Comparative Study on Light-Induced Bias Stress Instability of IGZO Transistors With SiNx and SiO2 Gate Dielectrics

This letter examines the effect of the gate dielectric material on the light-induced bias-temperature instability of an In-Ga-Zn-O (IGZO) thin-film transistor (TFT). After applying positive and negative bias stresses, the SiNx-gated TFT exhibited inferior stability to the SiO2-gated TFT, which was explained by the charge trapping mechanism. However, light illumination under a negative bias stress accelerated the negative displacement of the threshold voltage (V-th) of the SiNx-gated IGZO TFT compared to that of the SiO2-gated TFT. This was attributed to the injection of photocreated hole carriers into the underlying gate dielectric bulk region as well as the hole trapping at the gate/channel interface.