Environment-dependent thermal instability of sol-gel derived amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide thin film transistors

The environment-dependent electrical performances as a function of temperature for sol-gel derived amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) thin film transistors are investigated in this letter. In the ambients without oxygen, thermal activation dominates and enhances device performance. In oxygen-containing environments, mobility and drain current degrades and the threshold slightly increase as temperature increases. We develop a porous model for a-IGZO film relating to the drain current and mobility lowering due to film porosity and oxygen adsorption/penetration. It also relates to the threshold voltage recovery at high temperature owing to the varying form of adsorbed oxygen and the combination of oxygen and vacancies. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3580614]