Enhanced electrical performance and stability of solution-processed oxide semiconductor thin-film transistors via an incorporation of deionized water oxidizer

Solution-processed amorphous oxide semiconductor thin films contain poor metal-oxygen-metal (M-O-M) networks and numerous impurities, making it difficult to manufacture high-performance semiconductor devices with excellent stability. In this study, we enhance the electrical performance and device stability of solution-processed oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs) by incorporating water molecular oxidants. In solution, a water molecule can be easily incorporated by adding deionized water (DW) to the precursor solution. The DW-incorporated precursor solutions induced the production of oxide semiconductor thin films with improved M-O-M networks and fewer defect states. Therefore, compared to conventional case, the DW-incorporated indium zinc oxide (InZnO) TFT showed improved device performances and significantly reduced changes of threshold voltage under positive gate bias stress and negative gate bias/illumination stress conditions. This approach of incorporating DW into the precursor solutions provides a promising route for fabricating high-quality amorphous semiconductor films and transistor devices.