential of each ALD film, including the releasing stress, the optimization of TFT structure, and the enhancement of device performance. Thus, the functional ALD layers in flexible oxide TFTs offer great possibilities regarding anti-mechanical stress films, along with flexible display and information storage application fields.

IMPS STUDIES OF SEMICONDUCTOR CdSe THIN FILM ELECTRODE

The kinetics of interracial processes of CdSe thin film electrode before and after sur- face modification of 1,1'-di linolene ferrocenyl L-B films have been studied in K_4Fe(CN)_6 solution by Intensity Modulated Photocurrent Spectroscopy(IMPS).Potential dependence of surface state relaxation time(T_s),steady state photocurrent(I_s),collection coefficient of minority carriers(G_o), rate constant of photocorrosion(K_(cr)),and density of surface state(N_(ss))were determined in terms of frequency response analysis of IMPS plots.

Relations between compositional modulation and atomic ordering degree in thin films of ternary Ⅲ-Ⅴ semiconductor alloys

This paper derives the expressions for the ordering degree and the modulation factor of A and B atoms in AXB1-xC epilayers of ternary III-V semiconductor alloys. Using these expressions, it identifies quantitatively the alternating atom-enhanced planes, compositional modulations, atomic ordering degree on the group-III sublattices and the fine structure of NMR spectra.

Alternating current characterization of nano-Pt(Ⅱ)octaethylporphyrin(PtOEP) thin film as a new organic semiconductor

Alternating current（AC） conductivity and dielectric properties of thermally evaporated Au/Pt OEP/Au thin films are investigated each as a function of temperature（303 K–473 K） and frequency（50 Hz–5 MHz）.The frequency dependence of AC conductivity follows the Jonscher universal dynamic law.The AC-activation energies are determined at different frequencies.It is found that the correlated barrier hopping（CBH） model is the dominant conduction mechanism.The variation of the frequency exponent s with temperature is analyzed in terms of the CBH model.Coulombic barrier height Wm,hopping distance Rω,and the density of localized states N（EF） are valued at different frequencies.Dielectric constant ε1（ω,T） and dielectric loss ε2（ω,T） are discussed in terms of the dielectric polarization process.The dielectric modulus shows the non-Debye relaxation in the material.The extracted relaxation time by using the imaginary part of modulus（M’’）is found to follow the Arrhenius law.

Optical and Electrical Properties of ZnO/CdO Composite Thin Films Prepared by Pulse Laser Deposition

ZnO/CdO composite films with different CdO contents are obtained by pulse laser deposition technique. The structural, optical and electrical properties of the composite [liras are investigated by x-ray diffraction, photolu- minescence and electrical resistivity measurements, respectively. The results show that the UV emission is at a constant peak position in the photoluminescence spectra. Meanwhile, their electrical resistivity decreases to very low level approaching to the value of the CdO film, which can be explained by the Matthiessen composite rule for resistivity. The peculiarity of low resistivity and high transnlittance in the visible region enables these Rims suitable for optoelectronic device fabrication.

Growth and Characterization of CIS Thin Films Prepared by Ion Beam Sputtering Deposition

Copper indium diselenide （CuInSe2） thin films were prepared by ion beam sputtering Cu, In and Se targets continuously on BK7 glass substrates and the three-layer film was then annealed in the same vacuum chamber. X-ray diffraction shows that the CuInSe2 thin films have a single chalcopyrite structure with preferential （112） orientation. Scanning electron microscopy reveals that the CIS thin films consist of uniform and densely packed grain clusters. Energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy demonstrates that the elemental composition of CIS films approaches the stochiometric composition ratios of 1：1：2. Raman measurement shows that the main peak is at about 174cm^-1 and this peak is identified as the A1 vibrational mode from chaicopyrite ordered CulnSe2. Optical transmission and absorption spectroscopy measurement reveal an energy band gap of about 1.05 eV and an absorption coefficient of 10^5 cm^-1. The film resistivity is about 0.01 Ωcm.

