Emerging applications using metal-oxide semiconductor thin-film devices

Abstract

Metal-oxide semiconductors are widely used for thin-film transistors for flat-panel displays, but they do not seem to be limited to the conventional applications. In this review, emerging applications using metal-oxide semiconductor thin-film devices are reviewed, which may be novel killer applications in the future. First, the essential advantages are enumerated, and, next, based on the essential advantages, several proposals of emerging applications from many organizations are introduced. First, power devices using metal-oxide semiconductor thin-film devices are proposed, because they can be tolerant against high voltage, and the carrier mobility is high. Second, sensing devices are proposed, because the electrical characteristic can be sensitive to peripheral environment, and the thin-film devices can be fabricated on large areas with low cost. Third, thermoelectric devices are proposed, because the Seebeck coefficients can be improved, and the cost performance is the most important. Fourth, computing applications, including many kinds of related applications, are proposed, where various essential advantages are available each. Finally, neuromorphic systems are proposed, where the metal-oxide semiconductor thin-film devices have the potential possibility to be key components in neuromorphic systems for artificial intelligences, which are central concepts in smart societies.

Study of the Correlation between the Amorphous Indium-Gallium-Zinc Oxide Film Quality and the Thin-Film Transistor Performance

“…The optimal density could be as high as 6.0 g/cm 3 (0.67 Pa, 0% O 2 ), which is very close to the crystalline IGZO film (6.4 g/cm 3 ) [9]. And the lowest density of 5.3 g/cm 3 (2.67 Pa, 5% O 2 ) is 12% lower than that of the high-density a-IGZO film. Presumably, this result might be attributed to the physical movement of sputtered particles during the magnetron sputtering.…”

“…Amorphous Indium-Gallium-Zinc Oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) have recently been considered as the most promising candidate for the new display backplane due to their high mobility, good uniformity, low off current, and good process compatibility with conventional a-Si TFTs [1][2][3]. It is well recognized that the performance of a-IGZO TFTs is governed by film qualities, which are sensitive to their process conditions [4][5][6][7].…”

Defects in complex oxide thin films for electronics and energy applications: challenges and opportunities

“…350,351 Amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) is one of the most successful commercialized oxide semiconductors in this century, widely used in thin-film transistors (TFTs) for high-resolution displays. 298,[352][353][354][355] Defects have a significant influence on a-IGZO materials and TFTs, i.e., while most defects are detrimental to device performance, some defects actually play a positive role in improving carrier density. 304,356,357 V O , metal-metal bonds and H incorporation are the three main defect types present in channel region of a-IGZO TFTs.…”

Memristive Characteristic of an Amorphous Ga-Sn-O Thin-Film Device with Double Layers of Different Oxygen Density

“…Amorphous metal-oxide semiconductor (AOS) thin-film devices are broadly employed as thin-film transistors (TFTs) [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11] in flat-panel displays (FPDs) [12], such as light-emitting diode displays (OLEDs) [13] and liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) [14], because they have high performance, excellent stability [15,16], and easy manufacturability [17,18]. AOS thin-film devices are also promising to various applications, such as computing units [19,20], power devices [21,22], and thermoelectric devices [23,24], because specific characteristics can be obtained for individual requirements by customizing materials, structures, fabrications, etc.…”