Characterization of an oxide semiconductor prepared by microwave sintering

We fabricated a thin-film transistor (TFT) using amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO), which was formed through annealing of an IGZO precursor film with a single-mode cavity microwave at 2.45GHz. The transisitor fabricated with the a-IGZO film prepared by microwave annealing for 15min showed higher device performance, i.e., a field effect mobility of 5.75 × 10 ^-2cm²V^-1s^-1, an on/off ratio of 106, and a threshold voltage of 20V, than that prepared by annealing with a conventional oven for 120 min. The Raman spectra confirm that the device improvement originates from the decrease in the number of -OH groups and removal of organic species for 15min by microwave annealing. These results suggest that the microwave annealing method has an advantage as the annealing process of solution-processed oxide semiconductors to reduce the process time. It can be applied to the fabrication of TFTs.