Method for producing an oxide film using a low temperature process, an oxide film and an electronic device thereof
09881791 ยท 2018-01-30
Assignee
- KOREA ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE (Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, KR)
- Chung-Ang University Industry-Academy Cooperation Foundation (Seoul, KR)
Inventors
- Yong Hoon Kim (Seongnam-si, KR)
- Sung Kyu Park (Anyang-si, KR)
- Min Suk OH (Seoul, KR)
- Ji Wan Kim (Seongnam-si, KR)
Cpc classification
H01L21/02565
ELECTRICITY
H01L29/24
ELECTRICITY
H01L29/7869
ELECTRICITY
International classification
H01L21/02
ELECTRICITY
H01L29/786
ELECTRICITY
H01L29/24
ELECTRICITY
Abstract
Disclosed are a method for producing an oxide film using a low temperature process, an oxide film and an electronic device. The method for producing an oxide film according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of coating a substrate with an oxide solution, and irradiating the oxide solution coat with ultraviolet rays under an inert gas atmosphere.
Claims
1. A method for forming a metal oxide thin film using a low-temperature process, the method comprising: coating a metal oxide solution on a substrate; and irradiating the coated metal oxide solution with an ultra-violet light of 150 nm to 260 nm in an inert gas atmosphere to form a metal oxide semiconductor layer, and before the ultra-violet irradiation, the coated solution on the substrate is heat-treated and stabilize; wherein the metal oxide solution comprises at least one of Zinc precursor, Gallium precursor, Indium precursor, Tin precursor or their derivatives, the metal oxide semiconductor layer is an n-type semiconductor layer and a channel layer for an electronic device, and wherein the irradiating the coated metal oxide solution with ultra-violet light comprises: forming at least a partial network of more than 50% metal-oxide-metal bond inside the metal oxide solution; and removing an impurity of the oxide.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the metal coated oxide solution is subjected to the inert gas atmosphere without a vacuum process.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the inert gas is nitrogen, argon, or helium.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the metal oxide solution includes a metal precursor solution, and the metal precursor solution is 2-methoxyethanol (2-Methoxyethanol) or DE-ionized water (Deionized water).
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein a wavelength of the ultra-violet light is 150 nm to 260 nm.
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the wavelength of the ultra-violet light is 160 nm to 190 nm.
7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: varying a temperature of the substrate one or more of before or at the same time as the ultra-violet irradiation.
8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the coated metal oxide solution is irradiated with ultra-violet light for 1.0 minutes to 240 minutes.
9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the coated metal oxide solution is irradiated with ultra-violet light for 30 minutes to 120 minutes.
10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the coated metal oxide solution is irradiated with ultra-violet light for 90 minutes to 120 minutes.
11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the metal oxide thin film is a channel layer.
12. The method according to claim 1, wherein coating the metal oxide solution on the substrate comprises one or more of spin coating, dip-coating, inkjet printing, offset printing, reverse offset printing, gravure printing, or roll printing.
13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the Zinc precursor comprising zinc chloride, Zinc acetate, Zinc acetate hydrate, Zinc nitrate, Zinc nitrate hydrate, Zinc alkoxide or a derivative thereof; the Gallium precursor comprising Gallium nitrate, Gallium nitrate hydrate, Gallium acetate, Gallium acetate hydrate, Gallium alkoxides, or a derivative thereof; the Indium precursor comprising indium chloride, indium acetate, indium acetate hydrate, indium nitrate, or indium alkoxide; or the Tin precursor comprising Tin chloride, Tin acetate, Tin nitrate, Tin alkoxides, a derivative thereof, or a mixture thereof.
14. A metal oxide thin film manufactured by the method of claim 1.
15. An electric device including the metal oxide thin film manufactured by the method of claim 1.
16. A metal oxide thin film manufactured by the method of claim 13.
17. An electric device including the metal oxide thin film manufactured by the method of claim 13.
Description
BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWING
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
(16) Hereafter, the embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the embodiments of the present invention as illustrated below may be modified in various different forms, and the scope of the present invention is not intended to limit the embodiments as set forth above. It should be noted that the embodiments are provided to make a full disclosure and also to allow those skilled in the art to know the full scope of the present invention.
(17)
(18) Firstly, the oxide solution is coated through the solution process on the substrate. The coating may be a spin coating, a dip-coating, an inkjet printing, an offset printing, reverse offset printing, gravure printing or the roll printing. But, solution process is not limited to above mentioned solution process.
(19) The substrate is not restricted to the specific kind. The substrate may be a semiconductor substrate, a glass substrate, a paper, a polymer substrate such as plastic etc. Since the ultraviolet irradiation according to the invention can be performed at low-temperature, the substrate such as plastic which is appropriate to low temperature process is preferable.
