| Literature DB >> 29618743 |
Jinwon Lee1,2, Kapsoo Yoon3, Keon-Hee Lim2, Jun-Woo Park2, Donggun Lee2, Nam-Kwang Cho2, Youn Sang Kim4,5.
Abstract
The technology for electrical current passing through an insulator thin-film between two electrodes is newly getting spotlights for substantial potentials toward advanced functional devices including a diode and a resistive switching device. However, depending on an electrode-limited conduction mechanisms of the conventional devices, a narrow processing window for a thickness of the insulator thin-film and an inability to control a magnitude and direction of the currents are challenges to overcome. Herein, we report a new approach to enable electrical charge carriers to pass stably through a relatively-thick insulator layer and to control a magnitude and polarity of the currents by applying an oxide semiconductor electrode in a metal/insulator/metal structure. We reveal that the electrical conduction in our devices follows a space charge-limited conduction mechanism which mainly depends on the charge carriers injected from contacts. Therefore, characteristics of the current including a current value and a rectification ratio of input signal are precisely controlled by electrical properties of the oxide semiconductor electrode. The unique current characteristics in metal/insulator/oxide semiconductor structures give extendable inspirations in electronic materials science, even a prominent solution for various technology areas of electronics.Entities:
Year: 2018 PMID: 29618743 PMCID: PMC5884772 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-23990-3
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Sci Rep ISSN: 2045-2322 Impact factor: 4.379
Figure 1Unconventional vertical current in bottom electrode/200-nm thick insulator/top electrode structure. (a) Schematic image of the device consisting of bottom electrode (P++ Si)/thick insulator (200-nm SiO2)/top electrode. (b) The vertical current (I)-voltage (V) characteristics of five devices for each top ITO metal and IGZO semiconductor electrode. (c,d) The schematic images illustrate that the transporting mechanisms of electrons in (c) a metal/insulator /metal (MIM) structure and (d) a metal/insulator/oxide semiconductor (MIOS) structure.
Figure 2Analysis of the film qualities of the IGZO thin-films and the interface between SiO2 and IGZO. (a) Top view image of an annealed IGZO thin-film observed using a FESEM. (b) X-ray diffraction patterns of the annealed and as-deposited IGZO thin-films. (c) A cross-sectional HRTEM image of the P++ Si/200-nm SiO2/20-nm IGZO structure. (d) An EDS line scanning profile of the P++ Si/200-nm SiO2/20-nm IGZO structure. (e) The endurance test result for the MIOS device using the IGZO electrode.
Figure 3Temperature dependence of the vertical current in the MIOS structure. (a) The current increases at both negative and positive voltage ranges as the temperature rises in the MIOS device. (b) The I-V curves of the MIOS device are plotted linearly in log-log axes and the slopes of the curves are around 2.0. (c) The schematic images depict that the excited charge carriers in the IGZO layer by thermal energy contribute to the current rise.
Figure 4Effect of the electron mobility of the top semiconductor electrode on the vertical current. (a) The source-drain currents measured in thin-film transistors (TFTs) using 20-nm IGZO, ZTO and ZnO thin-films as an active layer. (b) The vertical current values for the MIOS structures using 20-nm IGZO, ZTO and ZnO thin-films.
Figure 5Effect of the doping concentration of the top semiconductor electrode on the current behavior. (a) Charge carrier concentration and resistivity of the 20-nm ITO-doped IGZO (ITGZO) thin-films. (b) The C-V characteristics of MOSCAPs using the ITGZO thin-films. (c) The source-drain currents measured in thin-film transistors (TFTs) using the ITGZO thin-films as an active layer. (d) The vertical current values for the MIOS structures using the 20-nm ITGZO thin-films. (e) The output sine waves through the MIOS device of P++ Si/200-nm SiO2/20-nm ITGZO demonstrate that the direction and rectification ratio of the output waveform are varied by the doping concentration of the top semiconductor electrode.