High-mobility and low subthreshold swing amorphous InGaZnO thin-film transistors by in situ H₂ plasma and neutral oxygen beam irradiation treatment

In this work, staggered bottom-gate structure amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O (a-IGZO) thin film transistors (TFTs) with high-k ZrO₂ gate dielectric were fabricated using low-cost atmospheric pressure-plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (AP-PECVD) with in situ hydrogenation to modulate the carrier concentration and improve interface quality. Subsequently, a neutral oxygen beam irradiation (NOBI) technique is applied, demonstrating that a suitable NOBI treatment could successfully enhance electrical characteristics by reducing native defect states and minimize the trap density in the back channel. A reverse retrograde channel (RRGC) with ultra-high/low carrier concentration is also formed to prevent undesired off-state leakage current and achieve a very low subthreshold swing. The resulting a-IGZO TFTs exhibit excellent electrical characteristics, including a low subthreshold swing of 72 mV dec⁻¹ and high field-effect mobility of 35 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹, due to conduction path passivation and stronger carrier confinement in the RRGC. The UV-vis spectroscopy shows optical transmittance above 90% in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum. The study confirms the H₂ plasma with NOBI-treated a-IGZO/ZrO₂ TFT is a promising candidate for transparent electronic device applications.