Effects of dopants in InOx-based amorphous oxide semiconductors for thin-film transistor applications

Amorphous metal oxide thin-film transistors (TFT) are fabricated using InOx-based semiconductors doped with TiO2, WO3 or SiO2. Although density of dopant is low in the film, change in the electrical properties showed strong dependence on the dopant species. We found that the dependence could be reasonably explained by the bond-dissociation energy. By incorporating the dopant with higher bond-dissociation energy, the film becomes less sensitive to oxygen partial pressure used during sputtering deposition and remains electrically stable to thermal annealing treatment. The concept of bond-dissociation energy can contribute to the realization of more stable metal oxide TFTs for flat panel displays.