High-Performance Thin-Film IGZO Schottky Diodes With Sputtered PdOx Anode

Thin-film Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) based on amorphous oxide semiconductors play an important role in flexible and wearable electronics. In this work, thin-film SBDs based on indium-gallium-zinc oxide (InGaZnO or IGZO) were fabricated with sputtered PdOx/Pd top Schottky contact and low-temperature (100 degrees C) annealing in air atmosphere. PdOx produces an oxygen-rich stoichiometry in the Schottky interface, resulting in high-quality contact with rather low interface trap state density of 2.6 x 10(17) cm(-3) and extremely low barrier inhomogeneity of 0.01 eV. As a result, high-performance IGZO SBDs were achieved with high ON/OFF ratio of 3x10(7), near-unity ideality factor of 1.04, barrier height of 0.85 eV, high ON-current density of 2.5 A.cm(-2) at 1 V, and high reverse breakdown voltage of similar to 12 V.

Automated summary

By utilizing PdOx / Pd top Schottky contact and low-temperature annealing process, high-performance IGZO SBDs with high ON/OFF ratio, near-unity ideality factor, low barrier inhomogeneity, and high breakdown voltage were successfully fabricated. The thin-film SBDs based on amorphous oxide semiconductors demonstrate promising potential in flexible and wearable electronics.