Indium Hydroxide Ceramic Targets: A Breakthrough in High-Mobility Thin-Film Transistor Technology

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel ceramic target method using indium hydroxide for hydrogen incorporation in indium oxide thin films, enabling high-mobility transistors suitable for advanced displays without safety issues of gas-phase methods.

Contribution

It demonstrates a scalable ceramic target approach for hydrogen doping in indium oxide films, improving film quality and transistor performance for display applications.

Findings

High electron mobility in hydrogen-incorporated indium oxide films.

Comparable transistor performance to gas-phase hydrogenation methods.

Practical ceramic process for scalable production of hydrogen-doped films.

Abstract

Thin-film transistors composed of a hydrogen-containing indium oxide active layer are promising candidates for backplane devices in next-generation flat panel displays, offering higher definition and faster operation. However, the hydrogen incorporation process during film deposition poses challenges for scalable and industrial development due to both safety and controllability issues. Here, we demonstrate that using indium hydroxide ceramic as the target material for film deposition overcomes the difficulties associated with hydrogen gas usage. We sintered commercially available indium hydroxide powder using a conventional ceramic process at 150-250{\deg}C in air and utilized it for the deposition of hydrogen-incorporated indium oxide films via pulsed laser deposition. The resulting indium oxide films, after thermal annealing, contained a sufficient concentration of hydrogen and exhibited very high electron mobility due to significantly grown grains. Furthermore, we confirmed that the fabricated thin-film transistors exhibited comparably high performance to those produced using the gas-phase hydrogen incorporation method. This approach offers a practical pathway for hydrogen-containing indium oxide-based thin-film transistors in next-generation flat panel displays.