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A Facile Solution‐Doping Method to Improve a Low‐Temperature Zinc Oxide Precursor: Towards Low‐Cost Electronics on Plastic Foil
Author(s) -
Weber Dennis,
Botnaraş Silviu,
Pham Duy Vu,
Merkulov Alexey,
Steiger Jürgen,
Schmechel Roland,
De Cola Luisa
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201303461
Subject(s) - materials science , gallium , indium , doping , zinc , foil method , solution process , oxide , scanning electron microscope , thin film transistor , nanotechnology , chemical engineering , analytical chemistry (journal) , layer (electronics) , optoelectronics , composite material , metallurgy , chemistry , engineering , chromatography
Optimization of thin‐film transistors performance is usually accompanied by an increase of the process temperature. This work presents a method to raise the field effect mobility by a factor of 3 without a change of the process parameters. The modification involves a solution doping process where an ammine zinc complex is formed in the presence of metal ions of the 13 th group, namely gallium and indium. Morphological studies, including scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, reveal the difference among the resulting films. Moreover, X‐ray diffraction results show that the doping affects the preferred orientation of the zinc oxide crystals in the resulting film. The electrical properties vary distinctly and are best for a solution doped with both gallium and indium. With a double‐layer system the performance of this new precursor exceeds field effect mobility values of 1 cm 2 V −1 s −1 after a maximum process temperature of 160 °C.