Solution-Processed DyOx for Aging Diffusion ZnSnO Transistors and Applications in Low-Voltage-Operating Logic Circuits.

Metal–oxide high- ${k}$ material is regarded as the promising building block for large area high-performance flexible electronic devices. Here, we report that dysprosium oxide (DyOx) films were successfully integrated as dielectrics into thin-film transistors (TFTs) for the first time. Solution-driven DyOx films behave high transmittance over 85% and imply the possible application in transparent devices. Measurements based on 500 °C annealing ZnSnO/DyOx TFTs have indicated the dramatic improvement in electrical performance after natural aging diffusion for 10 days, containing the increased saturation mobility value from 0.57 to 2.5 cm $^{{2}}\cdot \text{V}^{-{1}}\cdot \text{s}^{-{1}}$ and the lifted current ON/ OFF ratio from $7.8\times 10^{{4}}$ to $2.4\times 10^{{6}}$. It is worth mentioning that the mobility of aging samples with the lower annealing temperature of 420 °C even surpasses the aforementioned 500 °C annealing without aging TFTs. The variable-range-hopping (VRH) percolation model and coherent interface theory are used to explore electronic transport mechanism for amorphous and polycrystalline ZnSnO films, respectively. Finally, the resistor-loaded inverter has been fabricated and revealed the gain of 7.3 at the low voltage of 2.5 V, which even surpasses many In-based TFT devices. It can be concluded that the solution-based samples can proceed with 10 days aging treatment before encapsulation to obtain the stable electrical performance, which affords a simple and effective approach toward building low-temperature, low power consumption transparent electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]