Effect of Ga/In ratio on the optical and electrical properties of GaInZnO thin films grown on SiO2/Si substrates

Amorphous GaInZnO and polycrystalline ZnO thin films are grown by rf magnetron sputtering. Their optical properties are investigated by spectroscopic ellipsometry. The optical gap of the GaInZnO film increases with the increase of Ga content and by annealing. These are attributed to the large band-gap energy of Ga2O3 and the structural relaxation after annealing, respectively. The changes in optical properties show a strong correlation to the device characteristics of GaInZnO thin film transistors: The turn-on voltage increases as the optical gap increases with increasing Ga/In ratio. This study shows that the GaInZnO thin films are as excellent as transparent oxide semiconductors.(c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.