(20) The examples of precursor are follows. The Zinc precursor includes zinc chloride, Zinc acetate, Zinc acetate hydrate, Zinc nitrate, Zinc nitrate hydrate, Zinc alkoxide or their derivative. The Gallium precursor includes Gallium nitrate, Gallium nitrate hydrate, Gallium acetate, Gallium acetate hydrate, Gallium alkoxides, or their derivative. The Indium precursor includes indium chloride, indium acetate, indium acetate hydrate, indium nitrate, indium alkoxide. Tin precursor is one selected from the group consisting of Tin chloride, Tin acetate, Tin nitrate, Tin alkoxides, their derivative, and their mixture. It is possible that the other metal precursor including the aluminum precursor etc. may be usable as a precursor of the invention.
(21) The oxide solution includes metal precursor solution, the metal precursor solution is 2-methoxyethanol or DE-ionized water.
(22) Moreover, a mono-ethanolamine, and the acetic acid or the acetyl acetone can be used as the additive but it is not thus restricted.
(23) The thickness of the coated oxide solution is not restricted. And the oxide solution can be coated in, for example, 5 through 300 nm thickness.
(24) One characteristic of the present invention may be the process of irradiating the ultraviolet ray in the coated oxide solution under the inert atmosphere. By performing the oxide thin film under this condition, the oxide thin film using the laser become to be applicable oxide thin film. As described above, there has been several attempts in which the irradiation process was performed under oxygen-existed environment.
(25) The inventors discovered that there is a problem that the ozone (O.sub.3) is generated from irradiating the ultraviolet ray to the oxide solution in which oxygen exists. It can deteriorate the performance of the electronic device. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the ultraviolet ray is irradiated under the inert gas atmosphere. In that way characteristic of the oxide cannot be deteriorated. In the meantime, the vacuum process is not necessary. Generally, the vacuum process is high cost process. The invention shows the ultraviolet irradiation under inert gas environment (in air condition, without vacuum process) can be effectively applicable to mass production in manufacturing the devices.
(26) Moreover, the ultraviolet irradiation is executable through the ultraviolet ray source like the high-pressure mercury lamp. However it is not thus restricted.
(27) Next, the inventors explain the scenery manufacturing the excellent thin film through the ultraviolet irradiation in the oxide thin film in detail.
(28)
(29) The inventors discovered that the ultraviolet irradiation on the oxide thin film for a certain time period has an impact on the performance of the oxide film through 2-step phase change. The first phase is a condensation and the second phase is a densification.
(30) In the condensation phase, the Metal-Oxygen-Metal (M-O-M) bonds make network. Before of the irradiation, the spin-coated oxide film (for example, 25-35 nm) has organic components. Thereafter, the spin-coated oxide thin film is irradiated by the ultraviolet ray in the mood in which nitrogen is fuzzed. At this time, the active metal and oxygen atoms form the M-O-M network (condensation phase). It was discovered that the cleavage and condensation by this ultraviolet ray were generated for first about 30 minutes after the ultraviolet irradiation
(31) Since the additional investigation removes the residue of carbon and oxygen it proceeds to the densification phase. In the second phase it removes the impurity of the formed oxide. The oxide formed in this process contains impurities of the carbon (C), hydrogen (H), nitrogen (N), chlorine (Cl), etc.
(32) These impurities may influence the quality of thin film. According to the oxide thin film producing method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The duration of the ultraviolet irradiation remains constant in order to remove impurities. At this time, the holding time of the ultraviolet irradiation is preferably may be 1 to 240 minutes. If the ultraviolet irradiation period is so short, the thin film doesn't have enough times of experiencing 2 phases, which is not able to make the film of the excellent characteristic. In case the irradiation time of ultraviolet ray exceeds 240 minutes, it may cause the denaturation of the oxide or the deformation of the substrate. In the case of using the oxide thin film as the channel layer of the thin film transistor, the device shows excellent characteristic in the range of the ultraviolet irradiation of 90 minutes to 120 minutes.
(33) Moreover, while the ultraviolet irradiation is conducted, the temperature of the substrate can maintain at the room temperature through 200 C.
(34) Optionally, before of the ultraviolet irradiation, the oxide solution coated on the substrate with may be heat-treated and stabilized. It is for the quality improvement and uniform thickness of the coated oxide solution. The temperature of the heat treatment is room temperature to 200 C. and the time period is 1 through 60 minutes.
(35) In the meantime, the irradiated ultraviolet ray has the wavelength of the ultraviolet range and/or the deep ultra-violet region. Preferably, the wavelength of the ultraviolet is 150 nm through 260 nm. In case the wavelength is shorter than that of 150 nm, it has a problem that the oxide is destroyed by the ultraviolet light. In case the wavelength is longer than 260 nm the ultraviolet can't supply for energy enough for the oxide formation.
