Analysis of Subthreshold Slope of Fully Depleted Amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O Thin-Film Transistors

The behavior of the subthreshold slope (SS) of fully depleted (FD) amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O (a-InGaZnO) thin-film transistors (TFTs), which are n-type accumulation mode metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors, was analyzed. Thermal desorption spectra revealed that annealing was necessary to desorb H2 and H2O from the a-InGaZnO films for the FD mode operation along with small SS. Our experimental results indicated that the SS (a) increases with the increase in the thickness of the a-InGaZnO channel layer, (b) increases with the decrease in the oxygen partial pressure during the sputtering of the a-InGaZnO, (c) increases linearly with the increase in the thickness of the gate insulator, and (d) increases linearly with the increase in the temperature of the TFT. A theoretical equation that explains these results was derived by using the relations between the variations in the voltages applied to the electrodes and variations in the surface potentials derived from the charge conservation law. It was assumed during the derivation of the equation that the potential in the channel layer is the lowest along the back surface in the subthreshold region and most of the current flows there.