Effects of Drying Temperature on Surface Morphology and Electric Behavior of IGZO Thin Film Prepared by Solution Process

Abstract

We have achieved a drastic improvement of the performance as thin film transistor (TFT) for solution-processed IGZO thin film by controlling drying temperature of solvents containing the precursor solution. The IGZO-precursor solution was prepared by mixing of metal nitrates and two kinds of organic solvents, 2-methoxyethanol (2ME) and 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE). 2ME was used for dissolving metal nitrates. TFE was added as a solvent for reducing surface tension as small as possible, leading to improvement of the wettability of the precursor solution on the surface of the substrate. In order to discuss the relationship between morphology and drying process, the spin-coated IGZO-precursor films were dried at room temperature and 140 °C on a hotplate, respectively. Annealing of the both films was carried out at 300 °C in an electric oven for 60 min after each drying process. Drying at room temperature provides a discontinuous film, resulting in a large variation of the TFT performance. On the other hand, drying at 140 °C provides a continuous film, resulting in the higher TFT performance and a minor variation. The difference in surface morphologies would be derived from the evaporation rate of the organic solvents. The rapid evaporation at 140 °C brings about rapid pinning of the spin-coated precursor layer on the substrate. Preparation process via the drying at 140 °C gave ∼ 1 cm² V^-1 s^-1 of the saturated mobility, quite small hysteresis, and 10⁷∼ 10⁸ of the on-off ratio.