(36)
(37)
(38) Referring to
(39) The oxide thin film is usable for the thin film transistor of the display technology field, various kinds of the semiconductor device, and the electric component at the solar cell field or the touch panel field. It is applicable as the semiconductor layer of the electric component, the insulating layer and transparent electrode etc. But hereinafter, the case in which the oxide thin film is used as the channel layer of the thin film transistor is mainly illustrated.
(40)
(41) Referring to
(42) The oxide solution is coated on the gate insulating layer 20 through the solution process. After the oxide solution is heat treated and stabilized, the ultraviolet light is irradiated in the inert gas atmosphere, which induces the oxide formation. By maintaining the ultraviolet irradiation time for certain period the impurities of the oxide can be removed and high quality channel layer 30 can be formed. It suggests that the high quality thin film transistor is able to be manufactured with economic efficiency. Moreover, the equipments of the high costs are not required.
Experimental Example 1
(43) The metal precursors for the IGZO thin film were dissolved in 2-methoxyethanol. The resultant precursor solution was stirred at 75 C., for more than 12 hours, a ligand exchange reaction occurs from nitrate/acetate to 2-Methoxyethanol or hydroxide, and condensation of the metal alkoxides/hydroxides proceeds to form a partial network of metal-oxide-metal (M-O-M) in the solution.
(44) Subsequently, the spin-coated oxide thin film is irradiated by DUV lamp (it has the peak in 184.9 nm (10%) and 253.7 nm (90%)) in the mood in which nitrogen is fuzzed. During the irradiation, the distance between the sample and the DUV lamp is remained by 15 cm gap. N.sub.2 gas is continually injected. The output energy of this lamp was about 2528 mWcm.sup.2. In case of 90 minutes irradiation, the doses was measured at 135-151 Jcm.sup.2, In case of 120 minutes irradiation, the doses was measured at 180-201 Jcm.sup.2. The active metal and oxygen atoms form the M-O-M network with the UV investigation (condensation, and {circle around (1)} step). The cleavage and condensation by this ultraviolet ray is confirmed by the reduction of the rapid oxygen and content of carbon (refer to
(45) Next, the additional irradiation removes the residues of carbon and oxygen and transfers to the densification process (the densification, and {circle around (2)} step).
(46) But in case of the oxide thin film used as semiconductor layer of the thin film transistor, the excellent characteristic was shown in the dose irradiation of 135-201 Jcm.sup.2 for 90 minutes to 120 minutes at the nitrogen atmosphere, Referring to
Comparative Example 1
(47) In the meantime, the experiment was performed for comparing the oxide thin film manufactured in the experimental example 1 with a thermally annealed thin film.
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(49) Specifically, the IGZO thin film (P) by the UV irradiation of the experimental example 1 and the IGZO thin film (T) which the thermally was annealed (60 minutes in 350 C.) were compared.
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(51) The inventors supposes that the densification phase after 60 minutes causes organic residues (the solvent molecules and residue alkoxy groups) are disassembled by the ultraviolet irradiation photolysis and the reorganization of the M-O-M network.
(52) The inventors discovered that the ultraviolet irradiation causes the temperature of oxide thin film to be increased to about 150 C. It was not the original intention. The temperature was maintained even in case of continually irradiating over 120 minutes with 180-201 Jcm.sup.2. For the comparison, the oxide film was tested by annealing at 150 C. without the UV irradiation or cooling the oxide film at 40-70 C. after ultraviolet irradiation. But the necessary electrical characteristics could not be acquired from those oxide films at all.
Comparative Example 2
(53) The silicon oxide film was formed with the thickness of 200 nm on the silicon wafer which is heavily p-doped. Next, the solution containing the metal precursors for the IGZO thin film was coated on the silicon oxide film through the spin coating. At this time, in the IGZO solution, 2-Methoxyethanol was used as the solvent. And 0.085M indium nitride hydrate, and 0.0125M Gallium nitrate hydrate and 0.0275M Zinc acetate dehydrate were used.
(54) Next, the coated IGZO solution was irradiated using the UV lamp and the oxide formation was induced. The ultraviolet irradiation was performed under the oxygen environment in the comparative example, not under the nitrogen atmosphere (nitrogen is continuously supplied). The ultraviolet ray was irradiated using the UV lamp of the experimental example 1.
(55) Thereafter, the formed IGZO oxide thin film was used as the channel layer. By forming IZO electrode layer at the upper part of the IGZO oxide thin film and patterning it, the source and drain electrode was manufactured.
