Effects of vacuum annealing on the optical and electrical properties of p-type copper-oxide thin-film transistors

We have investigated the effects of vacuum annealing on the optical and electrical properties of the p-type copper-oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs). The vacuum annealing of the copper-oxide thin-film was performed using the RF magnetron sputter at various temperatures. From the x-ray diffraction and UV-vis spectroscopy, it is demonstrated that the high-temperature vacuum annealing reduces the copper-oxide phase from CuO to Cu2O, and increases the optical transmittance in the visible part of the spectrum. The fabricated copper-oxide TFT does not exhibit the switching behavior under low-temperature vacuum annealing conditions. However, as the annealing temperature increases, the drain current begins to be modulated by a gate voltage, and the TFT exhibits a high current on–off ratio over 104 as the vacuum annealing temperature increases over 450 °C. These results show that the vacuum annealing process can be an effective method of simultaneously improving the optical and electrical performances in p-type copper-oxide TFTs. (paper)