Effects of Annealing Temperature on Structural and Optical Properties of ZnO Thin Films

The effects of annealing temperature on the structural and optical properties of ZnO films grown on Si （100） substrates by sol-gel spin-coating are investigated. The structural and optical properties are characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and photoluminescence spectra. X-ray diffraction analysis shows the crystal quality of ZnO films becomes better after annealing at high temperature. The grain size increases with the temperature increasing. It is found that the tensile stress in the plane of ZnO films first increases and then decreases with the annealing temperature increasing, reaching the maximum value of 1.8 GPa at 700℃. PL spectra of ZnO films annealed at various temperatures consists of a near band edge emission around 380 nm and visible emissions due to the electronic defects, which are related to deep level emissions, such as oxide antisite （OZn）, interstitial oxygen （Oi）, interstitial zinc （Zni） and zinc vacancy （VZn^-）, which are generated during annealing process. The evolution of defects is analyzed by PL spectra based on the energy of the electronic transitions.

Structural and Electrical Properties of Single Crystalline Ga-Doped ZnO Thin Films Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

High-quality Ga-doped ZnO （ZnO：Ga） single crystalline films with various Ga concentrations are grown on a- plane sapphire substrates using molecular-beam epitaxy. The site configuration of doped Ga atoms is studied by means of x-ray absorption spectroscopy. It is found that nearly all Ga can substitute into ZnO lattice as electrically active donors, a generating high density of free carriers with about one electron per Ga dopant when the Ga concentration is no more than 2%. However, further increasing the Ga doping concentration leads to a decrease of the conductivity due to partial segregation of Ga atoms to the minor phase of the spinel ZnGa2O4 or other intermediate phase. It seems that the maximum solubility of Ga in the ZnO single crystalline film is about 2at.% and the lowest resistivity can reach 1.92 ×10-4Ω·cm at room temperature, close to the best value reported. In contrast to ZnO：Ga thin film with 1% or 2% Ga doping, the film with 4% Ga doping exhibits a metal semiconductor transition at 80 K. The scattering mechanism of conducting electrons in single crystalline ZnO：Ga thin film is discussed.

Thin-film growth behavior of non-planar vanadium oxide phthalocyanine

The thin film properties of organic semiconductors are very important to the device performance.Herein,non-planar vanadyl phthalocyanine(VOPc)thin films grown on rigid substrates of indium tin oxide,silicon dioxide,and flexible substrate of kapton by organic molecular beam deposition under vacuum conditions are systematically studied via atomic force microscopy and x-ray diffraction.The results clearly reveal that the morphology and grain size are strongly dependent on the substrate temperature during the process of film deposition.Meanwhile,the VOPc films with the structure of phase I or phase II can be modulated via in situ annealing and post-annealing temperature.Furthermore,the crystalline structure and molecular orientation of vapor-deposited VOPc can be controlled using molecular template layer 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride(PTCDA),the VOPc film of which exhibits the phase I structure.The deep understanding of growth mechanism of non-planar VOPc film provides valuable information for controlling structure-property relationship and accelerates the application in electronic and optoelectronic devices.

Fabrication and optical properties of Mg_xZn_(1-x)O thin films

MgxZn1-xO （x≤0.3） thin films have been prepared on silicon substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The thin films have hexagonal wurtzite single-phase structure and a preferred orientation with the c-axis perpendicular to the substrates. The Mg content in the films is slightly larger than that in the targets. The refractive indices of MgxZn1-xO films measured at room temperature by spectroscopic ellipsometry （SE） on the wavelength 632.8 nm are systematically decreased with the increasing of Mg content. Optical band gaps of MgxZn1-xO films are determined by the transmittance spectra. With increasing Mg content, the absorption edges of MgxZn1-xO films shift to higher energies and band gaps linearly increase from 3.24 eV at x = 0 to 3,90 eV at x = 0.30.

