Room-temperature fabrication of a Ga-Sn-O thin-film transistor

We have succeeded in forming a Ga-Sn-O (GTO) film for a thin-film transistor (TFT) using radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering at room temperature without annealing process. It is achieved that the field-effect mobility is 0.83, cm(2) V-1 s(-1) and the on/off ratio is roughly 10(6). A critical process parameter is the deposition pressure during the RF magnetron sputtering, which determines a balance between competing mechanisms of sputtering damages and chemical reactions, because the film quality has to be enhanced solely during the sputtering deposition. This result suggests a possibility of rare-metal free amorphous metal-oxide semiconductors. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.