Ultra-High-Speed Intense Pulsed-Light Irradiation Technique for High-Performance Zinc Oxynitride Thin-Film Transistors.

In this study, we investigated the effects of intense pulsed light (IPL) on the electrical performance properties of zinc oxynitride (ZnON) thin films and thin-film transistors (TFTs) with different irradiation energies. Using the IPL process on the oxide/oxynitride semiconductors has various advantages, such as an ultrashort process time (∼100 ms) and high electrical performance without any additional thermal processes. As the irradiation energy of IPL increased from 30 to 50 J/cm2, the carrier concentration of ZnON thin films decreased from 5.07 × 1019 to 9.96 × 1016 cm-3 and the electrical performance of TFTs changed significantly, which is optimized at an energy of 40 J/cm2 (field effect mobility of 48.4 cm2 V-1 s-1). The properties of TFTs, such as mobility, subthreshold swing, and hysteresis, and the stability of the device under negative bias degraded as the irradiation energy increased. This degradation contributed to the change in nitrogen-related bonding states, such as nonstoichiometric Zn xN y and N-N bonding, rather than that of oxygen-related bonding states and the atomic composition of ZnON thin films. Optimization of the IPL process in our results makes it possible to produce high-performance ZnON TFTs very fast without any additional thermal treatment, which indicates that highly productive TFT fabrication can be achieved via this process.

Near-Infrared Photoresponsivity of ZnON Thin-Film Transistor with Energy Band-Tunable Semiconductor.

Amorphous oxide semiconductors have attracted attention in electronic device applications because of their high electrical uniformity over large areas, high mobility, and low-temperature process. However, photonic applications of oxide semiconductors are highly limited because of their larger band gap (over 3.0 eV). Here, we propose low band gap zinc oxynitride semiconductors not only because of their high electrical performance but also their high photoresponsivity in the vis-NIR regions. The optical band gap of zinc oxynitride films, which is in the range of 0.95-1.24 eV, could be controlled easily by changing oxygen and nitrogen ratios during reactive sputtering. Band gap tuned zinc oxynitride-based phototransistors showed significantly different photoresponse following both threshold voltage and drain current changes due to variation in nitrogen-related defect sites.

Photothermally Activated Nanocrystalline Oxynitride with Superior Performance in Flexible Field-Effect Transistors.

Photochemical reactions in inorganic films, which can be promoted by the addition of thermal energy, enable significant changes in the properties of films. Metaphase films depend significantly on introducing external energy, even at low temperatures. We performed thermal-induced, deep ultraviolet-based, thermal-photochemical activation of metaphase ZnOxNy films at low temperature, and we observed peculiar variations in the nanostructures with phase transformation and densification. The separated Zn3N2 and ZnO nanocrystalline lattice in amorphous ZnOxNy was stabilized remarkably by the reduction of oxygen defects and by the interfacial atomic rearrangement without breaking the N-bonding. On the basis of these approaches, we successfully demonstrated highly flexible, nanocrystalline-ZnOxNy thin-film transistors on polyethylene naphthalate films, and the saturation mobility showed more than 60 cm2 V-1 s-1.

Photonic sintering via flash white light combined with deep UV and NIR for SrTiO3 thin film vibration touch panel applications.

An ultra-high speed photonic sintering method consisting of flash white light (FWL) combined with near infrared (NIR) and deep UV light irradiations was developed to fabricate a SrTiO3 (STO) thin film for application in electro-vibration touch panels. The STO thin film was sintered on PEN by FWL irradiation at room temperature under ambient conditions, which is a dramatically simple and ultrahigh speed fabrication process compared to the conventional high temperature (600 °C-900 °C) thermal sintering process. The effects of the FWL irradiation conditions (energy density, pulse numbers, and pulse duration) on the dielectric constant of the sintered STO thin films were evaluated. Furthermore, the effects of NIR and deep UV irradiation during the FWL sintering process were also investigated.

Boosting Responsivity of Organic-Metal Oxynitride Hybrid Heterointerface Phototransistor.

Amorphous metal oxides are attractive materials for various sensor applications, because of high electrical performance and easy processing. However, low absorption coefficient, slow photoresponse, and persistent photoconductivity of amorphous metal oxide films from the origin of deep-level defects are obstacles to their use as photonic applications. Here, we demonstrate ultrahigh photoresponsivity of organic-inorganic hybrid phototransistors featuring bulk heterojunction polymers and low-bandgap zinc oxynitride. Spontaneous formation of ultrathin zinc oxide on the surface of zinc oxynitride films could make an effective band-alignment for electron transfer from the dissociation of excitons in the bulk heterojunction, while holes were blocked by the deep highest occupied molecular orbital level of zinc oxide. These hybrid structure-based phototransistors are ultrasensitive to broad-bandwidth photons in ultraviolet to near-infrared regions. The detectivity and a linear dynamic range exceeded 10(12) Jones and 122.3 dB, respectively.

A study on the electron transport properties of ZnON semiconductors with respect to the relative anion content.

High-mobility zinc oxynitride (ZnON) semiconductors were grown by RF sputtering using a Zn metal target in a plasma mixture of Ar, N2, and O2 gas. The RF power and the O2 to N2 gas flow rates were systematically adjusted to prepare a set of ZnON films with different relative anion contents. The carrier density was found to be greatly affected by the anion composition, while the electron mobility is determined by a fairly complex mechanism. First-principles calculations indicate that excess vacant nitrogen sites (VN) in N-rich ZnON disrupt the local electron conduction paths, which may be restored by having oxygen anions inserted therein. The latter are anticipated to enhance the electron mobility, and the exact process parameters that induce such a phenomenon can only be found experimentally. Contour plots of the Hall mobility and carrier density with respect to the RF power and O2 to N2 gas flow rate ratio indicate the existence of an optimum region where maximum electron mobility is obtained. Using ZnON films grown under the optimum conditions, the fabrication of high-performance devices with field-effect mobility values exceeding 120 cm(2)/Vs is demonstrated based on simple reactive RF sputtering methods.