Al-induced Lateral Crystallization of Amorphous Si Thin Films by Microwave Annealing

Al-induced lateral crystallization of amorphous silicon thin films by microwave annealing is investigated.The crystallized Si films are examined by optical microscopy,Raman spectroscopy,transmission electron microscopy and transmission electron diffraction micrography.After microwave annealing at 480 ℃ for 50 min,the amorphous Si is completely crystallized with large grains of main (111) orientation.The rate of lateral crystallization is 0.04μm/min.This process,labeled MILC-MA,not only lowers the temperature but also reduces the time of crystallization.The crystallization mechanism during microwave annealing and the electrical properties of polycrystalline Si thin films are analyzed. This MILC-MA process has potential applications in large area electronics.

Morphological and Optical Properties of Dimetallo-Phthalocyanine-Complex Thin Films

In this work, the synthesis of semiconducting molecular materials formed from metallo-phthalocyanines (MPcs) and bidentate amines is reported. Powder and thin-film samples of the synthesized materials, deposited by vacuum thermal evaporation, show the same intra-molecular bonds in IR-spectroscopy studies. The morphology of the deposited films was studied using scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The optical parameters have been investigated using spectrophotometric measurements of transmittance in the wavelength range 200 - 1100 nm. The absorption spectra in the UV-Vis region for the deposited samples showed two bands, namely the Q and Soret bands. The optical band gap values of the thin films were calculated from the absorption coefficient α in the absorption region and were found to be around 1.4 - 1.6 eV. The dependence of the Tauc and Cody optical gaps on the thickness of the film was also determined.

Effect of Organic Dopants in Dimetallophthalocyanine Thin Films: Application to Optoelectronic Devices

Semiconductor films of organic, doped dimetallophthalocyanine M2Pcs (M = Li, Na) on different substrates were prepared by synthesis and vacuum evaporation. Tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) and tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) were used as dopants and the structure and morphology of the semiconductor films were studied using IR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS). The absorption spectra recorded in the ultraviolet-visible region for the deposited films showed the Q and Soret bands related to the electronic π-π* transitions in M2Pc molecules. Optical characterization of the films indicates electronic transitions characteristic of amorphous thin films with optical bandgaps between 1.2 and 2.4 eV. Finally, glass/ITO/doped M2Pc/Ag thin-film devices were produced and their electrical behavior was evaluated by using the four-tip collinear method. The devices manufactured from Na2Pc have a small rectifying effect, regardless of the organic dopant used, while the device manufactured from Li2Pc-TCNQ presents ohmic-like behavior at low voltages, with an insulating threshold around 19 V. Parameters such as the hole mobility (μ), the concentration of thermally-generated holes (p0), the concentration of traps per unit of energy (P0) and the total trap concentration (Nt(e)) were also determined for the Li2Pc-TTF device.

ZnO-Based Transparent Thin-Film Transistors with MgO Gate Dielectric Grown by in-situ MOCVD

ZnO transparent thin-film transistors with MgO gate dielectric were fabricated by in-situ metal organic chemicM vapor deposition （MOCVD） technology. We used an uninterrupted growth method to simplify the fabrication steps and to avoid the unexpectable contaminating during epitaxy process. MgO layer is helpful to reduce the gate leakage current, as well as to achieve high transparency in visible light band, due to the wide band gap （7. 7eV） and high dielectric constant （9.8）. The XRD measurement indicates that the ZnO layer has high crystal quality. The field effect mobility and the on/off current ratio of the device is 2.69cm^2V^-1s^-1 and - 1 × 10^4, respectively.

Effect of Dopant Properties on the Microstructures and Electrical Characteristics of Poly（3-Hexylthiophene） Thin Films

Effects of dopant properties on microstructures and the electrical characteristics of poly （3-hexylthiophene） （P3HT） films are studied by doping 0.1 wt% 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane （F4？TCNQ）, 6,6-phenyl-C61butyric acid methyl ester （PCBM） and N,N＇？Diphenyl-N,N＇-（m-tolyl）-benzidine （TPD） into P3HT, respectively. The introductions of various dopants in small quantities increase the field-effect mobility and the I on/Ioff ratio of P3HT thin-film transistors. However, each of dopants shows various effects on the crystalline order and the molecular orientation of P3HT films and the performance of P3HT thin-film transistors. These can be attributed to the various size, shape and energy-level properties of the dopants.

