A Study about Schottky Barrier Height and Ideality Factor in Thin Film Transistors with Metal/Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Structures Aiming Flexible Electronics Application

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NP) used for the channel region in inverted coplanar setup in Thin Film Transistors (TFT) were the focus of this study. The regions between the source electrode and the ZnO NP and the drain electrode were under investigation as they produce a Schottky barrier in metal-semiconductor interfaces. A more general Thermionic emission theory must be evaluated: one that considers both metal/semiconductor interfaces (MSM structures). Aluminum, gold, and nickel were used as metallization layers for source and drain electrodes. An organic-inorganic nanocomposite was used as a gate dielectric. The TFTs transfer and output characteristics curves were extracted, and a numerical computational program was used for fitting the data; hence information about Schottky Barrier Height (SBH) and ideality factors for each TFT could be estimated. The nickel metallization appears with the lowest SBH among the metals investigated. For this metal and for higher drain-to-source voltages, the SBH tended to converge to some value around 0.3 eV. The developed fitting method showed good fitting accuracy even when the metallization produced different SBH in each metal-semiconductor interface, as was the case for gold metallization. The Schottky effect is also present and was studied when the drain-to-source voltages and/or the gate voltage were increased.