Fluorinated Metal-Oxide Thin-Film Transistors for Circuit Implementation on a Flexible Substrate

The effects of fluorination on amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide thin-film transistors and circuits fabricated on a polyimide flexible substrate were studied. Attributed to more effective passivation of donor defects for a given thermal budget, fluorination resulted in suppressed apparent short-channel effects and better uniformity of turn-on voltage with reduced negative shift after laser lift-off from a glass carrier substrate. As representative digital circuits, two-input four-output (2-4) decoders were fabricated and characterized to demonstrate the advantages of incorporating fluorination in the construction of circuit building blocks, leading to higher gain, wider noise margins, more tightly distributed transition voltage, and larger output swing.