Electrical Stability of Solution-Processed Indium Oxide Thin-Film Transistors

We investigated the electrical stability of bottom-gate/top-contact-structured indium oxide (In₂O₃) thin-film transistors (TFTs) in atmospheric air and under vacuum. The solution-processed In₂O₃ film exhibits a nanocrystalline morphology with grain boundaries. The fabricated In₂O₃ TFTs operate in an n-type enhancement mode. Over repeated TFT operation under vacuum, the TFTs exhibit a slight increase in the field-effect mobility, possibly due to multiple instances of the “trapping and release” behavior of electrons at grain boundaries. On the other hand, a decrease in the fieldeffect mobility and an increase in the hysteresis are observed as the measurement continues in atmospheric air. These results suggest that the electrical stability of solution-processed In₂O₃ TFTs is significantly affected by the electron-trapping phenomenon at crystal grain boundaries in the In₂O₃ semiconductor and the electrostatic interactions between electrons and polar water molecules.