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https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/boms/034/03/0447-0454

IGZO; pellet; sintering.

Indium–gallium–zinc oxide (IGZO) is a novel amorphous oxide semiconductor, which recently has received much attention for thin film transistors (TFTs) in flat panel displays. Published literature reports significant variations in the properties of thin films and TFTs prepared from IGZO even though the reported process conditions are similar.We demonstrate that these differences could arise from the method for preparation of targets from which the films are made. Accordingly, we also propose simple and appropriate conditions, specifically using much lower sintering temperatures and thus avoiding use of sealed Pt tubes for preparation of IGZO targets in composition range, InGaO₃(ZnO)_m, with 1 ≤ m ≤ 5. These target materials are suitable in physical vapour deposition processes such as pulsed laser deposition and sputtering. In developing the process for sintering, the phase analysis of the target pellets was carried out using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The chemical compositions of the phases are also confirmed with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) techniques. We also demonstrate successful deposition of amorphous IGZO thin films by pulse laser deposition using the targets prepared by the proposed sintering process. Finally, we demonstrate that unmonitored method of making pellets for films deposition is a cause of variability associated in published literature on IGZO TFTs.

Sonachand Adhikari¹ Rajeev Gupta^{1 2} Ashish Garg³ Deepak³

1. Materials Science Programme, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 208 016, India
2. Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 208 016, India
3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Samtel Centre for Display Technologies, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 208 016, India

Published

June 2011

Manuscript received

27 September 2010