Controlling In-Ga-Zn-O thin films transport properties through density changes

In the following study we investigate the effect of the magnetron cathode current (I-c) during reactive sputtering of In-Ga-Zn-O (a-IGZO) on thin-films nanostructure and transport properties. All fabricated films are amorphous, according to X-ray diffraction measurements. However, High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy revealed the a-IGZO fabricated at I-C = 70 mA to contain randomly-oriented nanocrystals dispersed in amorphous matrix, which disappear in films deposited at higher cathode current. These nanocrystals have the same composition as the amorphous matrix. One can observe that, while I-C is increased from 70 to 150 mA, the carrier mobility improves from mu(Hall) = 6.9 cm(2)/Vs to mu(Hall) = 9.1 cm(2)/Vs. Additionally, the increase of I-C caused a reduction of the depletion region trap states density of the Ru-Si-O/In-Ga-Zn-O Schottky barrier. This enhancement in transport properties is attributed to the greater overlapping of s-orbitals of the film-forming cations caused by increased density, evidenced by X-ray reflectivity, at a fixed chemical composition, regardless nanostructure of thin films. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved