Teflon/SiO₂ Bilayer Passivation for Improving the Electrical Reliability of Oxide TFTs Fabricated Using a New Two-Photomask Self-Alignment Process.

This study proposes a two-photomask process for fabricating amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) that exhibit a self-aligned structure. The fabricated TFTs, which lack etching-stop (ES) layers, have undamaged a-IGZO active layers that facilitate superior performance. In addition, we demonstrate a bilayer passivation method that uses a polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) and SiO₂ combination layer for improving the electrical reliability of the fabricated TFTs. Teflon was deposited as a buffer layer through thermal evaporation. The Teflon layer exhibited favorable compatibility with the underlying IGZO channel layer and effectively protected the a-IGZO TFTs from plasma damage during SiO₂ deposition, resulting in a negligible initial performance drop in the a-IGZO TFTs. Compared with passivation-free a-IGZO TFTs, passivated TFTs exhibited superior stability even after 168 h of aging under ambient air at 95% relative humidity.

1. Introduction

Numerous recent studies have focused on metal–oxide semiconductors, such as amorphous indium–gallium–zinc oxide (a-IGZO), because of their high mobility and transparency; these semiconductors have been applied as active channel layers in thin-film transistors (TFTs) [1,2,3]. Regarding conventional silicon-based TFTs, amorphous silicon exhibits low carrier mobility (0.5–1 cm2/V∙s), whereas polycrystalline silicon requires high-temperature fabrication and has problems associated with its nonuniform grain size [4,5]. By contrast, a-IGZO TFTs can be fabricated on plastic substrates at low temperatures and exhibit excellent and uniform electrical characteristics [6,7].

In general, a-IGZO TFTs applied in active-matrix liquid-crystal displays and active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes are typically fabricated using a back-channel-etching structure and five photomasks. To reduce the fabrication cost, Uhm et al. proposed a two-photomask scheme in which a gray-tone photomask was used to fabricate TFT devices [8]; however, the lack of an etching-stop (ES) layer damages the a-IGZO active island when source/drain (S/D) electrodes are etched. In a typical process, an additional photomask step is required for creating an ES pattern, presenting a trade-off between fabrication cost and device stability. Therefore, Geng et al. [9] proposed using backside-ultraviolet (BUV) exposure through a metal gate electrode to define the ES area; this process reduces the misalignment margin and fabrication cost. However, during ES deposition, the process gas of hydrogen-based materials affects the a-IGZO active layer, thereby increasing the leakage current [10]. To promote device stability, [11] proposed a two-photomask scheme that combines BUV exposure and liftoff schemes for fabricating self-aligned TFT devices. S/D electrode etching is replaced by a liftoff technique, and a low-damage device can thus be obtained.

The a-IGZO TFTs must be passivated to elongate their lifetimes by protecting the metal–oxide semiconductors from ambient air. SiO2 is a widely used passivation material in solid-state electronic and optoelectronic devices because of its excellent oxygen and moisture barrier performance [12]. Moreover, SiO2 deposition is compatible with conventional large-area deposition processes, such as plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and radio-frequency (RF) sputtering. However, the deposition techniques are based on a plasma process harmful to the metal–oxide materials [13]. Therefore, an appropriate buffer layer must be embedded between the metal–oxide semiconductor and the SiO2 passivation layer to protect the a-IGZO TFTs from plasma damage during the deposition. In our previous study [14], noncharged polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) was used as the buffer layer and combined with a SiO2 barrier layer to provide bilayer passivation for organic TFTs (OTFTs). Teflon is a nonpolar polymer with numerous excellent properties, such as gas and moisture barrier properties, chemical resistance, thermal resistance, and electric insulation. Teflon can be readily deposited through thermal evaporation at low evaporation temperatures, thus preventing thermal stresses from damaging the underlying organic semiconductor during evaporation [15,16]. No initial performance drop in the OTFTs was evident after Teflon/SiO2 passivation, and Teflon effectively protects the OTFTs from plasma damage during SiO2 deposition.

In the current study, bilayer passivation using Teflon and SiO2 is proposed for improving the reliability of a-IGZO TFTs fabricated through a two-photomask self-alignment process. Teflon was deposited as the buffer layer through thermal evaporation; this layer exhibited favorable compatibility with the underlying IGZO channel layer. Furthermore, the effect of moisture on the reliability of the a-IGZO TFTs was substantially reduced after the Teflon/SiO2 passivation. The proposed bilayer Teflon/SiO2 passivation can be applied to low-cost a-IGZO TFTs fabricated using a two-photomask self-alignment process for improving the reliability of the TFTs.

