Ultra-thin gate insulator of atomic-layer-deposited AlOx and HfOx for amorphous InGaZnO thin-film transistors

To strengthen the downscaling potential of top-gate amorphous oxide semiconductor (AOS) thin-film transistors (TFTs), the ultra-thin gate insulator (GI) was comparatively implemented using the atomic-layer-deposited (ALD) AlOx and HfOx. Both kinds of high-k GIs exhibit good insulating properties even with the physical thickness thinning to 4 nm. Compared to the amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide (a-IGZO) TFTs with 4 nm AlOx GI, the 4 nm HfOx enables a larger GI capacitance, while the HfOx-gated TFT suffers higher gate leakage current and poorer subthreshold slope, respectively originating from the inherently small band offset and the highly defective interface between a-IGZO and HfOx. Such imperfect a-IGZO/HfOx interface further causes noticeable positive bias stress instability. Both ALD AlOx and HfOx were found to react with the underneath a-IGZO channel to generate the interface defects, such as metal interstitials and oxygen vacancies, while the ALD process of HfOx gives rise to a more severe reduction of a-IGZO. Moreover, when such a defective interface is covered by the top gate, it cannot be readily restored using the conventional oxidizing post-treatments and thus desires the reduction-resistant pre-treatments of AOSs.

Automated summary

To enhance the downscaling potential of top-gate amorphous oxide semiconductor (AOS) thin-film transistors (TFTs), we implemented the ultra-thin gate insulator (GI) using atomic-layer-deposited (ALD) AlOx and HfOx. Both high-k GIs demonstrated good insulation properties even with a physical thickness of 4 nm. However, the HfOx-gated TFT showed higher gate leakage current and poorer subthreshold slope due to the small band offset and defective interface between a-IGZO and HfOx. The imperfect a-IGZO/HfOx interface also caused noticeable positive bias stress instability.