Oxygen Interstitial Creation in a-IGZO Thin-Film Transistors Under Positive Gate-Bias Stress

The electrical recovery behaviors of the amorphous InGaZnO thin-film transistors (a-IGZO TFTs) after positive gate-bias stress (PBS) are investigated. The TFTs show an evident sub-threshold swing (SS) degradation after the PBS removal when the channel layer is deposited at relatively high oxygen flow rates, although they exhibit a parallel positive shift in the transfer characteristics during the PBS. It is inferred that the SS degradation results from the oxygen interstitial defects created in the a-IGZO channel during the PBS, which are in the octahedral configuration and are usually more easily created in the oxygen-rich a-IGZO channel layer. They are electrically inactive during the PBS due to the “negative U” behavior and then become relaxed and electrically active during the recovery process, leading to the SS degradation during the recovery process.