2. Device Fabrication

Figure 1 illustrates the proposed two-photomask process for fabricating a-IGZO TFTs. A 160-nm-thick Ti layer was first deposited onto a glass substrate through thermal evaporation, and the layer was patterned to create the gate electrode by using the first photomask. A 200-nm-thick SiO2 layer was subsequently deposited using PECVD at 300 °C to create the gate insulator. Next, a 20-nm-thick a-IGZO layer (In2O3:Ga2O3:ZnO = 1:1:1 mol%) was deposited through RF sputtering at 200 °C, as follows. First, a photoresist was spin-coated onto an IGZO layer and subjected to BUV exposure by using the Ti gate as a photomask (Figure 1). Second, a 350-nm-thick indium-tin oxide (ITO) layer was deposited through RF sputtering. The backside-liftoff scheme was subsequently used to define the channel length of the self-aligned structure, and the second photomasks were used to define the channel width. Furthermore, reactive-ion etching with CF4 gas was employed to continuously etch ITO, IGZO, and SiO2 under 80 mTorr, and the etched TFTs were annealed at 200 °C for 30 min in a vacuum chamber. Third, the passivation layer, composed of Teflon and SiO2, was deposited over the TFTs. Teflon (400 nm) was deposited using a thermal evaporator (base pressure 2 × 10−6 Torr) with the substrate maintained at room temperature (RT). SiO2 (100 nm) was subsequently deposited through RF magnetron sputtering by using a SiO2 target at 50 W, 5 mTorr, and RT. The electrical parameters of all TFTs were measured in ambient and 95% relative humidity (RH) environments in a glovebox by using a semiconductor parameter analyzer (HP 4145B).

Figure 1

Two-photomask process flow of amorphous indium–gallium–zinc oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) subjected to Teflon/SiO2 passivation.

3. Results and Discussion

Figure 2a shows the transfer characteristic of the device with the SiO2 passivation layer only. It is found that the plasma severely damage the device performance after the SiO2 deposition. Therefore, the Teflon layer was considered as a buffer layer to suffer the plasma damage from SiO2 deposition. Figure 2b illustrates the transfer curves (IDS–VGS) of the oxide TFTs before and after the Teflon/SiO2 bilayer deposition. No change was observed in the transfer curve of the TFTs after the deposition. Crucial electrical characteristics are evident in the transfer curves at an S/D voltage of 10.5 V. The threshold voltages were calculated in the saturation regime by fitting the |IDS|1/2 versus VGS curve of the square law: IDS = μFECOX (W/2L)(VGS − VTH)2, where μFE is the field-effect mobility, COX is the capacitance density of the gate insulator, VTH is the threshold voltage. The maximum and minimum values of drain current (IDS) at a drain voltage (VDS) of 10.5 V are designated as Ion (on-current) and Ioff (off-current), respectively [17,18,19]. And the shift of threshold voltage ΔVTH is defined ΔVTH = [(VTH after stress − VTH before stress)/VTH before stress]. Before passivation, the field-effect mobility (μFE) was 8.28 cm2/V∙s in the saturation region, the threshold voltage (VTH) was 4.81 V, and the on/off current ratio (ION/IOFF) was approximately 106. After passivation, the values of μFE, VTH, and ION/IOFF were 8.67 cm2/V∙s, 5.08 V, and approximately 106, respectively as shown in Table 1. These results show that the thermally evaporated Teflon did not physically or chemically damage the underlying IGZO channel layer because of its low evaporation temperature and chemical inertness, and the Teflon layer can effectively protect the a-IGZO TFTs from plasma damage during the SiO2 deposition. Therefore, Teflon can be used as the buffer layer for suppressing the in situ degradation of a-IGZO TFTs during SiO2 passivation.

Figure 2

(a) Transfer curves (IDS–VGS) of a-IGZO TFTs without teflon buffer layer; (b) Transfer curves (IDS–VGS) of a-IGZO TFTs before and after Teflon/SiO2 bilayer deposition.

Table 1

The electrical characteristics of devices before and after Teflon/SiO2 bilayer deposition.

Electrical parameters	VTH	μFE	S.S.	Ion/Ioff
Before-passivation	4.81	8.28	0.39	2.9 × 106
After-passivation	5.08	8.67	0.40	2.7 × 106

