Solution-Processed Silicon Doped Tin Oxide Thin Films and Thin-Film Transistors Based on Tetraethyl Orthosilicate

Recently, tin oxide (SnO(2)) has been the preferred thin film material for semiconductor devices such as thin-film transistors (TFTs) due to its low cost, non-toxicity, and superior electrical performance. However, the high oxygen vacancy (V(O)) concentration leads to poor performance of SnO(2) thin films and devices. In this paper, with tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as the Si source, which can decompose to release heat and supply energy when annealing, Si doped SnO(2) (STO) films and inverted staggered STO TFTs were successfully fabricated by a solution method. An XPS analysis showed that Si doping can effectively inhibit the formation of V(O), thus reducing the carrier concentration and improving the quality of SnO(2) films. In addition, the heat released from TEOS can modestly lower the preparation temperature of STO films. By optimizing the annealing temperature and Si doping content, 350 °C annealed STO TFTs with 5 at.% Si exhibited the best device performance: I(off) was as low as 10(−10) A, I(on)/I(off) reached a magnitude of 10(4), and V(on) was 1.51 V. Utilizing TEOS as an Si source has a certain reference significance for solution-processed metal oxide thin films in the future.