Effect of thermal annealing on the properties of transparent conductive In-Ga-Zn oxide thin films

Amorphous In-Ga-Zn oxide (IGZO) thin films were prepared using radio frequency magnetron sputtering at room temperature. Upon thermal annealing at temperatures even up to 500 degrees C, the amorphous characteristics were still maintained, but the electronic properties could be considerably enhanced. This could be ascribed to the increased optical band gap and the increased oxygen vacancies, as corroborated by the microstructure characterizations. In addition, the surface became smoother upon thermal annealing, guaranteeing good interface contact between electrode and a-IGZO. The optical transmittance at 400-800 nm exceeded 90% for all samples. All in all, thermal annealing at appropriate temperatures is expected to improve the performances of relevant a-IGZO thin film transistors. (C) 2014 American Vacuum Society.