Figure 3 depicts the electrical parameters of the a-IGZO TFTs that were and were not subjected to Teflon/SiO2 bilayer passivation in an ambient environment for 30 days. The electrical reliability of the TFTs subjected to Teflon/SiO2 passivation was superior to that of the TFTs not subjected to passivation. The markedly negative VTH shift and the increased leakage current (Ioff) in the TFTs not subjected to passivation are attributed to free electrons generated in the IGZO layer during the prolonged stress durations. This result suggests that, as reported previously [20], adsorbed H2O donates a partial negative charge to the a-IGZO surface in either molecular or hydroxyl forms. Similarly, the formation of extra electron carriers has been attributed to the donation of electrons (i.e., the donor effect) [20] from chemically adsorbed H2O molecules to the surfaces of IGZO. The VTH of TFTs can be expressed as VTH ={[(q × Dbt × (EF – Ei))/Ci] – (Qf/Ci) + [(q × Dit × (EF – Ei))/Ci] – (Qm/Ci) – [(q × DD – DA)/Ci] + ΔMS} where Ci is the insulator capacitance; Qf is the oxide charge density; Dbt and Dit are the bulk trap density and the interface trap density, respectively, and ΔMS is the work function difference between metal/semiconductor. DD and DA are the donor and acceptor concentrations, respectively [21]. It is described that the carrier concentration in the channel layer influences VTH. The extra electrons induced by the H2O molecules may form a back channel layer with a high electron concentration, thus producing a more negative voltage that depletes the channel layer.

Figure 3

Time-dependent changes in the (a) ION; (b) IOFF; (c) μFE; and (d) VTH of a-IGZO TFTs with and without Teflon/SiO2 passivation in an ambient environment, respectively.

Further investigation was required to clarify the effect of moisture on the TFTs. Therefore, the TFTs were placed in a 95% RH environment to induce the effect of moisture. Figure 4 depicts the electrical parameters of a-IGZO TFTs that were and were not subjected to Teflon/SiO2 bilayer passivation at 95% RH for 168 h. Both a-IGZO TFTs exhibited increased mobility and Ion current ratios. The TFTs not subjected to Teflon/SiO2 passivation exhibited considerably more degradation than did those subjected to it. In addition, the device without bilayer passivation had been not the transfer characteristics after the stress in the period of 168 h. Previous studies [20,22] have reported that the extra electron carriers cause a high electron concentration in the back channel, reducing VTH; this process can be described as H2O → 2H+ + O− + e−. Therefore, when the TFTs subjected to bilayer passivation were placed in a 95% RH environment, a small amount of H2O molecules diffused through SiO2 (i.e., the passivation layer) and piled onto the Teflon layer because of the high concentration of H2O. The piled H2O molecules induce extra electron carriers because of the high vertical electric field (VGS), thus causing the negative VTH shift of the TFTs subjected to bilayer passivation. Figure 5 depicts a schematic of an H2O-molecule-induced extra electron carrier model for a-IGZO TFTs.

Figure 4

Time-dependent changes in the (a) ION; (b) IOFF; (c) μFE; and (d) VTH of a-IGZO TFTs with and without Teflon/SiO2 passivation in a 95% relative humidity environment, respectively.

Figure 5

Schematic of H2O-molecule-induced extra electron carrier model for a-IGZO TFTs.

To confirm the moisture-barrier property of the RF sputtered SiO2 film, the water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) of the 100-nm-thick SiO2 layer deposited on one side of a polycarbonate (PC) substrate was investigated. The WVTR measurement was conducted at 38 °C and 100% RH by using a water vapor permeation measurement system (MOCON Aquatran Model 1). As shown in Figure 6, the WVTR mean value of the SiO2-coated PC substrate was approximately 0.59 ± 0.16 g/m2/day. And for commercially available polymers, such as Polylmide (PI), PolyTetraFlouro Ethylene (Teflon), PolyEthylene Terephthalate (PET) and PolyEthylene Naphthalate (PEN), the permeation rates are typically >1 × 103 g/m2/day for oxygen and >1 g/m2 day for water at last [23]. In this study, the moisture-blocking layer was SiO2 because of its excellent oxygen and moisture barrier performance. The Teflon layer was considered to be a buffer layer suffer the plasma damage from the SiO2 layer depositing. In summary, the Teflon/SiO2 bilayer passivation effectively blocked moisture diffusion, reducing degradation relative to that of the a-IGZO not subjected to passivation.

Figure 6

Water vapor transmission rate of polycarbonate substrates with a 100-nm-thick SiO2 layer.

4. Conclusions

This study demonstrated a bilayer passivation method that involves using a Teflon and SiO2 combination layer for considerably improving the reliability of a-IGZO TFTs—Which exhibit a self-aligned structure—Fabricated using a novel two-photomask process. The results show that the electrical performance of the fabricated a-IGZO TFTs subjected to Teflon/SiO2 passivation was comparable to that of pristine a-IGZO TFTs. Depositing a Teflon buffer layer did not damage the underlying channel layer; this buffer layer effectively protected the a-IGZO TFTs from plasma damage during SiO2 passivation. This study concludes that the proposed bilayer Teflon/SiO2 passivation effectively blocks the moisture diffusion, thus yielding superior reliability even after 168 h of aging under ambient air at 95% RH.