Effects of rare-earth erbium doping on the electrical performance of tin-oxide thin film transistors.

Erbium doped tin-oxide thin film transistors (ErSnO-TFTs) were fabricated by Radio-Frequency magnetron sputtering (RFMS) using SnO target and Er foil. Effects of Er concentration on crystallinity, optical band-gap, surface chemical information, defect states, surface morphology, along with the electrical properties of ErSnO-TFTs, were investigated. The results indicate that moderate Er concentration is beneficial to the performance of ErSnO-TFTs. The relatively good device performance was obtained at the Er concentration of 3.1 at.% within our experimental conditions. The optimum field-effect mobility (μ FE), subthreshold swing (SS), threshold voltage (V th), on-off current ratio (I on/off) and the total interfacial trap states (N t) are 3.9 cm2/V, 0.49 Vdec−1, -0.4 V, 2.9 × 107 and 5.1 × 1011 cm−2. This work may pave the way for the development of lanthanides doped Sn-based thin film devices. Image 1 • Novel In-free Er-doped SnO 2 thin film transistors were fabricated. • ErSnO-TFTs exhibit a good combination property. • Lanthanide oxides exhibit a potential in the application of SnO 2 -based TFTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]