Effect of hydrogen on mechanical stability of amorphous In–Sn–O thin films for flexible electronics

Stabilizing of Mechanical Property of Amorphous In−Zn−O Thin Films with Hydrogen Flow

“…The electrical properties of the a-IZO thin films are presented in Figure 2. The electrical properties of IZO thin films could be affected by hydrogen; the hydrogen easily changed chemical state and they attribute to carrier density [12,30]. However, the resistivity, carrier density, and mobility does not show observable change with various hydrogen flow rates and the values were similar with previous study [12].…”

“…Recent studies have clarified its crucial role in the physical properties of oxide semiconductors [12,[29][30][31]. In this study, we demonstrate the effect of hydrogen flow during sputtering on the mechanical properties of a-IZO thin films.…”

“…In previous study, we found the hydrogen introduction induces the improvement of the mechanical stability of a-In−Sn−O [12]. However, there is fatal problem that the region which In−Sn−O could be a stable amorphous state; it can be easily crystallized during device fabrication process.…”

“…There have been many attempts to improve the mechanical properties of TCOs, using dopants, heat treatment, and amorphization [6,[11][12][13][14][15]. Microcracks, which deteriorate the mechanical properties of polycrystalline structure, mainly depend on the grain boundary that generate microcracks that comes from defects [16][17][18][19].…”

“…Therefore, polycrystalline TCOs such as c-In−Sn−O, c-Al−Zn−O, and c-Ga−Zn−O are not suitable for flexible devices as TEs due to the grain boundary which generates microcracks that are harmful to the mechanical properties despite their high conductivity and optical transmittance [4,11,20,21]. Consequently, amorphous TCOs such as a-In−Sn−O, a-In−Zn−O, and a-In−Sn−Zn−O have been studied for flexible devices with high mechanical stability and comparable electrical and optical properties to those of polycrystalline TCOs [12,[22][23][24][25][26].…”