Effective tool design of three-rank form as precision removal-process of ITO thin-films

A new effective tool design of three-rank form of electroremoval was present using a precision recycle system offering faster performance in removing the indium-tin-oxide(ITO) thin-films on color filter surface of displays. Higher electric power is not required since the three-rank form tool is adopted as a feeding mode to reduce the response area. The low yield of ITO persists throughout the entire semiconductor production process. By establishing a recycle process of ultra-precise removal of the thin-film nanostructure, defective products in the optoelectronic semiconductors industry can be effectively recycled, decreasing both production costs and pollution. A 5th generation TFT-LCD was used. The design features of the removal processes for the thin-films and the tool design of three-rank form were of major interest. For the precision removal processes, a pulsed current can improve the effect of dreg discharge and contributes to the achievement of a fast workpiece (displays' color filter) feed rate, but raises the current rating. High flow velocity of the electrolyte with a high rotational speed of the tool electrodes elevates the ITO removal effect. A displays' color filter with a fast feed rate is combined with enough electric power to provide highly effective removal. A small thickness of the rank and a small arc angle of the negative-electrode correspond to a higher removal rate for ITO-film. An effective three-rank form negative-electrode provides larger discharge mobility and better removal effect. It only needs a short period of time to remove the ITO easily and cleanly.

Effect of Trisodium Citrate on the Properties of Electrodeposited Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) Layers on ZnS Thin Films Using a 2-Electrode Method

Electrodeposition of CZTS thin films on ZnS was carried using a 2-electrode method to fabricate superstrate structure solar cells. A comprehensive study was performed on the effects of trisodium citrate on the CZTS electrolyte bath. In the present investigation, it is demonstrated that using a CZTS electrolyte with a concentration of 0.2 M trisodium citrate yields CZTS thin films with an electronic bandgap of 1.52 eV, a p-type nature, and good uniformity, which are all results desired for the fabrication of thin film solar cells. Characterization was performed using UV-Vi-IR optical absorption, SEM imaging, Raman spectrometry, and photoelectrochemical cells conducted for electronic bandgap, morphology, chemical composition, and semiconductor conductivity, respectively.

Comparative studies on Zn_(0.95)Co_(0.05)O thin films on C- and R-sapphire substrates

Zn0.95Co0.05O precipitate-free single crystal thin films were synthesized by a dual beam pulsed laser deposition method. The films form a wurtzite structure whose hexagonal axis is perpendicular or parallel to the plane of the surface depending on the C-plane （0001） or R-plane （1120） sapphire substrate. Based on the results of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction, C-plane films show larger lattice mismatch. The films exhibit magnetic and semiconductor properties at room temperature. The coercivity of the film is about 8000 A/m at room temperature. They are soft magnetic materials with small remanent squareness S for both crystal orientations. There is no evidence to show that the anisotropy is fixed to the hexagonal axis （C-axis） for the wurtzite structure.

Effect of Sn Doping on the Properties of ZnO Thin Films Prepared by Spray Pyrolysis

Layers of transparent and conductive Sn-doped zinc oxide (ZnO) have been prepared using chemical reactive liquid phase (spray) method on glass substrates. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the obtained layers show preferential grains orientation along the direction (002). Microstructural analysis indicates that the thickness of the deposited films is independent of Sn content, i.e. 408 nm, and that the average grain size increases with increasing Sn content, ranging from 31 nm to 42 nm. The value of the optical gap obtained using UV-visible transmission spectroscopy method increases slightly from 3.1 eV to 3.3 eV. Moreover, transmission curves reveal that the prepared thin films are transparent in the visible domain.