(56)
(57) The current delivery characteristic was measured. The result was shown in
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(59) The inventors determine that the light activation (the light activation is dramatically decreased at 184.9 nm) by the UV lamp drastically reduces with the absorption of the oxygen molecules. This phenomenon may be main factor of deterioration of the oxide thin film.
(60) Therefore, the light activation by the UV lamp has the important meaning in the ultraviolet wavelength region of 160 nm to 190 nm. That is, the ultraviolet ray of 160 nm to 190 nm wavelength can secure the excellent oxide thin. The DUV lamp used in this experiment has the peak in 184.9 nm (10%) and 253.7 nm (90%).
(61) The photo flux of the DUV lamp are 2.883.2210.sup.20/m.sup.2sec (253.7 nm), 2.322.610.sup.19/m.sup.2sec (184.9 nm). The phenomenon that the UV photo activation is dramatically decreased in 184.9 nm is understood that the even if UV at 184.9 nm has relatively small power the light can function as preventing from producing ozone. The wavelength band was calculated as 160 nm to 190 nm.
Experimental Example 2
(62) In the above, the IGZO film was explained but the other oxide thin film such as Zinc Tin Oxide (ZTO), Indium Zinx Oxide (IZO), Zinc Tin Oxide (ZTO), Indium Zinc Tin Oxide (IZTO)) etc can be applied. The inventors discovered that the oxide thin film of the solution process of the present invention was not limited specifical experimental case since the inventors actually made various oxide thin film transistors. Avoiding the use of the ZnCl.sub.2 solution was confirmed. It is caused by the point that the ZnCl.sub.2 solution hardly absorbs the ultraviolet light. IGZO, IZO, IZTO, in.sub.2O.sub.3 solutions are made by dissolving Indium nitrate hydrate (In(NO.sub.3).sub.3.xH.sub.2O), Gallium nitrate hydrate (Ga(NO.sub.3).sub.3.xH.sub.2O) and Zinc Acetate (Zn(CH.sub.3CO.sub.2).sub.2.2H.sub.2O), Zinc chloride (ZnCl.sub.2), Tin (Sn(CH.sub.3CO.sub.2), Tin cloride (SnCl.sub.2) in 2-Methoxyethanol. And in the precursor solution is stirred at 75 C., for more than 12 hours.
(63) In the Table 1, the molarity of the metal precursors of the IGZO, IZO, IZTO, in.sub.2O.sub.3 solutions are shown.
(64) But the ZTO solution is made as follows. The powders of Zinc chloride (ZnCl.sub.2) and Tin cloride (SnCl.sub.2) are dissolved in the acetonitrile by the molecular density 0.07M:0.07M of the Zn:Sn. It was stirred for 15 minutes at a room temperature after dissolving precursors in the solvent.
(65)
(66) Specifically, Al.sub.2O.sub.3 gate insulating layer (35 nm) is formed on the glass substrate. On the gate insulating layer, the heat-treated and UV-irradiated oxide thin films were manufactured as channel layers.
(67) In case of the heat-treated sample, IGZO, IZO, and the In.sub.2O.sub.3 channel layer were coated by spin coating. For 10 minutes the sample was baked in 200 C. It was annealed for 60 minutes 350 C. at the hot plate. The oxide thin film such as ZTO, IZTO etc. was baked at 200 C. for 10 minutes. It was annealed for 10 minutes at 500 C. in the hot plate.
(68)
(69)
(70) As shown in
Experimental Example 3
(71) The thin film transistor was manufactured on the flexible printed circuit board. The device was commercially made on the commercial PAR (Polyarylate) film.
(72) We performed positive gate bias stress (V.sub.gs=5V, V.sub.ds=0.1V) by applying the positive voltages to gate electrode. The stability of the device was investigated. The tests were conducted with UV-irradiated device (on glass), UV-irradiated device (Unpassivated) which did not have the protective film (passivation) in the outside of the device, UV-irradiated device (Passivated) polymethyl methacrylate, PMMA passivation, heat-treated device (on glass) manufactured on the glass substrate in 350.
(73)
(74) Next, the ring oscillator was manufactured in order to confirm the reliability of the thin film transistor which was made with UV irradiation. The inverter of the ring oscillator has rate of 2 and the width-to-length of the channels are (W/L).sub.drive=100 m/7 m, and (W/L).sub.load=50 m/7 m and it has the overlap of the gate source/drain electrode of 5 m.
(75) With a supply voltage of V.sub.DD of 15 V, we measured an oscillation frequency greater than, 340 kHz, and corresponding propagation delay less than, 210 ns per stage. Referring to
(76) While the embodiments of the present invention has been described and shown as set above, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be through addition, changes, deletion, or supplement without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims, and these are intended to be embraces by the scope of the claims of the present invention.