Effect of nitrogen addition on the structural, electrical, and optical properties of In-Sn-Zn oxide thin films

Junjun Jia*, Yoshifumi Torigoshi, Ayaka Suko, Shin ichi Nakamura, Emi Kawashima, Futoshi Utsuno, Yuzo Shigesato

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Indium-tin-zinc oxide (ITZO) films were deposited at various nitrogen flow ratios using magnetron sputtering. At a nitrogen flow ratio of 40%, the structure of ITZO film changed from amorphous, with a short-range-ordered In 2 O 3 phase, to a c-axis oriented InN polycrystalline phase, where InN starts to nucleate from an amorphous In 2 O 3 matrix. Whereas, nitrogen addition had no obvious effect on the structure of indium-gallium-zinc oxide (IGZO) films even at a nitrogen flow ratio of 100%. Nitrogen addition also suppressed the formation of oxygen-related vacancies in ITZO films when the nitrogen flow ratio was less than 20%, and higher nitrogen addition led to an increase in carrier density. Moreover, a red-shift in the optical band edge was observed as the nitrogen flow ratio increased, which could be attributed to the generation of InN crystallites. We anticipate that the present findings demonstrating nitrogen-addition induced structural changes can help to understand the environment-dependent instability in amorphous IGZO or ITZO based thin-film transistors (TFTs).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)897-901
Number of pages5
JournalApplied Surface Science
Volume396
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017 Feb 28
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Amorphous oxide semiconductor
  • Indium-Tin-Zinc oxide (ITZO) film
  • Negative-bias-illumination stress-induced instability
  • Nitrogen addition

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Surfaces, Coatings and Films

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