Al-doped ZnO thin-film transistors on flexible plastic substrate

We have fabricated Al-doped ZnO thin-film transistors (AZO TFT) on plastic substrate at room temperature. The effect of O
2
/Ar ratio during channel deposition is investigated on the electrical properties of the Al-doped ZnO thin-film transistors (TFTs) on plastic substrates at room temperature. As the O
2
/Ar ratio increases, the threshold voltage increases monotonously while the saturation mobility and the subthreshold swing show a non-monotonic change, reaching a maximum and a minimum respectively when the ratio of O
2
is 5%. And it's further demonstrated that TFTs with as-deposited AZO films (5%O
2
) exhibit the best electrical properties, with an on/off current ratio of 10
⁶
, an of current in the order of 10
⁻¹¹
A, a threshold voltage about 1.06 V, a subthreshold swing of about 0.76 V/dec, and a saturation mobility of about 47.76 cm
²
V
⁻¹
s
⁻¹
. Compared to the AZO film with 100% Ar during the radio-frequency (RF) sputtering deposition, the grain size of AZO films abruptly decreases to a few nanometers as O
2
is added(5% O
2
), and then becomes almost unchanged with the further increase of pO
2
(10% O
2
and 20% O
2
). The resistivity experiences a substantial increase correspondingly The results show that Al-doped ZnO is a promising candidate for the channel material of high performance flexible TFTs.