Exploratory combustion synthesis: amorphous indium yttrium oxide for thin-film transistors

We report the implementation of amorphous indium yttrium oxide (a-IYO) as a thin-film transistor (TFT) semiconductor. Amorphous and polycrystalline IYO films were grown via a low-temperature solution process utilizing exothermic "combustion" precursors. Precursor transformation and the IYO films were analyzed by differential thermal analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and optical transmission, which reveal efficient conversion to the metal oxide lattice and smooth, transparent films. a-IYO TFTs fabricated with a hybrid nanodielectric exhibit electron mobilities of 7.3 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) (T(anneal) = 300 °C) and 5.0 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) (T(anneal) = 250 °C) for 2 V operation.