title: A Sputtered Silicon Oxide Electrolyte for High-Performance Thin-Film Transistors.
abstract: Low operating voltages have been long desired for thin-film transistors (TFTs). However, it is still challenging to realise 1-V operation by using conventional dielectrics due to their low gate capacitances and low breakdown voltages. Recently, electric double layers (EDLs) have been regarded as a promising candidate for low-power electronics due to their high capacitance. In this work, we present the first sputtered SiO2solid-state electrolyte. In order to demonstrate EDL behaviour, a sputtered 200 nm-thick SiO2electrolyte was incorporated into InGaZnO TFTs as the gate dielectric. The devices exhibited an operating voltage of 1 V, a threshold voltage of 0.06 V, a subthreshold swing of 83 mV dec-1and an on/off ratio higher than 105. The specific capacitance was 0.45 µF cm-2at 20 Hz, which is around 26 times higher than the value obtained from thermally oxidised SiO2films with the same thickness. Analysis of the microstructure and mass density of the sputtered SiO2films under different deposition conditions indicates that such high capacitance might be attributed to mobile protons donated by atmospheric water. The InGaZnO TFTs with the optimised SiO2electrolyte also showed good air stability. This work provides a new pathway to the realisation of high-yield low-power electronics.
authors.affiliation: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Xiaochen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Jiawei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Wensi
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Center of Nanoelectronics and School of Microelectronics, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China.
authors.forename: Hanbin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Joshua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: Center of Nanoelectronics and School of Microelectronics, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China.
authors.forename: Qingpu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Center of Nanoelectronics and School of Microelectronics, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China. xinq@sdu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xin
authors.affiliation: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom. A.Song@manchester.ac.uk.|Center of Nanoelectronics and School of Microelectronics, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China. A.Song@manchester.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Aimin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Song