Electrode-Templated Lateral Crystallization for Advanced Oxide Electronics

Amorphous InGaZnO has long served as the foundational material for display backplanes. Nonetheless, the escalating demand for ultra-high resolution and reduced power consumption necessitates higher-performance oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs) capable of replacing polycrystalline silicon and enabling fully oxide-based TFT architectures. Crystallization of oxide semiconductors offers a promising route toward higher carrier mobility, yet achieving highly ordered oxide channels on amorphous substrates remains challenging. Herein, we report an electrode-induced lateral crystallization (EILC) method that exploits crystallographic coherence and lattice matching between the electrode and oxide channel to enable formation of highly oriented, large-grained InGaO at a modest temperature of 400 °C. The resultant EILC TFTs exhibit unprecedented electrical characteristics and exceptional bias-stress stability. Structural analyses indicate that crystallographic coherence between the indium tin oxide electrode and the channel, rather than interfacial redox reactions, governs this process, positioning EILC as a paradigm-shifting strategy for next-generation oxide electronics.