Drain Current Drop in Oxide Semiconductor Thin-Film Transistors: The Mechanisms and a Solution

The reliability of amorphous oxide semiconductor thin-film transistors (AOS-TFTs) is vital for high-definition displays and functional electronic devices. However, drain current drop (DCD) degradation has been commonly observed in the output characteristics of thin-film transistors (TFTs) with channel lengths of
${L} < 10 \mu \text{m}$
. Here, we show that DCD is a reversible process that is closely related to reduced metal-oxygen bonds. Based on device theory and simulations, we propose that the DCD effect is mainly caused by hot carriers, whose velocities are inversely proportional to the drain depletion width. Therefore, DCD failure could be alleviated simply by using the drain-offset structure. Experiments show that drain-offset TFTs improve DCD critical voltages (by ~130%) without sacrificing the ON-/ OFF-ratio. These studies provide theoretical and experimental approaches to effectively suppress DCD.