Examination of the ambient effects on the stability of amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide thin film transistors using a laser-glass-sealing technology
The effect of an ambient atmosphere with a positive bias constant current stress (CCS) and a negative bias illumination stress (NBIS) on the stability of amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O thin film transistors (TFTs) is examined by utilizing a glass-hermetic-sealant with a moisture permeability of less than 10{sup −6} g/m{sup 2} · day. In the CCS test, the threshold voltage shift (ΔV{sub th}) was remarkably suppressed in the glass-sealed TFTs. The unsealed and resin-sealed TFTs exhibited large ΔV{sub th} values. During the NBIS tests, the glass-sealed TFTs had almost the same negative ΔV{sub th} as the unsealed and resin sealed TFTs. Among the different TFTs, no significant differences were observed in the threshold voltage, the subthreshold swing and the saturation mobility as a function of the photon energy. It is concluded that ambient molecules were the primary origin of the instability of the ΔV{sub th}, induced by a CCS, but they were not related to the NBIS instability. The major role of the effective passivation layers in the NBIS test was not to simply block out the ambient effects, but to reduce the extra density of states at/near the surface of the back channel.