Illuminating Trap Density Trends in Amorphous Oxide Semiconductors with Ultrabroadband Photoconduction

Abstract Under varying growth and device processing conditions, ultrabroadband photoconduction (UBPC) reveals strongly evolving trends in the defect density of states (DoS) for amorphous oxide semiconductor thin‐film transistors (TFTs). Spanning the wide bandgap of amorphous InGaZnO_x (a‐IGZO), UBPC identifies seven oxygen deep donor vacancy peaks that are independently confirmed by energetically matching to photoluminescence emission peaks. The subgap DoS from 15 different types of a‐IGZO TFTs all yield similar DoS, except only back‐channel etch TFTs can have a deep acceptor peak seen at 2.2 eV below the conduction band mobility edge. This deep acceptor is likely a zinc vacancy, evidenced by trap density which becomes 5‐6× larger when TFT wet‐etch methods are employed. Certain DoS peaks are strongly enhanced for TFTs with active channel processing damage caused from plasma exposure. While Ar implantation and He plasma processing damage are similar, Ar plasma yields more disorder showing a ≈2 × larger valence‐band Urbach energy, and two orders of magnitude increase in the deep oxygen vacancy trap density. Changing the growth conditions of a‐IGZO also impacts the DoS, with zinc‐rich TFTs showing much poorer electrical performance compared to 1:1:1 molar ratio a‐IGZO TFTs owing to the former having a ∼10 × larger oxygen vacancy trap density. Finally, hydrogen is found to behave as a donor in amorphous indium tin gallium zinc oxide TFTs.